Developers scramble for greenbelt land
HOME builders are queuing up to develop Macclesfield’s greenbelt sites, it can be revealed - as a planning inspector prepares to rule over where developments will be allowed in the future.
Seven developers have put forward proposals to build on greenbelt farming land in south-west Macclesfield.
The land has previously been earmarked to be ‘safeguarded’, meaning it would only be developed after 2030, but has now been proposed for immediate development in the latest draft of the Local plan.
Campaign group Save Macclesfield Green Belt (SMGB) is fighting the plans.
And now just before the Local Plan is due to be ruled over by a government planning inspector, more developers have come forward to build on the land.
In ‘Hearing Statements’ written to the planning inspector Stephen Pratt, developers argue Macclesfield needs more than the 4,250 extra homes the council has previously said it needs, between them proposing another 1,200 homes.
They have now submitted documents to persuade the inspector their land would give Macclesfield the homes it needs for the future.
But Tim Whiteley, from SMGB, said brownfield land should be tackled first. He said: “Developers are trying to get their sites included in the plan and saying the council has not allocated enough houses when they have.
“It’s a huge area and will have far reaching effects for the people of Maccles- field. We are not against development, but there needs to be better use of brownfield land in the centre. All this development on the greenbelt will leave our town gridlocked yet like a doughnut - development round the outside with nothing in the middle.”
A spokesman for Cheshire East council said: “Areas of land at site CS32 which was safeguarded for future development have now been put forward for immediate development by agents for the developers.”
SMGB has a fighting fund at gofundme. com/2hcegq4.
The inspector started examining the Local Plan at Congleton this week. The proposals for Macclesfield will be examined at Macclesfield Town Hall from Wednesday, September 28.