Cheshire Community Action has submitted its response to Cheshire West and Chester Council’s consultation on the scope of its new Local Plan.

The Local Plan will guide where new homes, employment and infrastructure are provided and how the environment and important community assets are protected. Although this is an early stage, the decisions made now will shape the policies and evidence developed during the next stages of plan preparation.

CCA supports a positive and deliverable Local Plan but believes it must reflect the distinctive needs of the borough’s rural communities, villages and market-town catchments.

Our response highlights six priorities:

  • a rural settlement approach based on functional connections, access to services, transport, digital connectivity and planned investment—not simply the number of services currently located in each settlement;
  • locally distinctive policies for rural affordable housing, exception sites and community-led development;
  • housing policies that respond to local evidence about tenure, size, affordability and accessibility;
  • growth aligned with credible infrastructure capacity, including water, drainage, transport, energy, health and education;
  • protection and planned provision of community buildings, services and other social infrastructure; and
  • a clear and continuing role for neighbourhood plans and locally gathered evidence.

The case for a strong rural focus is supported by the Cheshire and Warrington Rural Needs Analysis. It shows that rural areas account for 67% of the subregion’s land area and are home to 18% of its population. It also highlights challenges that can be hidden by area-wide statistics, including limited public transport, uneven digital connectivity, housing pressures, fragile services and hidden deprivation.

CCA’s parish-level housing research has identified a need for 844 additional homes across thirteen study areas, including 363 affordable homes. This evidence demonstrates why policies need enough flexibility to respond to different communities and housing markets.

Our response also stresses the importance of voluntary and community organisations. These organisations hold valuable evidence about service demand, travel barriers, community buildings, volunteer capacity and people whose experiences may be missed by conventional consultation. Where development relies on community organisations or facilities, planning policy must also consider their long-term capacity, management and running costs.

CCA will continue to offer rural housing, neighbourhood-planning and community-infrastructure evidence as the Local Plan develops.

Read CCA’s full consultation response

Find out more about the Local Plan consultation

We aim to give Cheshire communities a stronger voice by engaging with and supporting them in influencing the places, spaces and services that are important to them.

We work throughout Cheshire West & Chester, Cheshire East, Halton, and Warrington. Although we were originally founded to assist rural communities, in recent years, we have branched out to provide support in larger towns and their suburbs. 

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