THERE’s an old Chinese saying that goes something along the lines of ‘the crying baby gets the milk’.

I mention this following the publication of the revised draft local plan which sets out Warrington Borough Council's proposals for homes, jobs, transport infrastructure and community facilities.

Let me explain. We have to go back to March 2019 when the council published the initial draft local plan which set out the legal planning framework for development in the borough over two decades, and put forward proposals for 18,900 new homes – almost 1,000 a year – up until 2037.

And that plan included more than 7,000 homes on green belt land, many of which were planned for a 'Garden Suburb' concept in leafy south Warrington.

But now, the new proposals are for a South East Warrington Urban Extension. This will have a reduced housebuilding allocation of 2,400 during the plan period.

Why the change? Appleton and Stretton have had far less development than other parts of the town and I can’t help but think maybe it’s time for the more affluent parts of the town to do their bit, to share the load

But maybe this is really a case of ‘the crying baby gets the milk’.

According to reporter Aran Dhillon: “The [draft local plan] consultation received more than 3,000 responses and the council says it has taken on board many of the views of people – much of which focused on how brownfield sites should continue to be prioritised ahead of green belt.”

Now there’s a surprise. If I were a gambling man, I would wager that the majority of those 3,000 responses came from people living in relatively close proximity to the proposed Garden Village, bothered that their views of rolling countryside may be spoiled or that, heaven forfend, some of those proposed new homes might be ‘affordable’ or even worse, ‘social’.

There are lessons for the rest of us here. Never underestimate the ability of a motivated middle class to organise themselves to protect their lifestyles.

So, if we aren’t getting all those homes in south Warrington, where are they going to go? Well, and with no surprise at all, it looks very much like they’re heading to Penketh – who’d have thought?

The west of the town has barely got a green field in sight. But for generations it’s been blighted by Fiddlers Ferry power station towering over it. Now the power station has been shut down and is scheduled to be demolished, I contend it would be perfect to allow it to be re-wilded and become a nature reserve.

It could become a valuable resource for the town, encouraging wildlife and helping in the fight to achieve net zero carbon.

But no. It very much looks like all those houses that now aren’t going to be built in Appleton and Stretton are just going to be moved to Fiddlers Ferry instead.

According to Aran Dhillon: “Recent changes have enabled the council to include proposals which ‘further maximise the opportunity to repurpose land’ through the inclusion of the Fiddlers Ferry site for development.

“Under the new plans, the huge Fiddlers Ferry site has been earmarked for 1,310 homes in the green belt.”

1,310 homes on green belt land on the outskirts of Penketh. Oh, and let’s not forget the 101 hectares of land for ‘employment’, whatever that means. It’s hard to visualise the size of the plan but 101 hectares would cover an area larger than 100 international-size football pitches.

So south Warrington’s ‘loss’ is west Warrington’s ‘gain’. (That’s sarcasm, by the way).

Perhaps it’s time the People of Penketh and Great Sankey learned a lesson from their southern neighbours and became ‘crying babies’. Maybe then they, too, would get some ‘milk’ from the town hall.

My advice to those living in the west of the town is to note the date October 4. That’s when a six-week public consultation on the plan starts.

While we’re talking about the council, I notice that leader Russ Bowden wants Warrington to apply for city status.

The Queen has agreed for a competition to be held to confer city status on successful towns as part of the celebrations to mark her platinum jubilee.

The Government says local authorities can enter the competition and make a case for why their area deserves to be granted one of the honours.

Russ Bowden said: “I think my personal view is that I would want us to apply for city status as part of this competition – and I think it’s right that we recognise the strength of Warrington, not just in terms of its economy but as a place, as a fantastic town, a great place to come and do business and a great place to come and live and raise a family.”

OK Russ, I’m with you on this. In the past I’ve thought that trying to gain city status was a needless waste of effort but times change and we move on. Perhaps it’s right Warrington is recognised as a city – it certainly is in all but name.