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Local plan scoping consultation
Respondent: Church Lawton Parish Council
Representation Summary:
Church Lawton Parish Council is concerned about poor communication and engagement during the Local Plan process and seeks earlier, more meaningful consultation with parish councils and residents. It stresses that housing growth must be linked to infrastructure capacity, including roads, schools, healthcare, utilities and public transport, while giving greater priority to climate change mitigation. The Council supports stronger protection of Green Belt, brownfield-first development, productive farmland, heritage assets and rural tourism. It calls for transparent site assessment methods, local input into Green Belt and settlement reviews, improved transport planning, and more accessible consultation methods to ensure all communities, including elderly residents, can participate effectively.
Full text:
Lawton Parish Council does not believe that engagement with Town and Parish Councils and our residents has been sufficient to date. We would welcome more timely communication from Cheshire East Council to enable the Parish Council to keep residents informed and support Local Plan consultations effectively.
As an example, the recent publication of updated Call for Sites information and this consultation was not communicated to parish councils in advance, leaving us unable to answer residents' questions adequately.
The Parish Council therefore requests that Town and Parish Councils are notified ahead of key Local Plan milestones. Better communication would allow us to support resident engagement, promote accurate information and help reduce misinformation within our communities.
The Parish Council welcomes the dedicated Local Plan website and hopes it will remain up to date and informative throughout the process.
Section 2: New Local Plan
Church Lawton Parish Council has no comment to make on this section.
Section 3: Context for the New Local Plan
Increase in housing requirements
The new housing target and how it could change our communities is alarming to most. The process for how sites will be allocated across the borough needs communicating to residents – will numbers be allocated across parishes or will the allocation concentrate in some key areas?
Church Lawton Parish Councill feels that housing numbers must not be considered independently from infrastructure capacity. Development of any site should only proceed where there is a clear understanding of its impact upon roads, schools, healthcare, public transport, drainage, utilities, open spaces and community facilities, together with an identified and deliverable mechanism for providing the necessary improvements.
Climate change and its mitigation is a further important consideration which Cheshire East Council should factor into all proposals.
The Parish Council strongly urges Cheshire East Council to consider issue of an Interim Housing Statement which would help protect against the current speculative development opportunities that are taking place due to a lack of a five-year housing supply.
Section 4: Baseline information and spatial portrait
Connectivity
Whilst Cheshire East may appear well connected on paper, the road network in particular is currently over stretched in many areas and some key routes are heavily affected due to frequent incidents on the motorway network.
The new Local Plan must address the improvements required to the transport network to accommodate increased housing delivery and economic development. Growth in both areas will generate additional traffic, including private vehicles and commercial freight movements, and the necessary infrastructure upgrades should be planned and delivered alongside development.
Church Lawton itself can quickly become completely gridlocked and Cheshire East Council needs to recognise that required improvements to the network are needed in rural areas as well as urban areas.
Economic Contribution
The Parish Council has concerns about the loss of productive farmland to housing. The farming industry is a significant source of employment in Cheshire East as well as being productive to the food supply chain. How will the Local Plan try and protect farming areas?
The Parish council would like the Local Plan to recognise and support the importance of tourism to many communities, including smaller rural communities, which can help them to remain thriving and vibrant.
Section 5: Scope of the New Local Plan
Identifying and assessing sites
The allocation of sites to accommodate the housing numbers and economic growth is something which has great significance to communities. The Parish Council feel that regular information sessions with Town and Parish Councils and residents would help to enable understanding of the process.
Whilst the Parish Council appreciates that some of the site selections will be based on planning law, the new NPPF and practicalities of development, it is also imperative that Cheshire East Council meet with each Town and Parish Councils individually at the earliest practical opportunity to discuss options and to glean local information. Town and Parish Councils and its residents are a valuable resource to understanding a community’s needs.
In particular, the Parish Council feels it is very important that Cheshire East Council share its assessment methodology at the earliest opportunity.
Green Belt
The Parish Council seeks assurances on how Cheshire East Council plan to protect the Green Belt as much as possible and would like to have input into any Greenbelt Assessment report. (Who is doing it, when are they doing it and what will the scope of work be?)
The Parish Council is aware of the definitions of grey belt in the NPPF and feels that some of the criteria are open to interpretation. Great care needs to be taken to ensure the robustness of any decisions made when determining a site to be Grey Belt with clear criteria. Town and Parish Councils should also be consulted for their local knowledge before these designations are made.
