The Cheshire East draft Site Allocations Development Policies Document, which is effectively part 2 of the Local Plan, is to be examined by a Government Inspector at a hearing beginning on October 12th. The examination hearing will take place over several weeks, with wide ranging representatives discussing the proposals in the Document with the Inspector.
Residents may recall that one of the proposals is to remove a significant area land from the Green Belt in Chelford, stretching from east of the railway line down to the Village Hall. This land will then be classed as safeguarded, with the intention of building on it in the future. At a public meeting held over 18 months ago, there was a unanimous objection to the removal of land from the Green Belt and Chelford Parish Council submitted strong objections.
Although the plans were subsequently revised, the current proposal is still to remove 5 hectares of land from the Green Belt in the same location and under current housing densities, it will mean another 150 houses at least for Chelford. The land is high grade agricultural land.
A representative from Chelford Parish Council will be attending the hearing on behalf of residents and the Council and emphasising the objections to the proposal. Whilst the Parish Council gave support to two new developments on brownfield sites, which have brought over 200 new homes to Chelford, the Council view is that further large scale development will have a considerable negative impact on the visual amenity, settlement character and openness of the Village.
Details of the examination hearing can be found on the Cheshire East website by Googling Cheshire East SADPD Examination. The Parish Council submission can also be found there.