Local plan scoping consultation

There has been a significant time lapse between the hamlet of Haughton being included within the Cheshire East Call for Sites and residents becoming aware of these proposals. This provided inadequate notice for our community to fully process the potential impacts, digest the information, and provide meaningful feedback. Furthermore, despite sites being made public in both the 2024 and 2026 Call for Sites exercises, residents and the Parish Council were not
directly notified or engaged, which is deeply disappointing.
Given that the 117 dwellings in the hamlet constitute key local stakeholders, we formally request dedicated engagement within the Local Plan strategy. A structured framework is essential to help residents navigate the consultation process and contribute effectively at each stage. Given the lack of clarity to date, we also request a detailed timeline outlining key activities, milestones, and consultation windows between now (2026) and 2029.
To enable transparent communication moving forward between Cheshire East Council, local stakeholders, and the Parish, we will adopt a proactive, clear channel of communication. To support this, we are compiling a comprehensive stakeholder register to ensure all community representations are logged, tracked, and made available for your perusal.

In Haughton Moss, we agree with the need for a short vision statement and outcomes. Readily accessible proactive consultation is vital in order to hear & incorporate smaller rural parishes. For example;

1. Protecting agriculture and the rural economy. East Cheshire has some of the most productive grass farmland for grazing, mowing, animal feed production, securing and sustaining significant rural employment. This is in line with National Farming & Food Self-Sufficiency, Rural Economy, Environmental and Sustainability Strategies

2. Environment and Landscape; Haughton Moss is a part of the special characteristics of south east Cheshires Meres & Mosses with exceptional wildlife, fauna and flora value forming part of the wildlife corridor. A 0.8 ha field is registered with Cheshire East local wildlife citation as CE376. It is a remnant of the Haughton Moss which once covered an extensive area of land. It is an area of damp acidic grassland which is species rich. The surrounding fields are similarly boggy.

Like other hamlets, Haughton Moss has high and variable water table conditions making seasonal flooding and drainage challenges a feature.

3. Protecting rural hamlets: Haughton Moss is an example of a dispersed collection of farms and homes, not a continuous built up settlement. It is not connected to other built up areas or villages. Changing needs for people employed locally has been met with conversions, extensions, changes of use, all within existing residential/farmyard curtilages and not utilising any prime agricultural land. The narrow lanes carry heavy agricultural traffic, have limited drainage, no mains sewerage and requires universal private transport to get in and out of the area which limits what rural hamlets such as Haughton can cope with.

Evolution of communities is a given and needs to be sustainable, but also to balance growth in housing, retail, employment with food production, food security and existing agricultural employment. Please engage directly with small settlements as Haughton Moss before determining our place in the settlement hierarchy so that any future development can be proportionate and appropriate, given the flood risk, drainage conditions, road capacity and limited local services.

Can you define “limited infilling’ and “groups of houses” and how these terms will apply to linear villages and hamlets - and clarify how places such as Haughton Moss will be identified?

On neither ‘call for sites’ occasions in 2024 or 2026 were Haughton parish meeting officials or residents informed.

Please can you explain exactly how sites will be identified and assessed going forward?

How will you seek input on the land availability assessment methodology when it is complete?

We endorse the proposal that the fourth tier of the hierarchy be further classified to distinguish settlements suitable for limited infill within a defined boundary from those where no such capacity exists.
On neither ‘call for sites’ occasions in 2024 or 2026 were Haughton parish meeting officials or residents informed. It appears Haughton has not been assessed

Can you explain exactly how sites will be identified and assessed going forward?

How will you seek input on the land availability assessment methodology when it is complete?

A tiered hierarchy approach makes sense and recognising the challenges of limited rental accommodation and high house prices, there are significant differences between settlements classified as ‘Other settlements and rural areas’.

Could this category be distilled further to consider the differences between villages defined as ‘infill villages’ and those with no defined boundary and considered ‘open countryside’/farmland for whom there is limited infrastructure, drainage, sewerage or services?

To support CEC awareness of the infrastructure challenges of rural settlements, we will start a neighbourhood plan. In the meantime, how are the council proposing to engage with communities where strategic requirements potentially conflict with locally identified priorities at an early stage in the process?

We would welcome engagement on this. How will you collect this evidence? Haughton Moss for example is not designated as Infill. This is considered correct as we are a disparate collection of farms and homes on predominately boggy land (some of which is a local wildlife site citation CE376 with CEC). All rely on private cars, use narrow lanes used by large agricultural vehicles, susceptible to flooding due to poor drainage and value what is now a closed pub and listed crown bowling green. We have a particular interest in highlighting the limitations of the infrastructure for development beyond conversion of existing buildings to provide additional rental properties.

How will the hierarchy be established? What weightings might be applied? How will this be communicated? The interest in Haughton Moss is (1) to retain land to sustain agriculture and the rural economy; (2) the environment and landscape, the natural Moss forming part of the wildlife corridor and its consequent poor drainage and flooding risk and (3) to recognise that Haughton is a sparse collection of farms and homes and not a continuous built up linear settlement that an ‘infill village’ might be defined as. It lacks mains drainage, has one narrow through road, has large dairy farms has large agricultural vehicles moving around constantly

It is a sensible approach to assess sites of brownfield land first and exploring the potential of grey belt land. Can you share when this analysis will be complete?

We ask that the Plans’ assessment of rural housing should consider smaller settlements individually rather than as a whole category. We would support the idea that small sites as Haughton can accommodate conversion within the village contributing to the small sites target, but otherwise has limited capacity with no small dwellings in the lowest council tax bands.
Could site assessments acknowledge the issue of highway safety, no mains drainage, surface water and poor road quality due to heavy agricultural machinery servicing the dairy and beef farms

Can you provide more detail on what adverse effects (5.27) might be considered as?

How can we in rural settlements help your considerations? We welcome the opportunity

Rural settlements are distinct from each other and the Local Plan should distinguish between housing required to meet local community needs and that delivered primarily to meet boroughs-wide targets. Assessment of settlements such as Haughton should be evidence based and sensitive to the environmental constraints. First time buyers, farm employees and younger generations of families already in the village wish to remain in the community. Further growth is welcome and should be proportionate to the character and infrastructure capacity