Poynton Town Council has slammed new proposals to build 650 homes over the next 15 years.

Cheshire East Council has been drawing up its Local Plan, which guides where homes and infrastructure will be built in the borough until 2030.

It has been beset with delays and is already well overdue, after the previous Local Plan expired in 2011.

Revised plans have revealed the authority is proposing to more than treble the amount of new housing needed in Poynton first identified in the draft Local Plan.

Areas where the homes could be built include: land off Hazelbadge Road; land off Sprink Farm, on Dickens Lane; and land off Chester Road.

Responding to the latest revisions a spokesman for Poynton Town Council said: “We were not consulted about these revised plans and do not support them. This list was drawn up by Cheshire East Council staff based in Crewe.

“Anyone with local knowledge would know there are many good reasons why these sites should not be developed. Our Neighbourhood Plan household survey shows that 65 per cent of Poynton’s residents want no more than 200 new houses.”

The town council claims land off Hazelbadge Road is ‘already seriously congested,’ because it includes Lower Park Primary School and is used for parking by passengers using Poynton railway station. It also argues development at Sprink Farm would impact on Dickens Lane which is ‘already used far beyond capacity’ and ‘would endanger (school) children’. The council’s view of proposals for land off Chester Road would reduce the Green Belt and ‘effectively add Poynton to the Stockport and Greater Manchester conurbation’.

The town council also claims Poynton’s roads lack the capacity to take the hundreds of extra cars the new homes would generate; the proposed sites are in land defined as flood risk; and the new homes would put extra strain on schools, doctors and other public services.

The spokesman added: “If these plans are implemented, the entire nature and character of Poynton would be irrevocably and detrimentally changed forever.”

Councillor Rachel Bailey, cabinet member in charge of the local plans, says the plans are simply an indication of sites under consideration at and town and parish councils will be consulted in the coming months.

She said: “All sites are subject to rigorous examination, including site visits by staff familiar with each of the towns concerned.

“The Council is being open and transparent by releasing early thoughts on sites to aid future discussions.

“No decision on sites has yet been made and will not be made, ultimately, until the Council submits its main modifications towards the end of the examination process.

“The Council’s final proposals on sites will firstly be subject to public consultation, then further examinations hearings with the Planning Inspector before he concludes his examination.”