Local plan scoping consultation

As an Ashley resident, I vehemently object to the Ashley Call for Sites being allocated for large-scale development. This Green Belt land stops Manchester sprawling into Cheshire and destroying the landscape, potects Ashley's historic identify, protects the countryside from encroachment, and preserves the setting of Ashley's historic buildings. It also includes Grade 2 and 3a farmland. National policy says brownfield land should be used first, and that hasn't been properly explored here. The Council should assess all 12 sites together, not one by one, and require full evidence on traffic, infrastructure, ecology, heritage and flood risk before considering any release.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I live in Ashley, and I'm writing to object, in the strongest possible terms, to the 291.03-hectare land submission around my village (the 12 adjoining sites) being included in the Cheshire East Local Plan or SHELAA. This isn't an abstract planning matter to me — it's the place I call home, and I'm asking the Council to protect it.

1. This is Green Belt at its most protected, and it exists for a reason
Ashley carries "wash-over" Green Belt status — the strongest protection a rural area can have. It was put in place in the 1950s for exactly this situation: to stop South Manchester and Trafford (Hale, Hale Barns, Altrincham) sprawling into Cheshire East's towns and villages (Mobberley, Knutsford). Ashley is the last narrow strip of green that keeps us a separate place, not an extension of someone else's suburb.
Green Belt can only be released if it's "Grey Belt" — already built on, or land that does almost nothing to serve Green Belt purposes. This is neither. This is open, working farmland I walk past every day. It fails that test completely, and it should never have got this far.
Building here would do exactly what this Green Belt was designed to prevent: it would let Manchester's edge push further south, it would physically stitch Greater Manchester onto Cheshire's villages and towns, and it would take farmland that's fed this community for generations and turn it into a housing estate.

2. My village isn't built to carry housing on this scale
Ashley is small and rural. We have barely any public transport, no meaningful infrastructure, no real medical provision nearby, and very few local jobs. National policy says development like this belongs in Tier 1 and Tier 2 towns that already have those services — not dropped onto a village like mine.

3. Our lanes weren't built for this, and I don't want to live with the consequences
The roads I drive and walk every day are narrow country lanes, with single-track pinch points and low railway bridges. They cannot take the traffic this would send toward the A538 and M56 — and that's before thousands of extra car journeys a day become part of daily life here.

4. Our train station is already inadequate, and it's about to get worse
Ashley station gives us one train an hour each way — barely usable for commuting as it is. It's about to get worse, not better: as the new, fully funded Cheadle station goes ahead, our services are expected to be cut back, dropping us to one train every two hours. In March 2026, Transport Minister Keir Mather told Parliament that reducing stops at Ashley and Plumley "is the only way" Cheadle could get an hourly service. That means our only public transport link is being deliberately and permanently reduced — while thousands more people are supposed to move here.

5. We live under the flight path, and that matters
This land sits directly within Manchester Airport's noise contours and bird-strike safety zones. High-density housing has no place here, and anyone who's stood in these fields when a plane passes overhead knows why.

6. Our drainage can't take it, and it's our homes at risk
There's no proper sewer, grid, or surface water drainage capacity here. Building on this scale would put real flood risk onto the River Bollin catchment — the same river that runs through the community I live in.

7. This is some of the best farmland in the country, and it feeds people
Independent soil surveys — including data from the HS2 Phase 2b environmental assessment — confirm this is Grade 2 and Subgrade 3a Best and Most Versatile agricultural land. National policy protects land like this because of what it means for the country's food security. This isn't spare ground. It's productive.

8. What would be lost here can never be replaced
Development would permanently destroy the Bollin Valley and Parklands landscape, the Rostherne/Tatton Park landscape, Cotterill Clough Nature Reserve, ancient woodland, protected wildlife corridors, and the setting of 19 Grade II listed buildings, including Ashley Hall — all of it part of the place I live in and love. Once it's gone, there's no getting it back.

MY ASK
I'm asking Cheshire East Council to formally assess this 291.03-hectare area (all 12 adjoining sites) as Unsuitable and Undeliverable in the SHELAA. This village is my and the residents home. Once it's built over, it's gone for good — so I'm asking you to protect it.

Lisa Atherfold