Gladman quotes Chatbox posts in planning bid

Scores of posts from members of AudlemOnline's Chatbox feature in Gladman's bid to build 120 homes at Little Heath.

Comments from contributors such as Canal Cat, Moomoo, Wierd Al and FelicityFauxPas are included in Gladman's 'Statement of Community Involvement' submitted as part of its application for planning consent to build a housing estate in open countryside at Little Heath.

Around 80 posts are cited in the Statement and include comments such as: "wicked intentions of bulldozing open countryside" ; "we need to look at the long term not just the NIMBY outlook"; "is this some kind of April Fool joke?"; "the number of houses is ludicrous"; "the injection of new blood might have a stimulating effect"; "the site in uneeded, badly designed and ill-conceived."

The Statement to Cheshire East planners says: "There has been a considerable amount of dialogue between members of the community via the AudlemOnline 'ChatBox' forum; a copy of this dialogue is included."

Gladman argues that it has consulted widely on the Little Heath proposals and "completed a comprehensive programme of community engagement which is considered appropriate for the proposed development on this site."

Their consultations have included engaging with Cheshire East planning officers on the principle of development on November 6th, 2012 and discussing pre-application details with planning officers on January 16th this year.

Other bodies consulted during the pre-application stage, Gladman say, were the Highway Authority, Audlem Parish Council, Cheshire East Education Department, the Head Teacher at St James' Primary School, the Environment Agency and various utility providers.

In March this year leaflets were sent to 950 homes outlining the proposals and 35 people responded by post or email.

The following month Gladman's project team met Audlem Parish councillors, ward councillor Rachel Bailey and CEC planning officer Rachel Bolton before a Community Consultation Event was staged in Audlem Public Hall.

Gladman says about 100 people turned up to the event and 26 completed written feedback forms while 11 sent emails and one comment was received by post.

The submission adds: "Gladman are pleased that a number of people engaged with the consultation process for the proposed site and provided comments during the pre-application process. Whilst many respondents objected to the principle of residential development on this site, others expressed support whilst some offered constructive comments."

Villagers have until July 24th to post comments on planning application with Cheshire East Council. Comments can be posted by clicking the planning reference number here 13/2224N

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.