Packed meeting on Gladman plan

Audlem Public Hall was packed for a meeting on proposals to build 120 new homes on the outskirts of the village.

Around 100 people attended an Extraordinary Meeting of Audlem Parish Council on the proposed Gladman housing development.

They were told that the Parish Council had been taken 'completely by surprise' at the plans to build new homes on open fields outside the village settlement boundary.

Parish councillor Phillip Johnson told the meeting that the Gladman scheme was only a proposal at this stage and that there was no formal planning application for the site.

But he urged the need to formulate a response to the proposals, which could vary from outright rejection to working closely with developers to ensure the village has real input into the scheme.

But the audience heard of confusion over strategic housing allocation in Cheshire East and exactly how many new homes are planned for Audlem in the future.

Cheshire East has yet to complete its strategic housing development plan, which could mean building around 2,000 new homes spread among the villages in the authority area over the next 20 years.

Most new housing will be in larger towns like Crewe, Macclesfield and Congleton but rural villages like Audlem will be included in any housing allocation strategy.

Parish councillor Geoff Seddon told the meeting he has been assured by Cheshire East Head of Planning, Andrew Fisher, that villages like Audlem should not expect to have more than 100 new homes allocated over the next 20 years

Bur Cheshire East councillor Rachel Bailey warned the meeting that speculative developers were attempting to exploit a loophole in order to press plans through.

Until Cheshire East completes it strategic housing plan, developers can submit speculative schemes in the hope of being able to submit schemes and win them on appeal if the authority fails to determine applications in good time.

Without a proper strategic housing development strategy in place Cheshire East may be unable to determine applications within the permitted time.

The meeting was told that a formal outline planning application on the Audlem site could be submitted by Gladman the end of the month with a decision expected within 13 weeks.

Parish councillors are likely to set up a special group to consider the way forward at its normal monthly meeting next Monday.

For those interested in keeping up-to-date with Gladman developments we have created a special Gladman index in the newsroom. You access it by clicking the Gladman banner on the homepage. To go there now click here.

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