Local plan scoping consultation

Protect our natural environment and wildlife: Cheshire and Warrington’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) highlights decades of decline in nature and the environment. Both the assessment of the LNRS and that of Cheshire Wildlife Trust identifies Cheshire East as suffering from “severe habitat loss, noting it is one of the most nature-depleted areas in the country”. This must be addressed within the new Local Plan.


Most importantly, the environment, wildlife and the natural world must be given greater protection and greater weight in assessments of priorities in the new Local Plan with developers being required to adhere to current CE standards or higher, as part of the considerations included in planning decisions and the overall Plan. Cheshire East must become known as an area where developers and business work alongside wildlife and the natural world, not against it and Cheshire East should cultivate a reputation for expecting and enforcing very high standards of protection of the natural world and wildlife that goes far beyond tree planting and the requirements of hedgehog highways, swift bricks and bat boxes. It is possible for humans to live alongside the natural world and to take active protective and supportive steps, rather than putting wildlife second or merely mitigating the significant harms caused by poor development planning. It is possible to make Cheshire East a by-word for progressive nature protection and side-by-side development (for instance, pioneering the regular expectation of measures such as wildlife bridges and ecoducts, which exist in 40 countries in the world, including the Netherlands, US, Canada, Germany, France and Switzerland) but it will take commitment and vision within the Local Plan to set this as a priority which developers cannot sidestep and for which s.106 funds could be negotiated. Residents will support this prioritisation of the environment and the natural world and will support Cheshire East in this commitment.

All of the above is an outline of the scoping and overall vision that the new Local Plan could have. I reserve the right to return to this vision with greater detail and more specific references as the Plan is developed.

Let’s see this new Local Plan as an opportunity for Cheshire East to show that it can plan and develop within the Borough and meet government expectations while also meeting the legitimate expectations of residents. Let’s use as many new and innovative ways as possible to work with all sections of our community in a constructive way so that development becomes a negotiated process with residents and they no longer see it as destructive and a process which will undermine their quality of life, communities and future happiness.

Protect our natural environment and wildlife: Cheshire and Warrington’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) highlights decades of decline in nature and the environment. Both the assessment of the LNRS and that of Cheshire Wildlife Trust identifies Cheshire East as suffering from “severe habitat loss, noting it is one of the most nature-depleted areas in the country”. This must be addressed within the new Local Plan.


Most importantly, the environment, wildlife and the natural world must be given greater protection and greater weight in assessments of priorities in the new Local Plan with developers being required to adhere to current CE standards or higher, as part of the considerations included in planning decisions and the overall Plan. Cheshire East must become known as an area where developers and business work alongside wildlife and the natural world, not against it and Cheshire East should cultivate a reputation for expecting and enforcing very high standards of protection of the natural world and wildlife that goes far beyond tree planting and the requirements of hedgehog highways, swift bricks and bat boxes. It is possible for humans to live alongside the natural world and to take active protective and supportive steps, rather than putting wildlife second or merely mitigating the significant harms caused by poor development planning. It is possible to make Cheshire East a by-word for progressive nature protection and side-by-side development (for instance, pioneering the regular expectation of measures such as wildlife bridges and ecoducts, which exist in 40 countries in the world, including the Netherlands, US, Canada, Germany, France and Switzerland) but it will take commitment and vision within the Local Plan to set this as a priority which developers cannot sidestep and for which s.106 funds could be negotiated. Residents will support this prioritisation of the environment and the natural world and will support Cheshire East in this commitment.

All of the above is an outline of the scoping and overall vision that the new Local Plan could have. I reserve the right to return to this vision with greater detail and more specific references as the Plan is developed.

Let’s see this new Local Plan as an opportunity for Cheshire East to show that it can plan and develop within the Borough and meet government expectations while also meeting the legitimate expectations of residents. Let’s use as many new and innovative ways as possible to work with all sections of our community in a constructive way so that development becomes a negotiated process with residents and they no longer see it as destructive and a process which will undermine their quality of life, communities and future happiness.

Protect our natural environment and wildlife: Cheshire and Warrington’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) highlights decades of decline in nature and the environment. Both the assessment of the LNRS and that of Cheshire Wildlife Trust identifies Cheshire East as suffering from “severe habitat loss, noting it is one of the most nature-depleted areas in the country”. This must be addressed within the new Local Plan.


Most importantly, the environment, wildlife and the natural world must be given greater protection and greater weight in assessments of priorities in the new Local Plan with developers being required to adhere to current CE standards or higher, as part of the considerations included in planning decisions and the overall Plan. Cheshire East must become known as an area where developers and business work alongside wildlife and the natural world, not against it and Cheshire East should cultivate a reputation for expecting and enforcing very high standards of protection of the natural world and wildlife that goes far beyond tree planting and the requirements of hedgehog highways, swift bricks and bat boxes. It is possible for humans to live alongside the natural world and to take active protective and supportive steps, rather than putting wildlife second or merely mitigating the significant harms caused by poor development planning. It is possible to make Cheshire East a by-word for progressive nature protection and side-by-side development (for instance, pioneering the regular expectation of measures such as wildlife bridges and ecoducts, which exist in 40 countries in the world, including the Netherlands, US, Canada, Germany, France and Switzerland) but it will take commitment and vision within the Local Plan to set this as a priority which developers cannot sidestep and for which s.106 funds could be negotiated. Residents will support this prioritisation of the environment and the natural world and will support Cheshire East in this commitment.

All of the above is an outline of the scoping and overall vision that the new Local Plan could have. I reserve the right to return to this vision with greater detail and more specific references as the Plan is developed.

Let’s see this new Local Plan as an opportunity for Cheshire East to show that it can plan and develop within the Borough and meet government expectations while also meeting the legitimate expectations of residents. Let’s use as many new and innovative ways as possible to work with all sections of our community in a constructive way so that development becomes a negotiated process with residents and they no longer see it as destructive and a process which will undermine their quality of life, communities and future happiness.