Meeting to consider housing development at Little Heath

Audlem Parish Council (APC) held a meeting at the Methodist Church on the evening of Tuesday 28th July 2026 to consult with parishioners regarding the planning application by a company called Gladman for a housing development at Little Heath (the fields adjacent to the existing Anwyl estate). The APC chair Cllr Dovey welcomed everyone to the meeting which was convened for the APC to receive the thoughts of the parish to assist the APC to formulate their response to the application.

(Gladman is a company which sources potential development sites which they seek to get planning approval, the site is then sold on to a developer).

The meeting was well attended. The theme amongst those who spoke was that the development should be opposed. A lot of the reasons were similar to the opposition to the Moorsfield Drive development, which was rejected by Cheshire East. The reasons included, the lack of transport infrastructure, increased traffic and its inherent problems for the village (volume of traffic, safety of pedestrians, speed, HGVs, the list is not exhaustive),pressure on the surgery and chemists, pressure on the school, do we need the additional housing in our area, lack of work opportunities.

A number of those present cited examples of traffic issues, which included volume of traffic, bad driving, speeding, vehicles mounting the kerb. Anecdotally it was mentioned that the police had indicated that speed management measures would not be put in place unless there had been a serious accident. The feeling was that increased housing would inevitably lead to increased traffic issues in the village.

A request was made that the APC should have an independent, current traffic survey carried out, as it appears that developers are relying on out of date information. However, Cllr Lambourne pointed out that when the local authority are considering objections to planning matters minimum weighting is applied to any highway matters which may arise, this has been a ruling from Government.

A show of hands indicated that the majority of those present would support the installation of traffic control measures including speed cameras, traffic lights, illuminated speed information signs, a 20 mph speed limit through the village.

Mention was made of the neighbourhood plan, which should run until 2030. A new plan needs to be made, however government funding is no longer available, a new plan will cost in excess of £30k. It was explained that because of current government policy on housing rather than a community deciding what their housing needs are, the goverment is effectively deciding for them.

The closure date for any objections to the planning application is 21st August. Due to the holiday period the APC have an extension to the date for their submisssion.

NB. It was mentioned in the meeting that CE has indicated that Baddington Bridge will be closed from 10 August to the end of the month, so increased traffic volume may affect Audlem.