Purpose of this Consultation
Emery Planning will be submitting an outline application on behalf of Dewscope Ltd for the residential development of land east of Longridge, Knutsford for up to 225 dwellings. The site is allocated for residential development in the adopted Cheshire East Local Plan Strategy and this itself followed extensive engagement with the Local Community through the Town Council and Neighbourhood Plan Group.
The development team have worked to create a scheme which would provide a high-quality development which would meet an identified need for family and affordable housing within the town of Knutsford.
This website provides details of the proposed development and seeks comments from the local community. This is an opportunity for you to provide us with your views and ideas to help us form the final scheme, before a planning application is submitted to the Council. We are also recording any expressions of interest from those who may be interested in living at the proposed development.
We will be holding a consultation event at the Welcome Café at Longridge on 15th May, between 3.30pm and 7.00pm, which local residents are invited to attend. The plans will be available to view, members of the development team will be present to answer questions, and response forms will be available.
The Site and Planning Context
The site was removed from the Green Belt and allocated for residential development upon adoption of the Cheshire East Local Plan Strategy in July 2017. As a result, the site is now located within the settlement boundary on the eastern side of Knutsford.
The site is bound by existing residential development to the north west and south west, with Birkin Brook to the north east and an existing boundary screening the site from the open countryside to the south east.
The site is sustainably located within walking distance of a range of services and amenities. There are good public transport links, with bus stops located opposite the site.
The Proposal
The development proposals consist of an outline planning application for up to 225 dwellings. All matters will be reserved for subsequent approval, with the exception of access.
It is anticipated that the proposed dwellings would predominantly be a mix of 2-5-bedroom properties, including the provision of 67 new affordable homes, in accordance with Policy SC5 “Affordable Homes” of the Cheshire East Local Plan Strategy.
An application for outline planning permission allows for the consideration of the general principles of how a site can be developed. In this particular case, the site has already been considered as being suitable for residential development, through its allocation under policy LPS38 of the Cheshire East Local Plan. This outline application is the next stage in delivering the development of the site and will be seeking approval of details in relation to the matter of access, specifically the proposed vehicular access point.
Should outline planning permission be granted, this permission would be subject to a number of conditions, including for the approval of the ‘reserved matters.’ The reserved matters would be the subject of a further planning application and in this case would consist of details relating to layout, landscaping, scale and appearance.
The primary vehicular access to the site is proposed to be taken to the south east of the site, over an area designated as public open space. The proposed access road is required to serve the development and accords with the allocation for residential development as set out in the adopted Local Plan Strategy. It is necessary that the allocation comes forward in order for Cheshire East to meet its identified housing requirements and to fulfil the objectives of the Local Plan Strategy both for the Borough as a whole and Knutsford in particular.
There is a restrictive covenant preventing direct vehicular access to the site from its frontage with Longridge. Therefore, the alternative means of achieving a primary vehicular access to the site is via the area of public open space located to the south east as shown on the proposed illustrative masterplan. Whilst this would result in the loss of a small part of the open space, that would be compensated through improvements to the remaining open space, including the potential to re-instate football pitches with enhanced drainage. The proposed development would also deliver a large amount of public open space within the site.
The site offers a significant opportunity to deliver high quality, sustainable residential development to meet an identified need for housing in Knutsford.
Benefits of the Development
The proposed development would result in a number of benefits for the local community. These would include:
Social Benefits
- The provision of new family homes to meet an identified need within the town of Knutsford, including the provision of up to 67 new affordable homes;
- Improved access to the open countryside through the provision of new recreational footways and cycleways;
- A new play area for the benefit of the community;and
- Planning contributions towards improvements in education, in line with Cheshire East Council’s requirements.
Economic benefits
- Economic regeneration in the local area, as a result of an increase in footfall and spending for existing local businesses and the Longridge shopping precinct;
- An upturn in the local economy through the creation of new employment opportunities during the construction phase;
- Encouraging investment in the Longridge area by increasing its profile;
- Ensuring there is sufficient housing to meet the future jobs growth in the Borough;and
- An increase in council tax revenue.
Environmental benefits
- Sustainable development in a highly accessible location;
- The provision of extensive green infrastructure, with existing hedgerows and trees on the boundaries of the site and throughout the development largely retained. Additional landscaping will be provided throughout;
- Enhancements to the retained public open space, and a high level of new open space provided throughout the development;and
- Planning contributions towards open space provision and maintenance, in line with Cheshire East Council requirements.
Press Release
Draft proposals for up to 225 new homes on land east of Longridge in Knutsford went on display to the public yesterday at a consultation event held at the Welcome Café in Longridge.
The development team, which included representatives from planning consultant Emery Planning, highways consultant SCP and urban designer e*SCAPE were on hand to talk visitors through the proposals, answer questions and obtain feedback. The feedback will be used to influence final design proposals before an outline planning application is submitted in the summer.
The event, which was attended by over 100 people, formed part of a wide-ranging community consultation conducted by Emery on behalf of Dewscope Ltd. Interested parties can also view the proposals, ask questions or share their feedback via the Emery Planning website at www.emeryplanning.com/public-consultation/longridge
Should an outline planning application for up to 225 new homes be approved, details on design, scale and layout would be determined in a separate ‘reserved matters’ planning application, submitted at a later date. Dewscope shared with exhibition visitors its ambitions to provide a wide mix of properties with between two and five bedrooms that would cater for people at all life stages, 67 of which would be affordable homes.
Says John Coxon, Associate Director at Emery Planning, “We’re grateful to all those who took the time to come to the exhibition and provide their valuable feedback. The turnout was excellent. We were in particular seeking comments in relation to delivering an improvement to open space provision within the area, and a number of innovative ideas have been put forward which we are going to investigate further as we undertake pre-application discussions with Cheshire East Council. We will also continue to engage with the Town Council and other community groups.”
The site was allocated for development in July 2017 in the adopted Cheshire East Local Plan Strategy, which identifies that investment into this part of Knutsford could enable further regeneration to the adjacent Longridge estate and potential wider transport infrastructure improvements.
Feedback on the draft proposals can be submitted up to 24th May. For further information visit www.emeryplanning.com/public-consultation/longridge
Have your say
We would like your views on the proposals and request that all responses be returned by the 24th May 2019. If you wish to discuss the project please contact us using the form below to send your feedback and comments, making sure that all of the required fields are completed.