Cheshire East devises plan to prevent sprawl

CHESHIRE East Council has launched a consultation on a revised interim planning policy that will allow the authority to exercise more control over potential new housing developments.

The council has received a flood of applications recently as its housing policy had been challenged by developers, who all sought to argue that the council did not have a valid five-year housing land supply plan in place, and that the government’s national planning framework states that councils should “consider favourably suitable planning applications for housing”.

The lack of a housing land supply plan meant that three applications to build more than 1,100 homes on the outskirts of Crewe were approved at a single planning meeting in October last year.

The council has now drawn up an interim planning policy to release land for housing development over a five-year period and is currently undertaking consultation with stakeholders in proposed areas. It said the revised plan focussed “on suitable greenfield sites around Crewe, where there is a good range of jobs, shops and services and reasonable alternatives to travel other than by car”.

It also allows for the release of “small, sustainable sites” on the edge of other towns in the borough, where development will not prejudice the identification of larger strategic development sites.

Cllr David Brown, cabinet member with responsibility for performance and capacity, said: “The provision of suitable housing for its residents is one of the Council’s top priorities and this document will help us achieve our objectives.

“We need new homes to assist the economic growth of Cheshire East. As we know, the economic downturn has had a significant impact on levels of new house building and we need to provide more new homes to aid the wider economic recovery.

“This is all part of our key objective to grow and develop a sustainable Cheshire East.”

The public consultation period for the interim planning document will run until May 29. A consultation document has been made available on the council’s website – www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/localplan.