Local plan scoping consultation

We are writing as residents living immediately beside the area of Ashley affected by the land being promoted for possible future development. We understand the land behind our properties to include the area identified locally as Parcel 6. We wish to place our own concerns on record at this early stage of the new Local Plan.
Although we are aware that other nearby residents are making representations, this response is submitted separately because the issues affect us directly as immediate neighbours. We share many of the concerns being raised locally, particularly in relation to flooding, drainage, the scale of development, the rural character of Ashley, ecology and the capacity of local infrastructure.
1. Flooding and drainage
Our principal concern is the suitability of this low-lying land for substantial residential development. The fields around Parcel 6 are known locally for becoming very wet and for holding standing water during prolonged or intense rainfall. This is not, in our view, a matter that should be assessed from a dry-weather site visit alone.
The wider part of Ashley around the station and Ashley Road also experiences significant surface-water movement during heavy rainfall. The topography means that water can move downhill through the area, so any assessment of Parcel 6 should consider the whole local catchment and existing overland flow routes rather than treating the field as an isolated site.
Before this land is considered suitable for allocation, we ask the Council to require robust and independent flood-risk, hydrological and drainage evidence. That work should examine historic and seasonal conditions, extreme rainfall, climate-change allowances and the possibility of development displacing water towards existing homes, roads or neighbouring land.
2. Rural character and Green Belt setting
Ashley remains a small rural settlement surrounded by open countryside. The open fields are a major part of its character and of the separation between built-up areas. A development of the scale being discussed would not be a minor change to the edge of the village; it could fundamentally alter how Ashley is experienced by existing residents.
We are particularly concerned about the cumulative effect of housing, roads, street lighting, domestic lighting, parked vehicles and associated infrastructure on what is presently a dark and predominantly rural landscape.
3. Wildlife and habitat
The fields, hedgerows and railway-side vegetation form part of a connected area of habitat. Birds and other wildlife use the open land and the established hedges and vegetation provide feeding, movement and shelter opportunities. The seasonal wet areas themselves may also have ecological value.
We therefore ask that ecological assessment is undertaken across the seasons by suitably qualified ecologists before any conclusion is reached about the developability of Parcel 6. Existing hedgerows, railway-side vegetation, wet areas and potential wildlife corridors should be considered together, rather than simply as individual features.
4. Roads, station and everyday infrastructure
Ashley does not have the range of everyday services normally associated with a settlement expected to absorb major housing growth. Local roads are rural in character and include constrained sections. Additional traffic from a large residential development would need careful assessment, including its effect on pedestrians, cyclists, existing residents and neighbouring villages.
Ashley railway station is useful but modest in scale. Its existence should not, by itself, be taken as evidence that the village has the transport capacity or wider infrastructure necessary to support a major expansion. The practical capacity of the station, local roads and other services should be assessed on evidence rather than assumed.
5. Scale and cumulative development
Our concern is not limited to the impact of one field viewed in isolation. The promoted land forms part of a much wider development concept. The Council should consider the realistic cumulative and long-term consequences for Ashley if one parcel were to facilitate or create pressure for further development on adjoining land.
Any assessment should therefore consider the overall scale of potential growth relative to the existing village, including landscape change, traffic, drainage, infrastructure and loss of open countryside.
6. What we ask Cheshire East Council to do
We ask that the concerns above are retained as part of the evidence informing the new Local Plan and future site-selection work. In particular, we ask that Parcel 6 is not regarded as suitable for housing unless and until the Council has independently established that flooding and drainage can be managed without increasing risk elsewhere, that ecological and landscape impacts are acceptable, and that the necessary transport and community infrastructure can genuinely support the proposed scale of growth.
We also ask to be given a full opportunity to comment again if this land, or adjoining land at Ashley, is taken forward at a later formal site-allocation or draft-plan consultation stage.