Parish Council Concerned on Planning Matters.

Neighbourhood Plan

At the meeting of the Parish Council on Monday evening, Cllr Seddon, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of Heather Jones, gave an update on the Neighbourhood Plan, following a meeting with Cheshire East on the Housing Site Allocation Process in the CE Local Plan.

Readers will remember that the Government had indicated that where a council could demonstrate a 3 year Housing Supply Policy and a Neighbourhood Plan exists any local planning application must take into account, fully, these Policy and Plans

Some 3600 Housing sites have been allocated, according to Cllr Seddon, to local service Centres such as Audlem. In the past Audlem's share of this was to be 120.( of which the "Gladman" and Heathfield road Developments totalled more than this)
However, at this meeting, it was indicated that the rules were changing such that developments which had already received planning permission would no longer be counted against the site allocations. Audlem would be informed of what its site allocation was to be.

Furthermore, the Audlem Neighbourhood plan, which currently contains no allocated sites may need to be updated to include them.

Community Infrastructure Levy

In the past, when significant planning applications were considered the developer would sometimes be requested to contribute to improvements in Infrastructure using what was called Section 106. The Government is proposing to replace this with the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Councils such as Cheshire East would be able to define their local CIL levels. This levy would apply on any house over 100 sq. metres and be payable by the developer or landowner. Up to 25% would go to Local Service Centres (Providing a Neighbourhood plan exists) and 75% to Cheshire East.

The Cheshire East proposed Levy structure has now been put out for consultation and appears to show that in the North of the Borough around Alderley Edge and Knutsford the levy is set at its highest level compared with the Southern areas where the levy is considerably smaller and within some Settlement Boundaries such as Audlem the levy would be zero.Therefore no benefit would accrue to Audlem from infill building.

Further research by AudlemOnline reveals the maps enclosed. This appears to suggest that builders are being encouraged to build more in the Centre and South of the Borough with a reduced levy and, with a zero rating within settlement boundaries, to provide more infill sites.
However this does not seem to take into account rural centres where improved infrastructure needs may be greatest.

Unfortunately Cllr Rachel Bailey, who normally attends Parish Council meetings, was not able to be present on this occasion and therefore, could not throw more light on the situation.
The Parish Council voted to reply to the consultation saying they did not believe Zone 1 and Zone 4 levies made sense.

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