Cheshire East Council’s Local Plan takes another landmark step towards adoption as consultation begins on final amendments to the blueprint for the borough’s development.
The consultation on ‘main modifications’ to the Local Plan has been called by Planning Inspector Stephen Pratt and will run for six weeks from February 6 to March 20.
This further consultation is normal and follows Mr Pratt’s broad backing for Cheshire East’s Local Plan for shaping future development, subject to some necessary changes.
This follows nearly three years of public comments and submissions on the council’s proposed strategic blueprint for the borough’s development to 2030. Most recently the Local Plan underwent a further six weeks of examination hearings, which ended on October 20.
In December, Mr Pratt wrote in a report that the locations and extent of development proposed in the plan seem ‘appropriate, justified, effective, deliverable and soundly based’. He also said that issues relating to other strategic policies in the plan ‘seem to be capable of resolution by modifications’.
Mr Pratt added that the council’s further proposed changes to the Local Plan seemed to address the changes ‘necessary to ensure that the revised plan is sound and legally compliant’.
Councillor Ainsley Arnold, cabinet member for housing and planning, said: “It is gratifying to see our Local Plan moving forward firmly towards adoption. The plan is the council’s most important tool for shaping development in Cheshire East to 2030 and I am pleased the hard work of our officers and members has paid off.
“This will be the eleventh round of public consultations and this Local Plan is one of the most consulted on in the country. There has been unprecedented interest in the consultation process and I’m sure this engagement will have allowed everyone to feel they had the opportunity to have their say.”
As is normal practice, the council is hosting a consultation on the inspector’s draft recommended main modifications to the plan before its final amendment and adoption by the council. You can take part in the consultation online via this link:
www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/localplan
Alternatively, written submissions can be made by completing representation forms and returning these by 5pm on March 20 2017 to:
Cheshire East Council,
Spatial Planning,
Westfields,
C/O Municipal Buildings,
Earle Street,
Crewe CW1 2BJ.
Cheshire East Council received a total of more than 60,000 responses in the 10 previous consultations on its draft Local Plan. This represents an unprecedented level of interest in a council consultation process.
Inspector Pratt acknowledged in his closing remarks in his report in December 2016 that ‘this has been the most complex and challenging Local Plan I have ever examined’ – having completed 20 or so examinations to date.
● Further information and paper copies of all documents can be requested from the spatial planning team by email at: localplan@cheshireeast.gov.uk or telephone on 01270 685893. Please note that a reasonable charge will be made to cover printing and postage costs.
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