Local plan scoping consultation

Comment

Representation ID: 5421

Received: 01/09/2026

Respondent: Lostwood Estate LTD

Agent: SATPLAN Ltd

Development in the Open Countryside
The emerging evidence base for the new Local Plan should include an up-to-date
Settlement and Infill Boundaries Review which properly assesses all land adjacent to
existing settlements.
The assessment should be transparent, consistent and up to date, and should specifically
identify land which falls within the open countryside.
Policies for the open countryside should protect valued landscapes and environmental
assets while recognising that countryside policy should not operate as an absolute or
undifferentiated constraint on sustainable growth. The NPPF 2026 draws a clear
distinction between development within settlements and development outside them.
Although Policy S5 is a national decision-making policy rather than a site-allocation
policy, it is nevertheless important context for plan preparation because it expressly
recognises circumstances in which residential and mixed-use development outside
settlements can be acceptable, including development within reasonable walking distance
of a well-connected station and development addressing an evidenced unmet need where
it is physically well-related to an existing settlement and of a scale capable of being
supported by existing or proposed infrastructure. The Local Plan evidence base should
therefore distinguish genuinely isolated countryside development from sustainable
settlement-edge opportunities.
Where land outside existing settlement boundaries is required to meet identified
development needs, the Local Plan should assess opportunities through the site selection
and sustainability appraisal process on their merits. Particular consideration should be
given to sites that can form logical extensions to settlements, make use of existing or
planned infrastructure and establish clear, defensible long-term boundaries. Policy S2
requires the spatial strategy itself to identify settlement boundaries and sites allocated to
meet identified housing and other needs. Existing countryside boundaries should therefore
be reviewed through the new Plan rather than treated as fixed constraints inherited from
the previous strategy.

Comment

Representation ID: 5422

Received: 01/09/2026

Respondent: Lostwood Estate LTD

Agent: SATPLAN Ltd

Affordable Housing
Lostwood Estates Ltd welcomes the recognition that housing affordability remains a
significant challenge across Cheshire East and that housing needs and affordability vary
considerably across the borough. While affordable housing delivery since 2010 has been
strong, exceeding the Local Plan Strategy requirement does not necessarily mean that
current or future needs are being met, particularly for lower-income households and in
rural communities where the supply of affordable homes can be especially limited.
The new Local Plan should recognise the important role that suitable development in
Green Gaps and Open Countryside locations can play in meeting these needs. Such
locations may provide particularly viable opportunities for affordable housing delivery,
subject to site-specific land values, infrastructure requirements and other development
costs, while maintaining a deliverable scheme.
The Plan should therefore provide sufficient flexibility for suitable Open Countryside and
rural sites to come forward where they can demonstrably meet identified local housing
needs, rather than relying predominantly on development within higher-value or more
constrained settlements. This should be supported by robust, locally specific evidence on
housing need, tenure and development viability.

Comment

Representation ID: 5423

Received: 01/09/2026

Respondent: Lostwood Estate LTD

Agent: SATPLAN Ltd

Housing Mix
Lostwood Estates Ltd supports the preparation of an up-to-date borough-wide Housing
Needs Assessment to inform the new Local Plan. However, the assessment should provide
an evidence base rather than establish a rigid requirement for the precise mix of homes
to be provided on every residential site.
The appropriate housing mix will vary across Cheshire East according to local housing
needs, demographic characteristics, existing housing stock, site characteristics, market
demand and the nature and location of the development proposed. Any policy should
therefore expressly allow borough-wide evidence to be applied flexibly at site level, taking
account of up-to-date local need and demand, market conditions, site characteristics,
development viability and the objective of creating mixed and balanced communities.
This flexibility will also allow developments to respond to changing demographic and
market circumstances during the lifetime of the Plan, rather than applying a fixed housing
mix derived from evidence which may become increasingly dated.

Comment

Representation ID: 5424

Received: 01/09/2026

Respondent: Lostwood Estate LTD

Agent: SATPLAN Ltd

Housing Standards
Lostwood Estates Ltd supports the delivery of high-quality, energy-efficient homes.
However, requirements relating to the technical construction and performance of new
homes should remain aligned with national policy and Building Regulations.
The Local Plan should avoid locally specific technical standards which duplicate or conflict
with national requirements. However, Policy PM13 of the NPPF 2026 expressly allows
certain quantitative standards where the policy tests are met. In relation to energy
efficiency, any standard going beyond current or proposed Building Regulations must have
a clear and robustly costed rationale demonstrating that it will not adversely affect
development viability and deliverability. Any such standard should also be expressed in
the form required by national policy. The correct approach is therefore not to rule out
enhanced local standards in principle, but to require the Council to demonstrate that any
proposed standard is necessary, proportionate, appropriately formulated and viable.
Additional local standards can create duplication and uncertainty, increase development
costs and affect housing affordability and delivery. Any requirements proposed through
the Local Plan should therefore comply fully with Policy PM13 and be robustly evidenced
and reflected cumulatively in the whole-plan viability assessment, alongside affordable
housing, infrastructure, biodiversity and other policy obligations. The Plan should also
avoid policies which duplicate, substantively restate or conflict with national decision
making policy, consistent with Policy PM6.

Comment

Representation ID: 5425

Received: 01/09/2026

Respondent: Lostwood Estate LTD

Agent: SATPLAN Ltd

Climate Change Adaptation
Lostwood Estates Ltd supports the objective of addressing climate change and ensuring
that new development is resilient to future conditions. The Local Plan should focus on
matters that are properly addressed through spatial planning, including sustainable
locations, green infrastructure, flood risk, landscape, biodiversity and the design of
resilient places.
Detailed technical requirements relating to the construction and energy performance of
new homes should remain consistent with the national regulatory and planning policy
framework. Any locally specific requirements should be justified by robust evidence and
tested through the cumulative whole-plan viability assessment. The Plan should otherwise
focus its climate-change strategy on matters properly addressed through spatial planning,
while ensuring any optional technical standards comply with the specific national policy
tests.