Campaigners hit out at homes plan
CAMPAIGNERS are fighting to save countryside from plans to open it up to housing developers.
Members of Save Bollington Green Belt (SBGB) have hit out at Cheshire East Council over its latest proposals, which earmark land off Henshall Road for around 40 homes.
The draft version of the Site Allocation and Development Policies Document (SADPD) also includes a smaller area of greenbelt off Greenfield Road.
The document lists areas of greenbelt that can be used for housing after 2030 and is currently out to consultation. But SBGB says ‘special circumstances’ are still needed for green belt development and these do not apply.
According to members, projections have a 5,270 surplus of houses over the 36,000 required in Cheshire East by 2030. And they say Bollington already has its fair share.
Town councillor Ken Edwards, also from Bollington Civic Society, said: “This green belt issue is really important. It is at its simplest financial speculators buying bits of real estate in the green belt cheaply and then badgering planners who give in as they are pressured by government for housing numbers.
“But when half way through the plan period you can see the housing numbers being achieved you wonder what is going on.
”We can tell Cheshire East Council in the consultation what we think of their plan to designate our one large open space for yet more houses.”
The Henshall Road land is also central to Bollington’s plans to create a conservation area to protect heritage assets connected to the Greg family.
SBGB also says that the consultation process was poorly advertised so opposition could not be voiced as easily and the web portal to lodge objections is difficult to use.
Another common complaint is the language in the SADPD, which uses the word ‘safeguarded’ to describe land earmarked for development.
Critics say this is misleading and confusing because the word should be applied to areas that remain protected for the community, not set aside for house builders.
Cheshire East says this is phrasing all councils use as instructed by national planning policy and the draft plan shows evidence of why individual green belt sites have been selected.
Councillor Toni Fox, cabinet member for planning, said: “A limited number of smaller-scale, non-strategic parcels of land are proposed to be designated as safeguarded land..
“In summary, safeguarded land is removed from the green belt to meet potential development needs beyond 2030, which is the end of the current Local Plan period. It has been established through the adopted Local Plan Strategy that it is necessary to do this in order to comply with the requirements of national planning policy.
“Safeguarded land is not allocated for development and whether it should be allocated or not for development, in the longer term, would be decided through a future Local Plan review. In the meantime, national and local planning policy seeks to protect it from development.
“The plan has been publicised widely. Individual letters and emails have been sent to everyone who has asked to be kept in touch with Local Plan consultations. All town and parish councils have been invited to make further representations.”
SBGB is urging people to make their views known either via the Cheshire East website or by writing to Cheshire East Council, Spatial Planning (Westfields), C/o Municipal Buildings, Earle Street, Crewe CW1 2BJ. Consultation ends on December 7.