The Parish Council agrees that brownfield sites need much greater weight and this can apply to some rural settlements as well as urban areas. All Town and Parish Council should be asked to help identify potential brownfield sites to ensure they are used to their full potential.
Housing diversification and Providing for Small and Medium Sized Sites
The quantity of small sites that are required will have a significant impact on many of the smaller communities such as Church Lawton. As already stated in response to section 1, The Parish Council feels very strongly that consultation with Town and Parish Councils must take place at the earliest possible opportunities and that communities are kept fully updated and given opportunity to have their say before sites are fixed.
Transport and Infrastructure
The Parish Council would welcome a robust Local Transport Plan and hope that Town and Parish Councils will be consulted in the early stages so that Cheshire East council can benefit from their local expert knowledge.
The cycleway network and improvements should be seen as a key part of any transport plan. Cycleways should be designed to be purposeful and beneficial to encourage widespread use.
Other measures which can improve traffic flow such as proper bus pull ins should be considered through plan policy.
Heritage
The New Local Plan needs to incorporate local heritage sites as identified by the community as well as those identified through other means. The Communities across Cheshire East should be consulted so that CEC can ensure their database of sites is complete.
As an example, Church Lawton has a significant bronze age Barrows which may not be known to Cheshire East Council.
Climate Change Adaptation
The scoping document as presented for this consultation does not seem to give climate change the importance it deserves. The Parish Council feels that the New Local Plan needs to give climate change mitigation a high priority.
Settlement Hierarchy
The Parish Council infers from Section 5.145 that Cheshire East Council is undertaking a review Settlement Hierarchy. In relation to services and facilities, it’s important to note that communities like Church Lawton have very few which would serve any new development. Also, Cheshire East Council should note that some "villages " such as Church Lawton have no real core and are dispersed and are therefore not suitable to be designated as " infill villages".
6 Proposed Local Plan Engagement Strategy
The Parish Council does need to raise most strongly that we have received a lot of complaints from residents who have been confused by the process due what is seen as poor communication from Cheshire East Council. Concerns have been raised that too many people seem to not be aware of the consultation at all.
The Parish Council feels it is very importance for Cheshire East Council to engage productively and pro-actively with Town and Parish Councils and residents. This consultation has seemed rushed and had no advance notification which has led to confusion and frustration with our residents.
There are many people, especially the elderly, that struggle with online access, and they shouldn’t be excluded from the process.
The engagement principles in section 6.35 are robust but don’t seem to have been adhered to for this scoping consultation as residents in Church Lawton don’t appear to have any means of answering the consultation other than online.
Copies of consultations should be available in libraries and, in rural areas, in the many community halls and venues across the borough. This is another area where Town and Parish Councils can help to identify suitable locations and Cheshire East Council should recognise and utilise this resource.
Residents need to be able to feel that their contributions to consultations through the process are valued as too often it can appear that Cheshire East Council consultations are just a ‘tick box exercise’ which isn’t conducive to the engagement strategy.
The idea of assembles in section 6.46 – 6.48 will leave many communities unrepresented. Twenty-five for an assembly is far too few to be fairly representative across the spectrum of diversity, both geographically and demographically.
Local plan scoping consultation
Respondent: Church Lawton Parish Council
Representation Summary:
Church Lawton Parish Council is concerned about poor communication and engagement during the Local Plan process and seeks earlier, more meaningful consultation with parish councils and residents. It stresses that housing growth must be linked to infrastructure capacity, including roads, schools, healthcare, utilities and public transport, while giving greater priority to climate change mitigation. The Council supports stronger protection of Green Belt, brownfield-first development, productive farmland, heritage assets and rural tourism. It calls for transparent site assessment methods, local input into Green Belt and settlement reviews, improved transport planning, and more accessible consultation methods to ensure all communities, including elderly residents, can participate effectively.
Full text:
Lawton Parish Council does not believe that engagement with Town and Parish Councils and our residents has been sufficient to date. We would welcome more timely communication from Cheshire East Council to enable the Parish Council to keep residents informed and support Local Plan consultations effectively.
As an example, the recent publication of updated Call for Sites information and this consultation was not communicated to parish councils in advance, leaving us unable to answer residents' questions adequately.
