PC concerns over Neighbourhood Plan

Councillors dismayed and angry

At the regular Parish Council meeting on Monday evening, Councillors expressed themselves as dismayed and angry at the lack of awareness of Audlem's emerging Neighbourhood Plan shown by Cheshire East Planning department.

Two recent applications

There were two recent applications where the planning officer involved appeared not to know or take into account the level of progress of the Audlem Neighbourhood Plan. In the first case the application was passed on delegated authority before anything could be done about it,

In the second case the Parish Council was aware that the application was being passed to the Southern Planning Committee and it was agreed to make representations at their meeting on 30 September. Chairman, Heather Jones, reminded the Committee and Planners that Audlem's Plan had been formally submitted to Cheshire East and Regulation 16 consultation was complete. Cheshire East's Legal representative was able to inform those present of the various stages involved and the requirement to give an emerging Plan some weight in the Planning process commensurate to its level of development. As a result the Neighbourhood Plan was properly considered by the Southern Planning Committee in the decision making process, and after some debate the application was eventually refused.

Click here to see the earlier article about this.

Letter to the Planning Department

Councillors were astonished that the Plan, into which so much effort has gone, and which was fully supported and funded by Cheshire East, should be apparently ignored by the Planners. A strong letter of complaint has been sent to Cheshire East regarding the first application and the Planning Department has been made aware that Audlem's Plan is a front-runner in getting through the consultation stage.

Progress with the Neighbourhood Plan

During the Parish Council meeting, the Chairman reported that there were few responses from the community during the consultation period, but two late submissions have been received from potential developers (this is a familiar tactic from one particular developer apparently) . Cheshire East had made one or two minor points but were very supportive of the Plan in general, and the Plan is now going forward to the independent examiner phase. Two potential inspectors have been interviewed (with an Audlem Parish Council representative present), but the decision as to which has yet to be revealed. Both of the potential examiners said that they would hope to complete their examination by the end of October.

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.