Local plan scoping consultation

Hello,

I appreciate that at this stage of the Local Plan being developed, potential housing and employment proposals are at a 'call for sites' stage.

Having reviewed the call for sites mapping though, I have concerns about the potential 'worst case', high growth scenario around two locations; Sandbach Heath and western Macclesfield / Broken Cross.

In the case of Sandbach Heath developments, there are two main issues;
- The local road network is already over capacity at pinch points, in particular the junction of the A533 and A534 is over capacity at peak times. That junction is key to accessing the M6, town centre, secondary schools and the train station.
- The area is poorly served by public transport and 'The Hill' is of a gradient which adversely impacts active travel potential - this will limit the degree of potential mode shift to mitigate the traffic impact.

From a transport and sustainability perspective, it would be preferable to develop housing near to the train station and M6 Junction, to reduce congestion on the local road network and decrease travel times.

In the case of the western side of Macclesfield, the issues in this case are;
- It includes sites which would destroy sites of environmental and historical landmark importance.
- These locations are poorly served by public transport and active travel links to public transport hubs. Access to rail stations (either Prestbury or Macclesfield) via active travel is not realistic due to distance and access barriers.
I have particular concerns over the sites on Whirley Road;
- The road is not designed for the volume of traffic which would route along it / use the junction with the A537. For example, it is evident from the number of road tyre marks that vehicles struggle to exit Whirley Road onto the A537, which poses a safety risk.
- On Whirley road there is a church / nursery and primary school and access points with restricted views - there is traffic calming in place as a result of existing safety concerns. Intentionally adding a large level of development traffic along this route would be contrary to those existing identified safety concerns.
- Similarly, it would not be appropriate to encourage / attract large numbers of HGVs along this route during construction phases, from a safety, noise / vibration and emissions perspective.
- Whirley Primary School is a sensitive location in particular and development in close proximity would put the health and wellbeing of students at unwarranted risk, and adversely impact their education potential.

It is my view that development around Macclesfield would make better use of potential high density opportunities within areas of practical walking distances to Macclesfield and Prestbury rail stations, rather than the greenbelt land of poor public transport and environmental and wellbeing risk around Whirly Road. This would be a more sustainable approach.

Should the worst case scenarios occur - translating from 'call for sites' to 'proposed sites' for the above areas - I expect they would unfortunately attract significant levels of scrutiny and likely challenge from a transport planning perspective.

I hope this feedback is helpful during the next stage of work, transitioning from potential to proposed site selection with the Plan development. I appreciate it is a difficult task and overall targets for housing are set across Cheshire East which have to be met. However, as I say, I think the 'worst case' scenario of large developments in the above areas, especially along Whirley Road, are not preferable.