Local plan bill a ‘drop in the ocean’, says Cheshire East leader
CHESHIRE East leader Michael Jones has defended the £3.7m bill for drawing up a future development strategy, known as a local plan, which was heavily criticised by a planning inspector.
The authority had said it aimed to deliver 27,000 homes and 20,000 extra jobs by 2030 but the inspector has forced a rethink after saying there was a “serious mismatch between the economic strategy and the housing strategy of the submitted plan”.
In a statement Cllr Jones said the sum was “money well spent to protect Cheshire East from unplanned and unsustainable development”.
He insisted it was a “drop in the ocean” compared to the economic benefit “to all the residents in the years to come”.
He said: “First of all, the council put the spending figure in the public domain in the first place. We have nothing to hide. It is perfectly reasonable and sensible to spend £3.7m putting together such a large, complex and vitally important document as the local plan and I don’t understand why some critics are seemingly so upset.
“A spend of £3.7m would equate to the monetary value of about 1.5 acres of development on land in the north of the Borough. When you consider that many developers are trying to get planning permissions on our greenbelt and greenfield sites – £3.7m to protect us from up to £81bn of development gain going in unsustainable locations seems pretty good value for money to me.”
Cllr David Brown, the deputy leader who has overseen the plan since 2010, has stepped down from this role since the inspector’s report was published. A new task force, led by Cllr Peter Raynes, has been set up to address the inspector’s concerns.