The Parish Council therefore requests that Town and Parish Councils are notified ahead of key Local Plan milestones. Better communication would allow us to support resident engagement, promote accurate information and help reduce misinformation within our communities.
The Parish Council welcomes the dedicated Local Plan website and hopes it will remain up to date and informative throughout the process.
Section 2: New Local Plan
Church Lawton Parish Council has no comment to make on this section.
Section 3: Context for the New Local Plan
Increase in housing requirements
The new housing target and how it could change our communities is alarming to most. The process for how sites will be allocated across the borough needs communicating to residents – will numbers be allocated across parishes or will the allocation concentrate in some key areas?
Church Lawton Parish Councill feels that housing numbers must not be considered independently from infrastructure capacity. Development of any site should only proceed where there is a clear understanding of its impact upon roads, schools, healthcare, public transport, drainage, utilities, open spaces and community facilities, together with an identified and deliverable mechanism for providing the necessary improvements.
Climate change and its mitigation is a further important consideration which Cheshire East Council should factor into all proposals.
The Parish Council strongly urges Cheshire East Council to consider issue of an Interim Housing Statement which would help protect against the current speculative development opportunities that are taking place due to a lack of a five-year housing supply.
Section 4: Baseline information and spatial portrait
Connectivity
Whilst Cheshire East may appear well connected on paper, the road network in particular is currently over stretched in many areas and some key routes are heavily affected due to frequent incidents on the motorway network.
The new Local Plan must address the improvements required to the transport network to accommodate increased housing delivery and economic development. Growth in both areas will generate additional traffic, including private vehicles and commercial freight movements, and the necessary infrastructure upgrades should be planned and delivered alongside development.
Church Lawton itself can quickly become completely gridlocked and Cheshire East Council needs to recognise that required improvements to the network are needed in rural areas as well as urban areas.
Economic Contribution
The Parish Council has concerns about the loss of productive farmland to housing. The farming industry is a significant source of employment in Cheshire East as well as being productive to the food supply chain. How will the Local Plan try and protect farming areas?
The Parish council would like the Local Plan to recognise and support the importance of tourism to many communities, including smaller rural communities, which can help them to remain thriving and vibrant.
Section 5: Scope of the New Local Plan
Identifying and assessing sites
The allocation of sites to accommodate the housing numbers and economic growth is something which has great significance to communities. The Parish Council feel that regular information sessions with Town and Parish Councils and residents would help to enable understanding of the process.
Whilst the Parish Council appreciates that some of the site selections will be based on planning law, the new NPPF and practicalities of development, it is also imperative that Cheshire East Council meet with each Town and Parish Councils individually at the earliest practical opportunity to discuss options and to glean local information. Town and Parish Councils and its residents are a valuable resource to understanding a community’s needs.
In particular, the Parish Council feels it is very important that Cheshire East Council share its assessment methodology at the earliest opportunity.
Green Belt
The Parish Council seeks assurances on how Cheshire East Council plan to protect the Green Belt as much as possible and would like to have input into any Greenbelt Assessment report. (Who is doing it, when are they doing it and what will the scope of work be?)
The Parish Council is aware of the definitions of grey belt in the NPPF and feels that some of the criteria are open to interpretation. Great care needs to be taken to ensure the robustness of any decisions made when determining a site to be Grey Belt with clear criteria. Town and Parish Councils should also be consulted for their local knowledge before these designations are made.
The Parish Council agrees that brownfield sites need much greater weight and this can apply to some rural settlements as well as urban areas. All Town and Parish Council should be asked to help identify potential brownfield sites to ensure they are used to their full potential.
Housing diversification and Providing for Small and Medium Sized Sites
The quantity of small sites that are required will have a significant impact on many of the smaller communities such as Church Lawton. As already stated in response to section 1, The Parish Council feels very strongly that consultation with Town and Parish Councils must take place at the earliest possible opportunities and that communities are kept fully updated and given opportunity to have their say before sites are fixed.
Transport and Infrastructure
The Parish Council would welcome a robust Local Transport Plan and hope that Town and Parish Councils will be consulted in the early stages so that Cheshire East council can benefit from their local expert knowledge.
The cycleway network and improvements should be seen as a key part of any transport plan. Cycleways should be designed to be purposeful and beneficial to encourage widespread use.
Other measures which can improve traffic flow such as proper bus pull ins should be considered through plan policy.
