Cheshire East consultation

It's the last few days to respond to Cheshire East council's consultation on the future plan (Local Development Framework) for the area. Responses have to be in by 5.00pm on 30th September.

You can click on the link below the photo to find the Consultation form or go to the Cheshire East website – again click on the link – where you can register to respond on-line. Once you have received an email back you can then complete the form on-line.

A thousand copies of the response form were also distributed locally – it's headed Your Place, Your Future, Your Say.

You have to give your name and address and nominate the town or village you wish to comment on. Audlem, for example, is not on the pre-printed list of towns but can be added to the list.

The Audlem Parish Plan group has also sent a response detailing the findings of the survey of local people's views conducted as part of the 2010 Parish Plan. The group also urged Cheshire East to formally adopt the Village Design Statement and Landscape Character Assessment carried out locally between 2005 and 2010, as follows: 

21st September 2011
Audlem Parish Plan group's response to the Cheshire East Local Development Framework Consultation

The Audlem Parish Plan group, at the request of Audlem Parish Council, carried out a survey of Audlem parish residents as recently as late 2009 and the results were published in the 2010 Audlem Parish Plan. The Parish Plan included a section on Planning by a team of residents, many with specialist knowledge, who had also produced a detailed Village Design Statement (VDS) including a Landscape Character Assessment.

Numerous requests have been made for these planning documents to be formally adopted by Cheshire East and its predecessor as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). The group ask, once again, that this document is adopted as a SPD since this will carry greater weight at any future public planning meeting.

It is extremely frustrating when so much effort is put into preparing and publishing a VDS and the local authority fails to adopt it fully despite encouraging the creation of Parish Plans and their accompanying Village Design Statements.

This is particularly so as a number of VDSs have been formally adopted in the north of the borough in Smallwood near Sandbach, Lower Peover and Prestbury, where, in the latter case we understand Cheshire East even helped develop the VDS.

While residents will be encouraged through local media, notably Audlem Online, to send in individual responses – 1,000 copies of the questionnaire have been distributed to households in the area – we believe the findings of the Audlem Parish Plan survey will be of relevance in the consultation.

A copy of the 2010 Plan is enclosed as we understand that a requirement of the consultation is that Parish Plans such as the Audlem Plan are a primary source of information.

The majority (65%) of Audlem respondents in the survey want to see Audlem expand residentially to a small extent with 15% in addition happy for moderate expansion. No-one amongst the adult respondents wanted unlimited expansion. Senior School Pupils responding were equally split (37% each) between 'moderate' and 'small' expansion. Just under a fifth of both adults and pupils wanted no expansion.

Responses were similar when asked if small scale industrial/commercial expansion should be encouraged to increase employment. 59% of adults and 39% of pupils opted for 'small extent' with 27% of adults and 26% of pupils supporting a moderate extent of development. 12% of adults and 25% of pupils wanted no industrial/commercial expansion.

Other areas that may be of interest include 57% of adults and 58% of pupils saying local footpaths and cycleways were reasonable while the balance were equally split between 'good' and 'poor'.

The survey also looked at sports facilities with 58% of adults considering them reasonable but 35% poor. Pupils, on balance, were more favourable with 24% opting for good, 46% for reasonable and 30% for poor or very poor.

Recreational facilities (excluding sport) were rated good or reasonable by the majority of adults but slightly less favourably by pupils.

The full results of the survey are on pages 31 – 34 in the enclosed Parish Plan. 

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