Cheshire East approves 900 homes
Cheshire East’s strategic planning board has given the green light to 900 houses across three developments, including housing in Congleton, Handforth, and Poynton.
The largest of these, a bid by the Worth Partnership to build 500 new homes, a school, and retail on a site between Manchester Road and Giantswood Lane near Congleton, was approved by nine votes to two.
The 64-acre development was recommended for approval despite objections from Jodrell Bank, with the council seeking a financial contribution towards the new Congleton Link Road and a £3.2m commuted sum towards education provision as part of the planning agreement.
Cheshire East also approved Himor’s application to build 250 homes on agricultural land between Clay Lane and Sagars Road in Handforth. The application was approved based on Himor providing 30% affordable homes on the site, and an £85,000 contribution towards local footpath improvements.
Councillors approved the scheme by eight votes to four, despite nearly 400 objection letters from local residents.
The final scheme on the agenda, a 150-home development on a greenfield site south of Poynton, was also approved by Cheshire East.
The 13-acre Poynton scheme will also be required to provide 30% affordable housing, alongside a financial contribution to the Poynton Relief Road, local education services, and a healthcare provision.
The application was approved despite opposition from Poynton’s town, which argued it would lead to “unacceptable” increases in traffic.
Green Belt should stay Green Belt. This will cause even more chaos. The countryside is just being eaten into and cannot be replaced. Bad bad decision
By Carole Davies
After 2 years of traffic for the village shared space then 2 years traffic and noise from the relief road now 2 years traffic and more noise from the building work behind the bird estate ,had enough.
By Phillip cooper-brannon
We have a Parish Council who opposes all the building on Green Belt but no-one cares except local people who have had enough.
By Margaret Bowker
Oh yes Green Belt should stay Green Belt forever, bla bla bla. The world is a very different place to the 50’s and nothing should stay sacrosanct as it becomes outdated and inflexible… Yes the original purpose of Green Belt was to prevent urban sprawl as the facilities to enable sustainable development were more restricted “back then”. Now we get Amazon Now to deliver milk to our doorstep within the hour whilst waiting for an Uber to pick us up.
Whilst we’re at it the ‘countryside’ and ‘green belt’ are two very different things. Only 11% of the UK is built on and even this includes parks, sports pitches and gardens. Most Green Belt is non-accessible farmland and even it constitutes only 12% of the England!
By Same Old Housebuilder Bashing
They won’t be affordable, we all know that they will be in excess of £500,000 & not for people on a lower salary. Also they will be bought by greedy landlords to add to there property portfolio, & ultimately not ease the housing crisis. Also their isn’t the infer structure to cope with this additional, traffic and services that will be required.
By Neil MacDonald
Appalling destruction of Cheshire.But whats the use of complaining as the Autocrats just ignore any objections
By Ruchard Lea
It was a great shame to see the efforts of many Handforth residents go to waste, noting that they were fighting a planning application that was underpinned via an allocation within the CEC Local Plan.
I feel it is a failing of the Planning System that many residents would have been unaware of the site’s promotion via the Local Plan, hence the chance was missed to raise their objections at a time when they may have had more bearing.
I also feel the residents were somewhat let down by the Parish Council, who seemed to have fared far worse than other neighboring PC’s in protecting its open land from allocation and subsequent development.
Finally, I am still at a loss as to how Hanforth’s Gren Belt has become such a free building zone. Surely the Green Belt here – at the northern edge of Cheshire, bordering onto Stockport and then sprawling all the way into the City Centre of Manchester – is the most precious element of CEC’s Green Belt?
It serves the purpose of Green Belt ideally by keeping Cheshire and Greater Manchester seperate.
All of the above logic seems to have been lost, in my opinion (and putting aside land owning issues) by a Council who found lesser resistance here than it did in neighbouring settlements, perhaps housing a more informed, affluent and influencial populus.
The need for housing and the release of Green Belt is accepted and in my view positive, where the Green Belt serves no function in regards its purpose. That cannot be said of the Green Belt release sites in Handforth. A real shame.
By Mr Handforth
Has anyone considered the effect on sewerage. The drains can’t cope now with problems already suffered by some on lower Dickens Lane. This will make matters worse and the suggestion that a bigger diametre drain, flowing into existing narrow ones, just isn’t going to work. May make matters even worse.
By BR
Unused areas adjacent to established development and brownfield is fine to build homes, but consider local opinion. I think councils and government need to reevaluate the housing situation to determine type needed as opposed to wanted. This is unlikely to happen when developers (understandably being profit making business) only want prime sites and executive homes and ‘bribe’ cash strapped councils by making contributions to footpaths, roads, social housing etc. We can’t keep letting greenbelt and countryside come under development. We need to safeguard the environment for future generations. Previous ones weren’t too bothered and we are seeing the effect.
By Deborah
nice to see they listen to the people who vote for them to be in that position in the 1st place!!!!!!
By sarah barnett robinson
I avoid Poynton these days I used to shop occasionally there the traffic jams are bad now, what will it be like with all the extra houses. Leave the green belt alone. All we are doing is building roads that are causing more pollution. The house usually 4/5 bedrooms are not the ones that people getting their first home can afford. Plus 2/3 cars per household more traffic pollution which we have been told is affecting everyone.
By J Hill