Housing demand is lower than expected
OVER the summer the government put forward controversial proposals that could have promoted further development on green fields and agricultural land over regeneration and redevelopment of brownfield sites using something known as the ‘mutant algorithm’.
Cheadle Unite have campaigned on behalf of residents of Cheadle and the Moorlands for over a decade against the excessive housing plans put forward in the recently adopted Local Plan (6,000-plus houses across the Moorlands, including 1,200-plus in Cheadle to 2034), highlighting that the natural population growth, as projected by the Office For National Statistics, has consistently reduced since 2010.
So much so that in the Moorlands it has now levelled off and therefore the new housing demand is far lower.
At our last estimate it was around little over a tenth the planned figure (650 homes across the Moorlands and proportionally around 130 homes for Cheadle to 2034, based on natural demand).
SMDC made no substantive attempt to reduce their planned figures, even when given the opportunity by the Planning Inspector last year, using their own commissioned ‘Oxford Model’ to inflate demand.
Apart from creating significant stress and uncertainty for the community (alongside ignoring over 5,500 consultation responses), the inflated figures allowed developers the clear opportunity to look at and target our green spaces and unnecessary sprawl of our town, as well as local villages, using the argument that we don’t have the required five-year land provision to meet demand (against grossly unnecessary targets set by ‘corporate’ SMDC).
By comparison, with a realistic policy, Cheadle could easily accommodate over 130 houses on brownfield and windfall sites to 2034 (we suggested provision for 200 in Cheadle).
It appears earlier this month that, on a national level, the government has started to listen to the views of many across the country, like those of the residents of Cheadle, the Moorlands and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
Abandoning the ‘mutant algorithm’ and now considering changing the focus to regeneration of derelict wasteland in cities and urban areas,