Local plan scoping consultation

Natural capital and health should be treated as infrastructure. Site selection and allocation policies should require connected green and blue infrastructure, accessible open space, biodiversity net gain, nature recovery, sustainable drainage, active travel and facilities which support social interaction and healthy lifestyles.

These measures should be secured through allocation requirements, phasing and long-term stewardship rather than left as discretionary design detail.

The Local Plan should address the less visible inequalities affecting rural areas, including housing affordability, limited public transport, access to healthcare and services, social isolation and digital connectivity. Healthy-place policy should be embedded in the spatial strategy and site allocations.

Tatton Estate's proposals seek to create mixed-tenure, intergenerational communities with walkable access to green space and facilities. Potential provision includes healthcare and new primary schools, community and recreational facilities, shops, community halls, public house or restaurant, public open space and active travel improvements all of which will enhance health outcomes in rural villages.

Tatton Estate supports a connected, inclusive active travel network which serves existing and new residents and links homes to stations, schools, employment, local centres, community facilities and green space. Policies should address walking, wheeling, mobility scooters, adapted cycles and e-bikes and should require safe crossings, continuous routes, seating, wayfinding, cycle parking and long-term maintenance.

The Estate's visions retain and enhance Public Rights of Way and propose links to the Sustrans Regional Cycle Route and Greater Bollin Trail. These planned transport improvements should be recognised in the Local Plan.

Tatton Estate supports climate mitigation and adaptation being embedded in the vision, spatial strategy, site selection and allocation requirements. Sustainable location, mixed uses, public transport, active travel, compact form, low-energy buildings, renewable technology, green infrastructure, carbon sequestration and long-term stewardship should be assessed together.

Tatton Estate supports policies for renewable and low-carbon energy which are proportionate, design-led and compatible with landscape, heritage, ecology and grid capacity. The village visions include on-site solar energy, heat pumps and flexible energy opportunities. Strategic engagement with electricity network operators should identify reinforcement requirements early and align them with renewable options for energy generation, and growth phasing.

Tatton Estate strongly supports a specific rural community facilities policy. Current service provision is partly a product of historic population and investment patterns. Policy should recognise that planned housing growth can create the critical mass and funding required to retain, restore or introduce community facilities and improve public transport.

Tatton Estate supports:
• Design coding in principle
• Strong design governance
• Clear placemaking expectations
• Masterplan-led growth
• Landscape-led development
• Long-term stewardship models
However, Tatton Estate does not support a highly detailed borough-wide design code that seeks to prescribe development outcomes across every part of Cheshire East. The Borough is simply too diverse for a single code to appropriately guide development across the multitude of contexts in which development will need to be delivered which present varying challenges, opportunities and design requirements and drivers. To highlight this variety, these situations include:
• Strategic urban extensions
• New village growth
• Transport-oriented settlements
• Employment locations
• Rural communities
• Strategic infrastructure locations
• Green Belt release sites
A single code would either become so generic that it adds little value, or become so prescriptive that it constrains good, contextually-responsive urban design and placemaking.
The Council should ensure that future design codes remain focused on place-making outcomes, rather than prescriptive architectural solutions or compliance-based coding. Successful places are rarely characterised by rigid uniformity. Instead, they are defined by strong landscape structure, well-connected movement networks, attractive public realm, biodiversity, sustainability, health outcomes and local distinctiveness. Design codes should therefore prioritise:
• Landscape structure and green infrastructure;
• Walkability and active travel;
• Character and local identity;
• Climate resilience;
• Biodiversity enhancement;
• Public realm quality;
• Community infrastructure; and
• Long-term stewardship.
The LPSD appears to assume that design coding is primarily a regulatory exercise. Tatton Estate considers that coding has a more strategic and influential role than this and can be used positively to optimise positive place making outcomes. Design coding should therefore be viewed as a placemaking tool, not simply a development management tool.
Tatton Estate has already laid the foundations of this approach through the articulation of its Tatton Villages concept which goes significantly beyond meeting development requirements but has the outcome of achieving better places as its absolute focus.
An important underpinning component of Tatton Estate’s villages proposal is responsible long-term stewardship. To this end, Tatton Estate sees placemaking as not solely a function of physical design, but also depends upon ongoing management, maintenance and investment in landscape, public realm and community infrastructure. Future design coding should therefore recognise stewardship and management arrangements as key components of successful place delivery.
The Tatton Villages Charter provides a consistent estate-wide standard while allowing each settlement to remain distinct. Its vision for the estate is landscape-led and structured around walkability, mixed uses, connected green infrastructure, local character and community facilities. The Estate has also undertaken early community engagement so local concerns and priorities can inform any later masterplanning if sites progress.
Tatton Estate’s recommended approach to achieving effective place making through design policy and standards is tiered.
a) Borough-wide Design Framework:
Prepared by Cheshire East and linked to national guidance. This would establish:
• Design objectives
• Climate resilience expectations
• Green infrastructure principles
• Active travel requirements
• Healthy place principles
• Design review processes
b) Settlement Frameworks:
Prepared for specific settlements/areas (e.g. Knutsford, Tatton Villages, Southern Growth Corridor, Market Towns). This tier would establish:
• Character
• Growth objectives
• Settlement role (within hierarchy across Cheshire East)
• Strategic landscape structure
c) Site-specific coding:
Prepared alongside allocations, contributing to more detailed design coding. This tier would determine:
• Street hierarchy and typologies
• Block structure
• Landscape character
• Public realm
• Building typologies
• Design safeguards (inc. long-term management and stewardship)
This strategic approach is one which the Local Plan should take forward as an overarching framework for achieving better place making through design.

Tatton Estate supports an Engagement Strategy which is timely, transparent, accessible and capable of demonstrating how evidence and representations have influenced plan-making. Engagement should include residents, businesses, infrastructure providers, operators, landowners, younger people and those whose housing needs are not represented by current home ownership patterns.

Tatton Estate agrees that housing need, the five-year supply shortfall, Green Belt review, infrastructure and the accelerated programme require early and focused engagement. The August 2026 NPPF must now be reflected throughout the process.

The Council should prioritise engagement on the choices which will determine delivery: the distribution of growth, strategic infrastructure, the role of rural communities, the Mid-Cheshire Line, affordable housing, Green Belt assessment, site selection and infrastructure phasing. This will help move debate from whether change occurs to where and how it can produce the best outcomes.

Tatton Estate supports the engagement principles, particularly early, evidence-led partnership-based working. Infrastructure providers, transport operators and promoters with control of deliverable land should be engaged early to test options and delivery, while formal site assessment remains consistent and transparent.

Promoter-led community engagement should be recognised as complementary to the statutory process. Tatton Estate has sought to provide current information, answer questions and allow local priorities to influence its thinking before any planning application stage and has proactively organised community events to discussion submissions to the call for sites exercise with stakeholders/residents reflective of its commitment to early and collaborative dialogue.