Council issues open letter rebuke to government over planning decision

Cheshire East Council has issued a stinging open letter to the Secretary of State for housing strongly criticising his decision to grant a planning appeal in the borough.

The council has formally written to Robert Jenrick expressing “dismay” at his ruling to permit the development of up to 189 homes at Stapeley, near Nantwich.

The letter says the decision is a “significant blow” to public confidence in the planning system, “undermines the principles of effective plan making” and will “likely lead to a further scramble for developers to seek permission for other unplanned sites”.

The issue is a long-running matter, with the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, refusing the application in March 2015.

In their joint open letter to Mr Jenrick, Cllr Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council, and Cllr Toni Fox, the council’s cabinet member for planning, said: “Cheshire East has embraced the need to deliver appropriate level of housing across the borough with a Local Plan target of 36,000 homes over the plan period to 2030 – which is well over household projections for the area.

“For the last two years, Cheshire East has seen more than 3,000 housing completions – the highest figures ever recorded in Cheshire East. It puts the borough among the highest-performing councils for house building investment.

“This council has a very robust housing land supply and is on target to deliver that housing in a planned and sustainable manner by also bringing forward the delivery of supporting infrastructure in accordance with our adopted Local Plan Strategy.

“We are, therefore, dismayed by your decision to allow the planning appeal at Stapeley, despite the clear conflict with development plan policies on the grounds that it delivers more housing.

“Many thousands of Cheshire East residents have engaged in the Local Plan process over many years and have also been involved in the development of more than 30 neighbourhood plans across the borough.

“Your decision to place such significant weight on the delivery of housing undermines the principles of effective plan making.

“It will leave many, particularly around Nantwich, to question why they bothered. The decision flies in the face of the Government’s stated commitment to a plan-led system.”

They go on: “Cheshire East is an area promoting substantial plan-led growth, yet it is still vulnerable to unplanned, speculative housing development. The public’s confidence that up-to-date plans provide certainty as to what development they will see take place in their local area has taken a significant blow.

“Your decision will inevitably have further consequences and will likely lead to a further scramble for developers to seek permission for other unplanned sites.

“This will not only cause further disquiet for residents but also risks diverting valuable resources away from making progress on allocated site applications, causing delay to the very sites which would be able to deliver housing in a timely manner.

“It is notable that it will be 10 years from application submission for this site to actually deliver any beneficial housing.”