A call has gone out for a final fight for the green belt as new swathes of protected land are at risk from development.
Cheshire East has released its latest document on the Local Plan which could determine where houses, roads, offices and facilities will be built over 20 years. Wilmslow’s Conservative councillors have this week said victories have been won for the town.
They say this includes a final figure of 400 new homes for Wilmslow, down from 1,500 originally proposed last year, and the decision to protect a field opposite Royal London on Alderley Road as open space.
But there were a few surprises in the latest draft and campaigners say the fight for the green belt is not over. Now 14 hectares of land at Upcast Lane and Cumber Lane will be removed from the green belt for development after 2030 - known as safeguarding.
Twenty six hectares of green belt land off Prestbury Road in Wilmslow, part owned by the council and partly privately-owned, will also be set aside for future development.
The new plan also includes a 25,000 sq m Wilmslow Business Park in a six hectare site to the between the railway line and A34 Wilmslow bypass.
Roger Bagguley, 72, of Cumber Lane, a member of campaign group Residents of Wilmslow (RoW), said: “I urge the people of Wilmslow to rise up again and say no to building on the green belt.”
The draft includes 200 houses off Adlington Road, with open space, facilities, new pedestrian and cycle links.
Green belt at the main Royal London site could see 75 homes, employment land, hotel and new pedestrian and cycle links.
A new settlement on council-owned green belt east of the Handforth bypass is being proposed, with 12 hectares of employment, 1,800 homes, retail, secondary and primary schools, leisure, country park and sports pitches. More land will be safeguarded for 600 homes beyond 2030.
Conservative Cheshire East councillors Gary Barton, Wesley Fitzgerald, Rod Menlove, Don Stockton and Paul Whiteley said in a statement to the Express: “Accepting development on Adlington Road has enabled Cheshire East to protect large sections of green belt land around Wilmslow.
“We have also ensured that there will be no further major developments in Dean Row.”
Cheshire East has drafted a report with the latest proposals for councillors on the Strategic Planning Board who will meet today, Thursday, September 26, 10.30am at Crewe Alexander Football Club. Once signed off by Cabinet on October 15 and Council on October 17, this Core Strategy will be subject to a six-week consultation.
View the full report among the document’s for today’s meeting at www.cheshireeast.gov.uk.
