Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the meeting on any matter relevant to the work of the meeting. Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman or person presiding will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers. Members of the public are not required to give notice to use this facility. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours’ notice is encouraged.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.

There were no members of the public present.

To consider two adjacent local authorities’ Core Strategy consultation documents, on which the Council has been consulted as a stakeholder.

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and Warrington Borough Council had published a Core Strategy Revised Submission Document and a Core Strategy Pre-Publication Draft respectively for consultation and had requested comments from Cheshire East Council.

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council Core Strategy Revised Submission Document

Staffordshire Moorlands shared a boundary with Cheshire East to the south east of the Borough.  They were at an advanced stage of producing their Core Strategy, which would determine broadly where future development would take place in the District to 2026.  The document contained further revisions to the Core Strategy made in light of new evidence of future housing requirements in the District. The results of previous consultation and representations had also been considered and amendments had been made to the broad areas for housing development in Leek, Biddulph and Cheadle. 

Amendments to plan policies had also been made to address gaps likely to arise from the abolition of the North West Regional Spatial Strategy. Representations made at this stage would be considered by an independent inspector at examination. Representations must be made between 12^th December 2011 and 3^rd February 2012.

There had been several cross-boundary influences and issues identified in the document, related to Cheshire East:

·          Cross-boundary development pressures, where common understanding and complementary policy approaches are needed

·          Net in-migration from Congleton and Macclesfield resulting in pressure for housing development in the north of Staffordshire Moorlands

·          North Staffordshire/South Cheshire Green Belt required a consistent policy approach

·          Proposals for Congleton and Macclesfield town centre had a potential impact on Biddulph and Leek town centres

·          There was a need for a complementary approach with regard to the rural economy

Staffordshire Moorlands’ housing requirement was to be reduced from 6,000 to 5,500 during the plan period 2006-2026.

Provision would be made for at least 24ha of additional employment land during the period 2006-2026.

Further details were set out in the report.

It was considered that these policies, broad locations and distributions were unlikely to have any significant adverse effects on Cheshire East.

Warrington Borough Council Core Strategy Pre-Publication Draft Consultation

Warrington Borough Council shared a boundary with Cheshire East to the north west of the Borough. They were at an advanced stage of producing their Core Strategy, which would determine broadly where future development would take place in the District to 2027.  Following this consultation the document would be finalised for formal publication and examination in public, where there would be a further opportunity to comment and shape the document.  Representations must be made between 12^th December 2011 and 20^th January 2012.

Sufficient land for housing, including conversions of existing buildings, would be provided to accommodate an annual average of 500 dwellings (net of clearance) between April 2006 and March 2027.

Provision would be made for up to 277ha of land for business, general industrial and storage/distribution uses (principally Use Classes B1, B2& B8) over the period 2006 to 2027, to support growth of the local and sub-regional economy.

Inner Warrington would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.