Local plan scoping consultation

OBJECTION TO PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT PLANS IN MOBBERLEY (EXPLICITLY REGARDING LAND NEAR SLADE LANE / WEST OF SMITH LANE)
2. Procedural Objection: Unfair Consultation Period

I must first register a strong objection to the timing of this consultation deadline. Setting a closing date during the peak holiday season—when residents are away on summer leave and subsequently consumed with preparing children for the return to school—is completely unreasonable and undermines open public participation. It effectively suppresses community voices. Due to these constraints, I do not have the capacity to submit individual objections for every separate site application. Therefore, please accept this response as a formal, blanket objection to all Mobberley redevelopment proposals, with particular reference to the allocations near Slade Lane and Land West of Smith Lane.

Summary of Objection
The proposed allocation for housing, economy, and employment near Slade Lane / Land West of Smith Lane must be rejected. It directly breaches national planning frameworks and Cheshire East Local Plan policies (including Policies SE 3, SE 5, ENV 1, and SADPD Policy ENV 6). Development here will cause irreversible harm by destroying ancient hedgerows, severing vital Green Belt buffers and wildlife corridors, causing local species extinction, and destroying specialized subterranean clay habitats.
Detailed Grounds for Objection
Destruction of Irreplaceable Ancient Hedgerows (Policies SE 5 & SADPD ENV 6):
The target hedgerows around the site are ancient, satisfying the historical and ecological thresholds of The Hedgerows Regulations 1997. Tithe maps from 1838 confirm these boundaries pre-date 1850. As historic landscape assets and rich biodiversity features, they cannot be offset, relocated, or mitigated.
Severance of Protected Wildlife Corridors & Green Belt Buffer (Policies SE 3, ENV 1 & Green Belt Objectives):
Ecological Networks: These fields and hedgerows form an essential terrestrial migration network and overwintering refuge (hibernacula) for Great Crested Newts and foraging corridors for protected bat species. Artificial commercial lighting will create impassable visual/acoustic barriers, functionally severing these feeding routes.
Clough Woodland Integration: The site serves as the primary terrestrial link between central village habitats and the ancient 'clough' woodland systems (West and East Woodend Cloughs) linked to the Cotterill Clough SSSI. Fracturing this unbroken, centuries-old network directly violates the council's statutory duty to protect ancient baselines under NPPF and Policy SE 3 / ENV 6.
Green Belt & Identity: This land forms a critical strategic countryside buffer keeping Mobberley distinct from Knutsford. Removing this open land causes unpreventable urban sprawl and degrades the rural identity of Mobberley—a historical Domesday village (1086).
Irreversible Harm to Section 41 Priority Species (Policy SE 3):
Lapwings: The heavy clay soils form seasonal shallow pools critical for breeding and foraging between March and June. Lapwings exhibit extreme site-fidelity and cannot be moved to off-site landscaping plots. Human activity, noise, and increased predators will result in a 100% nest failure rate, leading to local colony extinction.
Brown Hares & Stag Beetles: Development will destroy hare breeding forms and remove the centuries-old subterranean deadwood essential for the multi-year larval life cycle of Stag Beetles, violating the mitigation hierarchy under Policy ENV 2.
Destruction of Specialized Clay Microhabitats (Policy SE 3):
The heavy clay soils naturally crack during hot summers, providing deep subterranean micro-shelters used by Great Crested Newts, stag beetle larvae, and other soil flora to survive heat and frost. Concreting over or compacting this specialized microbiome destroys a subterranean network that artificial topsoil cannot replicate, failing mandatory biodiversity metrics.
Conclusion
The proposed allocations violate both national policy and local plan strategies safeguarding biodiversity, ancient hedgerows, and the Green Belt. I strongly urge the council to reject all redevelopment plans for Mobberley in the vicinity of Slade Lane and Smith Lane.