Local plan scoping consultation

Dear Sir/Madam

OBJECTION TO THE INCLUSION OF THE ADLINGTON ESTATE /
BELPORT LAND IN THE CHESHIRE EAST LOCAL PLAN

I strongly object to the allocation for housing development of the extensive Adlington Estate land submitted by Belport through the Call for Sites. I live within the submitted area and know this landscape well. This is not redundant or marginal land awaiting a
use. It is a large, coherent area of productive farmland which is actively farmed today, including for cattle and sheep grazing and the production of hay and silage.

Food security and agricultural land
I believe considerably greater weight should be given to the permanent loss of productive farmland when deciding where Cheshire East's future housing should be located. Food-producing land is a finite strategic resource. Once covered by houses, roads and infrastructure, its productive capacity is effectively lost. This is increasingly important when Government policy recognises domestic food production and food security as matters of national resilience. The broad Agricultural Land Classification mapping identifies much of the Adlington area as Grade 3.

Importantly, however, broad Grade 3 mapping does not distinguish between Subgrade 3a, which is Best and Most Versatile (BMV) agricultural land, and Subgrade 3b. BMV land is Grades 1, 2 and 3a. There is therefore a strong case for detailed investigation before any Adlington land is allocated. A historic detailed MAFF Agricultural Land Classification survey at Adlington identified both Grade 2 and Subgrade 3a land. That survey should not be treated as proving the grade of every field within the present Belport submission; rather, it demonstrates why reliance on broad Grade 3 mapping alone is inadequate in this locality.

In my view, this site should not even be considered for any change in permitted use or development. However, should the Council decide to progress the application by Belport to the next stage, before any Adlington/Belport site is shortlisted or allocated, I ask the Council to require and publish a detailed Agricultural Land Classification survey of the submitted land, distinguishing Grades 2, 3a and 3b. National planning policy requires the economic and other benefits of BMV agricultural land to be recognised and, where significant development of agricultural land is necessary, poorer-quality land to be preferred to higher-quality land. The Government's 2026 Land Use Framework is even more explicit about the strategic importance of safeguarding productive farmland: it states that food security is national security and commits to safeguarding BMV farmland from permanent land-use change, including urban expansion.

In my view, Cheshire East should first demonstrate why its housing requirement cannot reasonably be accommodated on brownfield, previously developed and less agriculturally valuable land before permanently sacrificing productive countryside on this scale.

Ecology, landscape and Green Belt
The agricultural value of Adlington does not exist in isolation. Cheshire Wildlife Trust identifies an extensive network of woodland, ancient woodland, mature hedgerows, ponds, streams and rivers across the Adlington landscape. Together these form habitat corridors connecting the Peak District with the Cheshire Plain. Development would therefore not simply remove individual fields. It risks fragmenting an ecological network which has survived because this landscape has remained predominantly agricultural for generations.

The land also performs an important Green Belt function by maintaining genuine countryside and separation between settlements and resisting the gradual spread and coalescence of development between Macclesfield and the Greater Manchester conurbation.

The Council's own previous position
These concerns are particularly compelling because Cheshire East Council itself unanimously opposed the Adlington New Town proposal, expressly identifying the site's many hectares of high-quality grazing land, several long-established farms, recognised ecological value and the risk of continuous built form from Macclesfield to Stockport. Those characteristics have not disappeared because the New Town proposal was dropped. They are characteristics of the land, not consequences of the number of houses previously proposed. Nor should substantially the same harm be achieved incrementally through the allocation of separate parcels of the Estate.

I recognise that Cheshire East needs to provide new homes. The issue is not whether homes should be built, but where they should be built. The Adlington Estate is simultaneously producing food, supporting established farming businesses, providing wildlife habitat and connectivity, maintaining an historic Cheshire landscape and preserving separation between settlements.

Housing can be provided elsewhere. Once this productive agricultural landscape has been developed, it cannot be recreated.

I therefore ask Cheshire East Council not to allocate the Adlington Estate/Belport land for housing development in the new Local Plan and to protect it for continued agricultural use.

I also request that, for every Adlington/Belport site taken forward for further consideration, the Council publishes the Agricultural Land Classification upon which it relies, separately identifying Grade 2, Subgrade 3a and Subgrade 3b land and stating whether that classification derives from detailed field survey or broad/provisional
mapping.

Yours sincerely
Alex Long
Resident of Whiteley Green

The Local Plan should give strong protection to productive agricultural land. Food-producing land is a finite strategic resource: once covered by housing and infrastructure, its productive capacity is effectively lost forever. Food security, agricultural quality, farm viability and fragmentation should therefore be explicit considerations in site selection. This is particularly relevant at Adlington, an actively farmed landscape supporting livestock and hay and silage production. Where land is broadly classified Grade 3, detailed surveys should distinguish Best and Most Versatile Grade 3a land from Grade 3b before allocation is considered.

I support meeting Cheshire East's housing needs, but the spatial strategy should prioritise brownfield and previously developed land, together with sites of lower agricultural and environmental value. Productive farmland should not be treated simply as available land because it is undeveloped. The permanent loss of agricultural land has implications for food security as well as the rural economy, landscape and environment. Green Belt and productive farmland should therefore be important considerations when deciding where new