Heritage
The New Local Plan needs to incorporate local heritage sites as identified by the community as well as those identified through other means. The Communities across Cheshire East should be consulted so that CEC can ensure their database of sites is complete.
As an example, Church Lawton has a significant bronze age Barrows which may not be known to Cheshire East Council.
Climate Change Adaptation
The scoping document as presented for this consultation does not seem to give climate change the importance it deserves. The Parish Council feels that the New Local Plan needs to give climate change mitigation a high priority.
Settlement Hierarchy
The Parish Council infers from Section 5.145 that Cheshire East Council is undertaking a review Settlement Hierarchy. In relation to services and facilities, it’s important to note that communities like Church Lawton have very few which would serve any new development. Also, Cheshire East Council should note that some "villages " such as Church Lawton have no real core and are dispersed and are therefore not suitable to be designated as " infill villages".
6 Proposed Local Plan Engagement Strategy
The Parish Council does need to raise most strongly that we have received a lot of complaints from residents who have been confused by the process due what is seen as poor communication from Cheshire East Council. Concerns have been raised that too many people seem to not be aware of the consultation at all.
The Parish Council feels it is very importance for Cheshire East Council to engage productively and pro-actively with Town and Parish Councils and residents. This consultation has seemed rushed and had no advance notification which has led to confusion and frustration with our residents.
There are many people, especially the elderly, that struggle with online access, and they shouldn’t be excluded from the process.
The engagement principles in section 6.35 are robust but don’t seem to have been adhered to for this scoping consultation as residents in Church Lawton don’t appear to have any means of answering the consultation other than online.
Copies of consultations should be available in libraries and, in rural areas, in the many community halls and venues across the borough. This is another area where Town and Parish Councils can help to identify suitable locations and Cheshire East Council should recognise and utilise this resource.
Residents need to be able to feel that their contributions to consultations through the process are valued as too often it can appear that Cheshire East Council consultations are just a ‘tick box exercise’ which isn’t conducive to the engagement strategy.
The idea of assembles in section 6.46 – 6.48 will leave many communities unrepresented. Twenty-five for an assembly is far too few to be fairly representative across the spectrum of diversity, both geographically and demographically.
Local plan scoping consultation
Respondent: Church Lawton Parish Council
Representation Summary:
Church Lawton Parish Council is concerned about poor communication and engagement during the Local Plan process and seeks earlier, more meaningful consultation with parish councils and residents. It stresses that housing growth must be linked to infrastructure capacity, including roads, schools, healthcare, utilities and public transport, while giving greater priority to climate change mitigation. The Council supports stronger protection of Green Belt, brownfield-first development, productive farmland, heritage assets and rural tourism. It calls for transparent site assessment methods, local input into Green Belt and settlement reviews, improved transport planning, and more accessible consultation methods to ensure all communities, including elderly residents, can participate effectively.
Full text:
Lawton Parish Council does not believe that engagement with Town and Parish Councils and our residents has been sufficient to date. We would welcome more timely communication from Cheshire East Council to enable the Parish Council to keep residents informed and support Local Plan consultations effectively.
As an example, the recent publication of updated Call for Sites information and this consultation was not communicated to parish councils in advance, leaving us unable to answer residents' questions adequately.
The Parish Council therefore requests that Town and Parish Councils are notified ahead of key Local Plan milestones. Better communication would allow us to support resident engagement, promote accurate information and help reduce misinformation within our communities.
The Parish Council welcomes the dedicated Local Plan website and hopes it will remain up to date and informative throughout the process.
Section 2: New Local Plan
Church Lawton Parish Council has no comment to make on this section.
Section 3: Context for the New Local Plan
Increase in housing requirements
The new housing target and how it could change our communities is alarming to most. The process for how sites will be allocated across the borough needs communicating to residents – will numbers be allocated across parishes or will the allocation concentrate in some key areas?
Church Lawton Parish Councill feels that housing numbers must not be considered independently from infrastructure capacity. Development of any site should only proceed where there is a clear understanding of its impact upon roads, schools, healthcare, public transport, drainage, utilities, open spaces and community facilities, together with an identified and deliverable mechanism for providing the necessary improvements.
Climate change and its mitigation is a further important consideration which Cheshire East Council should factor into all proposals.
The Parish Council strongly urges Cheshire East Council to consider issue of an Interim Housing Statement which would help protect against the current speculative development opportunities that are taking place due to a lack of a five-year housing supply.
