Timetable for Cheshire East Local Plan is refreshed

Cheshire East Council has given an update on work to prepare a new Local Plan.

A Local Plan sets out how new development should take place in the future and shows what sort of development is acceptable and where, for example homes, business growth and infrastructure. 

In 2023, the council agreed to prepare a new Local Plan for Cheshire East and has been waiting for new legislation to be announced so that work can properly get started. 

Yesterday (27 March), the environment and communities committee considered a report that gave members an update on the progress made so far and the proposed next steps.

Councillor Liz Braithwaite, vice chair of the environment and communities committee, said:

“A new Local Plan for Cheshire East will eventually set the blueprint for development in the borough into the 2040s.

“Before work on a new Local Plan can formally begin, we need information from the Government about the changes it is making to the way future local plans must be prepared, as part of its reforms to the planning system.

“While we still don’t have that, we’ve been doing what we can to get ourselves into the strongest possible position so that we can hit the ground running once the information and legislative requirements do arrive, which is currently expected to be towards the end of this year or early next year.

“This has included work to develop important parts of the evidence base for the Local Plan, which included the public consultation held last year on an ‘issues paper’.

“This provided an initial opportunity for local communities to tell us how they feel the new Local Plan could help to tackle local priorities.”

The Government has committed to delivering 1.5m new homes while it is in office and in December last year, published a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and advised that new Local Plans should reflect a national rise in housing requirements.

Cllr Braithwaite said:

“In Cheshire East, the current local housing requirement for the borough was set at 1,800 homes a year by the Local Plan.

“However, national planning reform has substantially increased the target for Cheshire East to 2,479 homes per year. This means that the council cannot now demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.  

“This position is not exclusive to Cheshire East but will lead to increased pressure for unplanned new housing sites across the whole borough.

“This is why it is even more important that we continue to do the groundwork for a new Local Plan ahead of new legislation being announced – work that is low-cost and low-risk to the council but has huge benefits in ensuring we are ready to proceed.”

Cllr Braithwaite added:

“As part of the decisions made by committee yesterday, the timetable for preparing the Local Plan has been refreshed. 

“Given the on-going roll out of national planning reform this timetable will likely need to be revisited, and we will continue to keep people updated as work progresses. Along the way, there will of course be many more opportunities for people to have their say.”

The new timetable for the Local Plan, once published, will be available here: 

Local Plan section of the council's website.