7,000 new homes earmarked for green belt in Local Plan

The draft local plan – which is aimed at delivering the homes, jobs, transport infrastructure and community facilities the town requires – will be considered by the executive board next Monday.

There was widespread public anger over the local plan preferred development option (PDO), which proposed 24,000 new homes in the borough over the next 20 years including 9,000 on the green belt.

But the numbers have been reduced following serious concerns among the 4,500 PDO consultation responses.

The draft document sets out the legal planning framework for the borough’s development over the next two decades.

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It has been drawn up in accordance with Government planning guidance and ‘informed’ by feedback from the public.

The draft aims to deliver 18,900 new homes – or 945 a year – up until 2037.

It is also bidding to support the borough’s economic growth by making 362 hectares of employment land available.

The minimum number of new homes set by the Government exceeds the amount of urban and brownfield land available in Warrington.

The plan, therefore, proposes to unlock areas of green belt land for development to provide enough homes and employment land.

Detailed work carried out by the council has found that it is possible to deliver approximately 14,000 new homes and 111 hectares of employment facilities in existing urban areas.

The land requirements over the plan period between 2017 and 2037 accommodate for 18,900 homes, with an annual target of 945 properties.

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However, a 10 per cent ‘flexibility uplift’ has also been factored in, to allow for ‘market choice’, as well as for the event where sites are not delivered.

Therefore, the draft document sets out proposals for 20,790 homes.

There is an urban capacity for 13,726 homes, so green belt land has been earmarked for a total of 7,064 homes.

Key development areas and site allocations comprise Warrington Waterfront including Port Warrington, the garden suburb, south west urban extension and Peel Hall.

Peel Hall remains in the plan despite protests

The plan sets out plans to build around 1,200 homes and facilities, including a primary school and residential care home, on the 69-hectare greenfield Peel Hall site in the north of the borough.

And green belt would be released to build 160 homes in Burtonwood, 75 homes in Croft, 200 homes in Culcheth, 90 homes in Hollins Green, 430 homes in Lymm and 130 homes in Winwick.

Warrington Waterfront – which is planned to extend from the south west of the town centre to the Manchester Ship Canal – would be allocated as a new urban quarter to deliver around 2,000 new homes, a new local centre, primary school and a major employment area.

The garden suburb is proposed to be developed as a sustainable urban extension to the south east of the main urban area of Warrington, delivering around 7,400 homes, with 5,100 during the plan period, extensive infrastructure and community facilities and a major new employment location at the junction of the M6 and M56.

The south west urban extension plans to develop land to the north of the A56 at Higher Walton as a sustainable urban extension to the main urban area of Warrington, providing around 1,600 new homes, a new local centre and primary school, with ease of access to employment, recreation, community and cultural facilities.

The expansion of Port Warrington will result in the loss of part of Moore Nature Reserve and a number of important ecological assets.

Moore Nature Reserve could be threatened

But planning chiefs say an ‘agreement of mitigation’ for the loss of part of Moore Nature Reserve will be required before any development at Port Warrington is permitted.

As with housing, it is not possible to meet all of the employment land requirements within the existing urban area, with green belt required for around 213 hectares of employment land.

If the draft is approved by the executive board next Monday, it will be submitted to full council for approval on March 25.

Full council approval would pave the way to an eight-week formal public consultation in the spring.

Council leader says 'no option' but to release green belt

Council leader Cllr Russ Bowden said: “The Government requires that all local authorities have a viable local plan.

“We are committed to using our plan to build a better future for Warrington and its people.

“Our population is growing and our economy is thriving.

“We need to respond to that by making sure we have enough homes for local people now and in the future.

Cllr Russ Bowden

“Even using the Government’s minimum figures, we would have no option but to release some green belt land for development.

“As Warrington has grown over the decades, the reality now is that our urban areas are nearing their development capacity.

“Even so, the vast majority of development proposed in the plan is earmarked for these areas, and we have taken every step to protect and preserve the green belt as much as possible.

“Some green belt development is necessary, but is only being proposed where all urban and brownfield development options have been exhausted – and we are committed to preserving almost 90 per cent of our green belt.

“We need to make sure residents, in particular our young people, have access to affordable housing.

“That’s why we’re proposing that 20 per cent of homes built in inner Warrington and 30 per cent elsewhere in the borough, will be affordable.

“It’s also vital we meet the needs of an ageing population, and we have a responsibility to ensure residents with disabilities are supported to live independently.

“Our plan, therefore, proposes that one in five new homes will be built for elderly residents, and that we build more wheelchair accessible homes.

“Our plan aims to support new jobs and businesses, so that Warrington is an attractive place to work and invest in.

“And it aims to provide first-class community facilities – new schools, medical centres, shops and roads – all of which will support thriving new communities.”

'Disappointed by 'highly damaging development'

The town’s Liberal Democrat group has responded to the draft local plan.

Cllr Ryan Bate, on behalf of the party, says: “From our initial look at the headline figures, we are both pleased and relieved that the amount of development proposed has been reduced significantly and that less green belt will be lost.

Cllr Ryan Bate

“We’re also pleased that brownfield sites will be used as efficiently as possible and that there is a commitment to build infrastructure first.

“However we are very disappointed that the deeply unpopular garden suburb, with its highly damaging concentration of development in the south of the borough, remains part of the proposals.

“We must find a more equitable way to distribute the loss of green space, so that no single part of the town faces such a destructive transformation.

“The Liberal Democrats will be doing everything they can to challenge the location options of the local plan in order to deliver an outcome which is fairer and more sustainable.

“We are already working with parish councils, community groups and residents to organise our challenge.

“With the professional support of planning consultants, we will do all that we can to prove the plan is not robust and must be changed.”

And Warrington Conservatives have slammed the Labour-run authority’s proposals.

Party spokesman Andy Carter says: “Residents consistently tell us that they don’t want high levels of development in the green belt and, sadly, Labour’s plan is doing exactly that.

Andy Carter

“7,000 new homes show they just haven’t listened.

“People living in villages such as Appleton Thorn, Stretton, Higher Walton and Grappenhall all face the prospect of seeing their rural communities changed beyond all recognition not just from the prospect of new homes being built but also from proposed development of massive logistics parks.

“The addition of 430 new homes in a village like Lymm will impact on the provision of healthcare, school places and roads, we can’t simply build new homes without addressing the very real infrastructure issues and many of our services are already at breaking point.

“Lymm High is already unable to accommodate all the children who live in the village.

“These proposals don’t take sufficient account of land availability elsewhere and whether the needs are met more appropriately in other areas, they’re unfairly skewed towards land south of the Ship Canal.

“Warrington Conservatives will oppose the greenbelt plans at every stage, we’re already working with advisers and parish councils to look at ways to get the council to change course.”