BIG PICTURE
WHAT’S POINT OF STANDARDS?
HILLCREST Homes’ proposed historic Cumberland Street development has been revised again.
Unfortunately, three storey houses are still closer to existing properties than official privacy/proximity guidelines stipulate.
The main school block conversion and new large apartment block have been allocated just 53 per cent of Cheshire’ East’s recommended number of parking spaces.
The council’s affordable housing standard is not met because it threatens profitability.
Air quality is seemingly nothing to worry about despite the land being next to an air quality management area (official pollution hotspot on
Hibel Road).
These plans are for a much denser build than a senior policy planner and local councillors’ aspiration the site be ‘low density’ and ‘low level’ (bungalows).
What’s the point of Cheshire East having standards?
‘They’re only guidelines’ they say.
So in application after application we see their long lists of value adds, while individuals, community groups, parish councils and town council have to plead for value losses (greenbelt, views, privacy, wildlife habitats, history, air quality, road safety etc).
The strategic planning board meets virtually on Wednesday, March 24, (or April 21st) to debate the Cumberland Street a third time (deferred twice for good reason).
If you’re fed up, please scrutinise the new plans and aerial images on Cheshire East’s planning portal (reference 19/1068M) and tell planners what you think by Thursday, March 18.
Also, the developer has not [spared] the memorial pavilion building, the planning board insisted in December it be retained.
This repurposing will at least sustainably secure it, though it’s a travesty it could not be saved as it is, where it is.
Rosey Green
Pownall Street, Macclesfield
VIC OFFERS FULL VALUE
IT is worth £1.40 just to read [Vic Barlow’s] column
Vic is not a political activist and would not get his observations published in your paper if he was.
Therefore the letter from Mr Teasdale last week leaves a lot to be desired.
His insinuation that Mr Barlow is a Conservative spin doctor is totally without foundation and quite frankly pathetic
Is said Mr Teasdale a Corbynista?
The like of which helped Boris, rightly or wrongly, achieve a landslide victory
Jo K Jones
Moss Lane, Macclesfield
NOBODY WANTS THESE HOMES
RE the letter from Samantha Lyons, I totally agree with her comments.
It is about time that Councillor Corcoran speaks up in defence of the residents of Broken Cross and Henbury.
Nobody wants this development.
The council should throw out all three planning applications for the development of the land on Chelford Road.
I thought we were supposed to be saving the planet not destroying it further by releasing CO2 into the atmosphere from 24,00 cubic metres of peat.
We are being encouraged not to buy compost with peat in so I hope the council will not let the developers dig up this peat just so they can build houses which nobody in the area want.
Now that the schools are fully open it is even more obvious that Priory Lane, Fallibroome and Chelford Roads cannot cope with the current level of traffic, let alone the increase caused by the proposed 300 or more houses, even if Broken Cross is altered.
There are still going to be the same amount of roads going to one central point, a roundabout. Name and address supplied
MIXED TORY MESSAGES
I WAS interested to read two articles in the Macclesfield Express of Wednesday, March 10.
The first on page 4, ‘Party leaders clash over Covid budget’,
In it Councillor Sam Corcoran, Labour, spoke about the government saying: “There’s no green [agenda] – one scheme I would have liked to have seen is retrofitting houses with insulation but that’s not there.”
The second article is on page 9, ‘Claim up to £10k for greener home’, in which Coun Nick Mannion, Labour, told us of a grant from the government for up to £10,000 to make residents homes more energy efficient using the Green Homes Grant Scheme.
The scheme offers support for insulation, low carbon heat, windows, doors and heating controls. Does anyone else enjoy spotting these contradictions? Councillor Lesley Smetham
Conservative, Gawsworth Ward
GREEN BELT DITHERING
THIS week Cheshire East Council lost yet another housing appeal.
This time it was greenfield land at Winterley which fell victim to the continual dither and delay of the Labour/Independent coalition and their failure to complete the Local Housing Plan.
This will now mean a further 55 houses being built on our green fields.
As a Poynton councillor, why am I writing about this? Because if this dither and delay continues, it will not just be the south of the borough that is affected, they will come for the green belt of Poynton and its surrounding areas too. Councillor Jos Saunders Conservative,
Poynton East and Pott Shrigley
MORE MEN MUST SAY NO
THE House of Commons held a debate, on Thursday, March 11, to mark International Women’s Day.
During this debate, the redoubtable Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, listed all women killed in the UK over the last year, where a man has been convicted or charged.
Readers of the Macclesfield Express can watch and listen to the list being read via the BBC website.
Jess Phillips told Parliament that ‘killed women are not vanishingly rare, killed women are common’.
If violence against women is to be stopped, a vital part of the campaign will be for more men to speak out and say ‘no’. David Whalley Waverley Close, Macclesfield
IT’S almost a year since the first national lockdown started in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and as we move into spring there is optimism the current lockdown restrictions will be lifted in line with the Government’s timetable.
We have all been affected to a greater or lesser degree, and the recovery will be challenging.
The rollout of the vaccination programme is an example of NHS best practice, and with falling infection rates will hopefully enable us to resume some kind of normality. Simple pleasures like seeing family, meeting friends, popping down to the shops or the pub have been out of reach for too long.
The impact of social isolation, already a problem pre-pandemic, is unprecedented particularly on children and young people’s mental wellbeing.
Throughout the pandemic many volunteers, individually or via organisations, have helped our local communities in countless ways including sourcing much-needed PPE and foodbank collections.
There seems to be a real desire to keep this going during recovery and beyond, incorporating lessons learned during lockdown. Our parks and open spaces have been accessed more than ever.
These green areas are of particular importance to those of us who live in the town centre, where many lack gardens or have shared yards, and green areas are at a premium.
Existing green spaces must be protected, and new ones created, which is why I spoke against the repurposing of Sparrow Park at the Cheshire East Council planning committee. It is reassuring the town council is encouraging input from the public on planned changes to Banbury and Victoria Parks.
Many of you will be aware of the review of council household waste recycling sites.
Anyone interested in reducing waste can join the council’s waste reduction volunteer initiative, details of which are on the website.