Gladman has 10,000 homes in the pipeline

As the day approaches for Cheshire East to decide on whether to approve outline planning permission for 120 homes in the village of Audlem it is worth noting just how many homes the speculative developer currently has in the pipeline.

The Gladman website boasts today of planning applications for around 10,000 new houses across the country.

Closest to home are applications for 280 homes in Sandbach where refusal of a planning appeal was quashed in the High Court in March last year; for 100 homes on 11 acres in Tarporley awaiting an appeal decision and 140 houses in Malpas also currently the subject of an appeal.

Planning applications are also in for 330 houses at Wistaston, for 155 dwellings at Alsager and for 105 houses in Farndon, Cheshire.

There are other applications in from all over Britain including Lancashire, Yorkshire, North Wales, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire and Essex.

It is estimated that, like Cheshire East, more than half the councils in England do not have up-to-date local plans in place, allowing developers to force through plans that comply with national, not local, guidelines that now favour building on green field sites in local authority areas where there is a perceived housing need.

A long ago as March this year the Campaign to Protect Rural England(CPRE) released a major analysis of how these national policies were affecting local planning decisions.

CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers calls it "deeply disturbing" that despite the government claims to favour localism, communities find themselves increasingly powerless to prevent damaging developments even in the most sensitive locations.

The CPRE recognises that the country badly needs more housing, especially affordable homes in rural areas, but finds that housing estates are now being built on green field sites without the consent or approval of local communities.

The CPRE concludes that the government urgently needs to rethink its approach before untold damage is done to England's rural communities.

The Gladman application for 120 homes in Audlem is due to be decided by Cheshire East's Strategic Planning Board on September 11th and, if planning consent is refused, the matter will almost certainly go to appeal.

There is little doubt that any appeal will centre on Cheshire East's failure to complete an up-to-date local plan and, given that the High Court quashed an appeal decision that went against Gladman at Sandbach, it is clear that Audlem will have a fight on its hands to stop this one.

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