Planning update from Parish Council

There has been much coverage of the Planning Inspector's decision in favour of Gladman Developments at Little Heath.

After being given a strong mandate from an open village meeting, Parish Councillors worked very hard to put forward a strong case against the development and had obviously hoped for a different outcome.

It is very disappointing and frustrating that Cheshire East Council's lack of a 5 year Housing Land Supply has been the main determinant of this Appeal.

Combined with the approval of the Heathfield Road application there will be 146 new homes coming to the village in the very near future, plus the 29 already approved applications. This will inevitably have a big impact on village life both during the building and afterwards, and will be to the detriment of the medical practice, parking and the creaking sewerage system.

The number is also far in excess of the 80-100 houses which we had been led to believe would be required in the Audlem Ward (not just the Parish) as part of the Local Plan

The provision of affordable housing is indeed a positive, but the lack of Section 106 money for school and medical infrastructure in the Gladman decision is surprising and absurd. The Parish Council will continue to press for a proper S106 contribution to mitigate against the effects of the new developments.

Last July many residents attended a meeting to discuss the production of a Neighbourhood Plan, and in particular a 'fast track' Plan which focused primarily on housing issues. The Parish Council was given a strong mandate to pursue this and work has been going on behind the scenes to produce a draft Vision for Audlem and a Housing Questionnaire which will go out shortly.

This will give us a strong evidence base to formulate plans and policies which we hope will help to 'protect' the village from speculative development in the future and determine the design and mix of any further planned developments.

From what we understand from conversations with Planners and others, all political parties appear to be supportive of Neighbourhood Plans, so whatever the election outcome in May, the Steering Committee will endeavour to get a draft Neighbourhood Plan together as swiftly as possible.

By focussing primarily on housing we hope to be able to get this done in the first part of 2015. There is a 'moratorium' on holding a referendum until after the general election but this does allow us to pull out all the stops and hopefully be in a position to put a Neighbourhood Plan in for Examination very soon afterwards.

This document will have statutory weight in planning decisions so we hope the recent outcomes will encourage people to have their say about how Audlem should develop over the next 20 years.

The Steering Committee will be sending out a Newsletter in the next week giving more details.

There will be a meeting at the Scout & Guide Hall on Thursday 22nd January at 7.30pm where the Parish Council will try to answer questions about the recent decisions and the Steering Committee will give an overview of the activities connected with the Neighbourhood Plan.

As consultation is a key requirement of a Neighbourhood Plan we hope as many residents as possible will be able to attend and make their views known.

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