Section 4: Baseline information and spatial portrait
Connectivity
Whilst Cheshire East may appear well connected on paper, the road network in particular is currently over stretched in many areas and some key routes are heavily affected due to frequent incidents on the motorway network.
The new Local Plan must address the improvements required to the transport network to accommodate increased housing delivery and economic development. Growth in both areas will generate additional traffic, including private vehicles and commercial freight movements, and the necessary infrastructure upgrades should be planned and delivered alongside development.
Church Lawton itself can quickly become completely gridlocked and Cheshire East Council needs to recognise that required improvements to the network are needed in rural areas as well as urban areas.
Economic Contribution
The Parish Council has concerns about the loss of productive farmland to housing. The farming industry is a significant source of employment in Cheshire East as well as being productive to the food supply chain. How will the Local Plan try and protect farming areas?
The Parish council would like the Local Plan to recognise and support the importance of tourism to many communities, including smaller rural communities, which can help them to remain thriving and vibrant.
Section 5: Scope of the New Local Plan
Identifying and assessing sites
The allocation of sites to accommodate the housing numbers and economic growth is something which has great significance to communities. The Parish Council feel that regular information sessions with Town and Parish Councils and residents would help to enable understanding of the process.
Whilst the Parish Council appreciates that some of the site selections will be based on planning law, the new NPPF and practicalities of development, it is also imperative that Cheshire East Council meet with each Town and Parish Councils individually at the earliest practical opportunity to discuss options and to glean local information. Town and Parish Councils and its residents are a valuable resource to understanding a community’s needs.
In particular, the Parish Council feels it is very important that Cheshire East Council share its assessment methodology at the earliest opportunity.
Green Belt
The Parish Council seeks assurances on how Cheshire East Council plan to protect the Green Belt as much as possible and would like to have input into any Greenbelt Assessment report. (Who is doing it, when are they doing it and what will the scope of work be?)
The Parish Council is aware of the definitions of grey belt in the NPPF and feels that some of the criteria are open to interpretation. Great care needs to be taken to ensure the robustness of any decisions made when determining a site to be Grey Belt with clear criteria. Town and Parish Councils should also be consulted for their local knowledge before these designations are made.
The Parish Council agrees that brownfield sites need much greater weight and this can apply to some rural settlements as well as urban areas. All Town and Parish Council should be asked to help identify potential brownfield sites to ensure they are used to their full potential.
Housing diversification and Providing for Small and Medium Sized Sites
The quantity of small sites that are required will have a significant impact on many of the smaller communities such as Church Lawton. As already stated in response to section 1, The Parish Council feels very strongly that consultation with Town and Parish Councils must take place at the earliest possible opportunities and that communities are kept fully updated and given opportunity to have their say before sites are fixed.
Transport and Infrastructure
The Parish Council would welcome a robust Local Transport Plan and hope that Town and Parish Councils will be consulted in the early stages so that Cheshire East council can benefit from their local expert knowledge.
The cycleway network and improvements should be seen as a key part of any transport plan. Cycleways should be designed to be purposeful and beneficial to encourage widespread use.
Other measures which can improve traffic flow such as proper bus pull ins should be considered through plan policy.
Heritage
The New Local Plan needs to incorporate local heritage sites as identified by the community as well as those identified through other means. The Communities across Cheshire East should be consulted so that CEC can ensure their database of sites is complete.
As an example, Church Lawton has a significant bronze age Barrows which may not be known to Cheshire East Council.
Climate Change Adaptation
The scoping document as presented for this consultation does not seem to give climate change the importance it deserves. The Parish Council feels that the New Local Plan needs to give climate change mitigation a high priority.
Settlement Hierarchy
The Parish Council infers from Section 5.145 that Cheshire East Council is undertaking a review Settlement Hierarchy. In relation to services and facilities, it’s important to note that communities like Church Lawton have very few which would serve any new development. Also, Cheshire East Council should note that some "villages " such as Church Lawton have no real core and are dispersed and are therefore not suitable to be designated as " infill villages".
6 Proposed Local Plan Engagement Strategy
The Parish Council does need to raise most strongly that we have received a lot of complaints from residents who have been confused by the process due what is seen as poor communication from Cheshire East Council. Concerns have been raised that too many people seem to not be aware of the consultation at all.
