LOCAL Liberal Democrats have welcomed the preliminary finding from Inspectors that the current version of the Warrington Local Plan is, to use the planning jargon, ‘not sound’.
Warrington Borough Council as reported on Tuesday evening by Warrington Worldwide, has received a 10-page summary spelling out their initial thoughts on the Public Inquiry held in the autumn. A number of modifications will be required which will be subject to a further six weeks of public consultation.
Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Council Group, Councillor Ian Marks says, “We have been strong supporters of the South Warrington Parish Council Planning Working Group. This Group published a document in October 2021 urging the public to submit their views which stated that the Plan was not sound for many reasons. There was no justification for predicted growth, no need for the volume of housing and mass of employment land, no justification for the scale of Green Belt release, no need for the harm to air quality and local ecology, no need to destroy the landscape and character of our villages, no clarity on the means of delivery and no explanation of how the already poor transport infrastructure of Warrington can cope with increased levels of traffic.
“It is gratifying that the Inspectors agree with us on many of these points. We welcome the finding that the amount of employment land needed to be released from the Green Belt is much too high. They say there is no strategic justification for the South East Warrington Employment Area being released which should mean that the massive logistics site, Six/56, will not be allowed. They say that this would result in a significant encroachment into the countryside and the visual harm to the openness of the Green Belt would be severe.
“At the last Council meeting, I asked a question about the future of the controversial Western Link Road and whether any additional funding was coming from government to cover the gap that has opened up. The reply confirmed that the Council had not yet found any additional funding despite being still committed to this project. The Inspectors are dubious about whether any funding will be secured which they say puts the delivery of this link in serious doubt.
“Their letter has some good comments about the importance of ecology, biodiversity and natural habitats but doesn’t say as much as we would have expected about the critical importance of physical and social infrastructure to support any development. We will have to wait for the full report for more clarity on what modifications are required for the Plan to become ‘sound’. Liberal Democrats recognise the importance of having a Local Plan to stop a free-for-all by developers but we will continue fighting to ensure it is a Plan that is acceptable to the public.”
“Significant implications” as Government inspectors say council’s Local Plan is not sound
