Concerned Cllrs. and villagers hand in petition opposing Local Plan

A petition signed by nearly 450 people has been presented to Warrington Borough Council by concerned Cllrs. representing Culcheth, Croft and Glazebury, opposing the Local Plan.

Along with concerned residents, the Borough Councillors for the ward of Culcheth Glazebury and Croft delivered the petition to the Town Hall.

Cllr. Wendy Maisey said “There’s a strong feeling in our ward about the burden of up to 600 houses being built here, and we’re not going to accept this disastrous local plan lying down.
We all know we need more affordable local housing, but the sites chosen in Culcheth and Deacons Close Croft are totally unsuitable. We’ll continue to work collaboratively cross-party with residents to stop these developments.
“The Government inspectorate has already commented with concerns about the overdevelopment of the Green Belt on sites in Warrington. Labour-run Warrington Borough Council had the opportunity to pause the local plan and review numbers following changes made in the levelling up act in relation to housing numbers. They’ve chosen not to do this. Residents have until close of business on the 13th of March ’23 to oppose or make comments on the Deacons Close proposed development.”

Cllr Valerie Allen MBE, added: “This disastrous plan would cause real problems for villagers who are already concerned with traffic on narrow roads and the safety of children walking to schools. The addition of this number of extra housing would not only see green belt being taken unnecessarily but would put a strain on what are already limited services in this area. We will stand up for residents and continue to work with them to stop this development”.

Councillor Carol Benson concluded: “ I am so saddened to see WBC trying to continue with their plans to build on our precious Green Belt, much of which is prime agricultural land. They appear to ignore the will of the vast majority of residents, who have given very good reasons against building on this land. The Government have been clear that Green belt can only be used where there are exceptional circumstances. We say there are no such exceptional circumstances. WBC chose to use Green Belt in Culcheth and Croft when they did not need to. We will continue to encourage WBC to rethink these plans and thank all our residents for their continued support. Our villages matter to us all.”