The Parish Council feels it is very importance for Cheshire East Council to engage productively and pro-actively with Town and Parish Councils and residents. This consultation has seemed rushed and had no advance notification which has led to confusion and frustration with our residents.
There are many people, especially the elderly, that struggle with online access, and they shouldn’t be excluded from the process.
The engagement principles in section 6.35 are robust but don’t seem to have been adhered to for this scoping consultation as residents in Church Lawton don’t appear to have any means of answering the consultation other than online.
Copies of consultations should be available in libraries and, in rural areas, in the many community halls and venues across the borough. This is another area where Town and Parish Councils can help to identify suitable locations and Cheshire East Council should recognise and utilise this resource.
Residents need to be able to feel that their contributions to consultations through the process are valued as too often it can appear that Cheshire East Council consultations are just a ‘tick box exercise’ which isn’t conducive to the engagement strategy.
The idea of assembles in section 6.46 – 6.48 will leave many communities unrepresented. Twenty-five for an assembly is far too few to be fairly representative across the spectrum of diversity, both geographically and demographically.
Local plan scoping consultation
Strategic environmental assessment
Respondent: Church Lawton Parish Council
Representation Summary:
Church Lawton Parish Council is concerned about poor communication and engagement during the Local Plan process and seeks earlier, more meaningful consultation with parish councils and residents. It stresses that housing growth must be linked to infrastructure capacity, including roads, schools, healthcare, utilities and public transport, while giving greater priority to climate change mitigation. The Council supports stronger protection of Green Belt, brownfield-first development, productive farmland, heritage assets and rural tourism. It calls for transparent site assessment methods, local input into Green Belt and settlement reviews, improved transport planning, and more accessible consultation methods to ensure all communities, including elderly residents, can participate effectively.
Full text:
Lawton Parish Council does not believe that engagement with Town and Parish Councils and our residents has been sufficient to date. We would welcome more timely communication from Cheshire East Council to enable the Parish Council to keep residents informed and support Local Plan consultations effectively.
As an example, the recent publication of updated Call for Sites information and this consultation was not communicated to parish councils in advance, leaving us unable to answer residents' questions adequately.
The Parish Council therefore requests that Town and Parish Councils are notified ahead of key Local Plan milestones. Better communication would allow us to support resident engagement, promote accurate information and help reduce misinformation within our communities.
The Parish Council welcomes the dedicated Local Plan website and hopes it will remain up to date and informative throughout the process.
Section 2: New Local Plan
Church Lawton Parish Council has no comment to make on this section.
Section 3: Context for the New Local Plan
Increase in housing requirements
The new housing target and how it could change our communities is alarming to most. The process for how sites will be allocated across the borough needs communicating to residents – will numbers be allocated across parishes or will the allocation concentrate in some key areas?
Church Lawton Parish Councill feels that housing numbers must not be considered independently from infrastructure capacity. Development of any site should only proceed where there is a clear understanding of its impact upon roads, schools, healthcare, public transport, drainage, utilities, open spaces and community facilities, together with an identified and deliverable mechanism for providing the necessary improvements.
Climate change and its mitigation is a further important consideration which Cheshire East Council should factor into all proposals.
The Parish Council strongly urges Cheshire East Council to consider issue of an Interim Housing Statement which would help protect against the current speculative development opportunities that are taking place due to a lack of a five-year housing supply.
Section 4: Baseline information and spatial portrait
Connectivity
Whilst Cheshire East may appear well connected on paper, the road network in particular is currently over stretched in many areas and some key routes are heavily affected due to frequent incidents on the motorway network.
The new Local Plan must address the improvements required to the transport network to accommodate increased housing delivery and economic development. Growth in both areas will generate additional traffic, including private vehicles and commercial freight movements, and the necessary infrastructure upgrades should be planned and delivered alongside development.
Church Lawton itself can quickly become completely gridlocked and Cheshire East Council needs to recognise that required improvements to the network are needed in rural areas as well as urban areas.
Economic Contribution
The Parish Council has concerns about the loss of productive farmland to housing. The farming industry is a significant source of employment in Cheshire East as well as being productive to the food supply chain. How will the Local Plan try and protect farming areas?
The Parish council would like the Local Plan to recognise and support the importance of tourism to many communities, including smaller rural communities, which can help them to remain thriving and vibrant.
