Cheshire East says it is committed to developing brownfield before green belt land and asked residents to identify suitable sites – and they have.

Wilmslow residents dutifully comprised a list of brownfield sites to be considered. Cheshire East, who often act with the speed of a sloth, rejected the list with an alacrity rarely seen outside an Olympic stadium.

Peter Yates, chief planning officer of Macclesfield Borough Council for more than 26 years, offered to show CEC planners brownfield sites that would accommodate ALL Macclesfield’s housing needs. Considering the furore surrounding green belt development it was an offer not to be spurned.

Despite several reminders that offer has not been taken up.

So what’s REALLY going on? Why the sudden land grab here, there and everywhere? The softening national policy regarding protection of the green belt appeared to open the door to developers. We did not expect our elected council to be leading the charge.

The rejection of the Wilmslow residents’ list, plus lack of interest in Mr Yates’s offer, does not bode well for a ‘brownfield first’ policy. 

The erosion of the green belt is no minor matter. Our children and grandchildren will live with the consequences.

It’s not the council’s vision that we should be pursuing but that of residents who hold this land in trust for the next generation. Just because the council believes that expansion and urbanisation is the way forward doesn’t make it so. In 2007 many of Ireland’s movers and shakers thought the same. The end result is property values halved and abandoned housing projects litter the country.

Of course we have to provide sufficient houses, but there are homes already approved that developers refuse to build due to lack of demand.

We have seen no evidence from Cheshire East that they have visited, surveyed or assessed ALL brownfield sites in our area. They have issued no verifiable statistics of the brownfield sites considered, approved or rejected.

Isn’t this far too big a decision to be taken without a detailed public examination of the alternatives to green belt erosion? I cannot think of any greater decision to be made on the future of our towns and villages. Is it not incumbent on the council to pursue every avenue before imposing their view on us?

Let us see a detailed analysis of brownfield sites and the rationale for building houses at a time when demand is at an all time low. Let us hear where all the extra people are coming from to purchase these homes, backed up by solid statistics.

The fiasco that is Lyme Green was created by the arrogant assumption that CEC knew best and protesting residents would be swept aside for the greater good (as perceived by a handful of powerful individuals).

The end result, as we all know, cost taxpayers £900k and made national headlines for its sheer incompetence but that relates to one small site in one little corner of Macclesfield.

A dash to churn up the green belt will affect our children and grandchildren forever. It wouldn’t just be a small corner of Macclesfield being destroyed, it would change every town and every village in the county.

Once it’s done there’s no going back. We can’t rewind the clock if we don’t like the outcome as we did when we bulldozed high-rise buildings. Remember those ugly eyesores were ‘the future’. It was politicians who thrust multi-storey living upon communities before destroying them to rebuild the two-storey homes they replaced.

Have no doubt, some individuals and organisations stand to gain greatly. It’s a once in a lifetime bonanza for some and they will push very hard to rush things through.

They do NOT want a detailed public analysis of brownfield sites or any other sites. They want the diggers in before residents get organised. Of course they will talk themselves into believing it’s for the ‘good of the community’, convincing no-one but themselves.

This issue is going to sort out those politicians who serve the community and those that serve themselves.

Coun David Neilson has already nailed his colours to the mast and resigned as a governor of King’s School over its plans to sell green belt land for housing.

Going against his leader is not a good move for Coun Neilson’s political career, who said: “I must put my constituents first.”

The time has come for Tory councillors to prove they are more than gargoyles decorating the town hall.

It’s make your mind up time. Will you make excuses and prevaricate or do as Coun Neilson has and put your constituents first?

Is Cheshire East a dictatorship or a democracy?

‘Bad things happen when good people do nothing’.