Section 5: Scope of the New Local Plan
Identifying and assessing sites
The allocation of sites to accommodate the housing numbers and economic growth is something which has great significance to communities. The Parish Council feel that regular information sessions with Town and Parish Councils and residents would help to enable understanding of the process.
Whilst the Parish Council appreciates that some of the site selections will be based on planning law, the new NPPF and practicalities of development, it is also imperative that Cheshire East Council meet with each Town and Parish Councils individually at the earliest practical opportunity to discuss options and to glean local information. Town and Parish Councils and its residents are a valuable resource to understanding a community’s needs.
In particular, the Parish Council feels it is very important that Cheshire East Council share its assessment methodology at the earliest opportunity.
Green Belt
The Parish Council seeks assurances on how Cheshire East Council plan to protect the Green Belt as much as possible and would like to have input into any Greenbelt Assessment report. (Who is doing it, when are they doing it and what will the scope of work be?)
The Parish Council is aware of the definitions of grey belt in the NPPF and feels that some of the criteria are open to interpretation. Great care needs to be taken to ensure the robustness of any decisions made when determining a site to be Grey Belt with clear criteria. Town and Parish Councils should also be consulted for their local knowledge before these designations are made.
The Parish Council agrees that brownfield sites need much greater weight and this can apply to some rural settlements as well as urban areas. All Town and Parish Council should be asked to help identify potential brownfield sites to ensure they are used to their full potential.
Housing diversification and Providing for Small and Medium Sized Sites
The quantity of small sites that are required will have a significant impact on many of the smaller communities such as Church Lawton. As already stated in response to section 1, The Parish Council feels very strongly that consultation with Town and Parish Councils must take place at the earliest possible opportunities and that communities are kept fully updated and given opportunity to have their say before sites are fixed.
Transport and Infrastructure
The Parish Council would welcome a robust Local Transport Plan and hope that Town and Parish Councils will be consulted in the early stages so that Cheshire East council can benefit from their local expert knowledge.
The cycleway network and improvements should be seen as a key part of any transport plan. Cycleways should be designed to be purposeful and beneficial to encourage widespread use.
Other measures which can improve traffic flow such as proper bus pull ins should be considered through plan policy.
Heritage
The New Local Plan needs to incorporate local heritage sites as identified by the community as well as those identified through other means. The Communities across Cheshire East should be consulted so that CEC can ensure their database of sites is complete.
As an example, Church Lawton has a significant bronze age Barrows which may not be known to Cheshire East Council.
Climate Change Adaptation
The scoping document as presented for this consultation does not seem to give climate change the importance it deserves. The Parish Council feels that the New Local Plan needs to give climate change mitigation a high priority.
Settlement Hierarchy
The Parish Council infers from Section 5.145 that Cheshire East Council is undertaking a review Settlement Hierarchy. In relation to services and facilities, it’s important to note that communities like Church Lawton have very few which would serve any new development. Also, Cheshire East Council should note that some "villages " such as Church Lawton have no real core and are dispersed and are therefore not suitable to be designated as " infill villages".
6 Proposed Local Plan Engagement Strategy
The Parish Council does need to raise most strongly that we have received a lot of complaints from residents who have been confused by the process due what is seen as poor communication from Cheshire East Council. Concerns have been raised that too many people seem to not be aware of the consultation at all.
The Parish Council feels it is very importance for Cheshire East Council to engage productively and pro-actively with Town and Parish Councils and residents. This consultation has seemed rushed and had no advance notification which has led to confusion and frustration with our residents.
There are many people, especially the elderly, that struggle with online access, and they shouldn’t be excluded from the process.
The engagement principles in section 6.35 are robust but don’t seem to have been adhered to for this scoping consultation as residents in Church Lawton don’t appear to have any means of answering the consultation other than online.
Copies of consultations should be available in libraries and, in rural areas, in the many community halls and venues across the borough. This is another area where Town and Parish Councils can help to identify suitable locations and Cheshire East Council should recognise and utilise this resource.
Residents need to be able to feel that their contributions to consultations through the process are valued as too often it can appear that Cheshire East Council consultations are just a ‘tick box exercise’ which isn’t conducive to the engagement strategy.
The idea of assembles in section 6.46 – 6.48 will leave many communities unrepresented. Twenty-five for an assembly is far too few to be fairly representative across the spectrum of diversity, both geographically and demographically.
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