Cheshire East Council has formally launched work on its new Local Plan, a document that will shape where homes, employment and major development take place across the borough until 2045. Residents, businesses and community groups are now being invited to help shape the plan during the first stage of consultation, which runs until 1 September 2026.
The new Local Plan comes at a significant moment for Cheshire East. Changes to national planning policy mean the borough is now expected to accommodate around 2,530 new homes every year, a substantial increase on previous targets. At the same time, the council acknowledges it cannot currently demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, increasing the likelihood of speculative planning applications.
For communities including Sandbach, Congleton, Alsager and Holmes Chapel, the consultation is likely to be of particular interest. All four settlements already face considerable pressure from housing growth, increasing traffic and stretched public services, and all are likely to feature prominently as the council considers where future development should be located. The current Local Plan identifies Sandbach, Congleton and Alsager as Key Service Centres, while Holmes Chapel is currently classed as a Local Service Centre, although the settlement hierarchy itself is now under review.
Alongside the consultation, Cheshire East has published the locations of hundreds of sites submitted by landowners and developers through its latest "Call for Sites" exercise. The maps show a significant number of potential development sites around Sandbach, Congleton, Alsager and Holmes Chapel. These submissions are not planning applications and are not proposed allocations, but they will now be assessed as the council prepares options for the new Local Plan.
One of the consultation's biggest shortcomings is that, while it repeatedly recognises the importance of infrastructure, it offers very little certainty about how or when it will actually be delivered. The council acknowledges that transport, healthcare, schools, utilities, telecommunications, green spaces and community facilities are all essential to creating sustainable communities, but at this stage there are no firm commitments, no funding proposals and no delivery timetable. Instead, the council says it will produce an Infrastructure Issues and Context Report followed by an Infrastructure Delivery Plan, which will identify what infrastructure may be needed, who should provide it, how much it could cost and when it might be delivered.
While the consultation states that infrastructure capacity should help determine where development takes place, alongside housing need, environmental constraints, employment opportunities, transport links and existing services, many residents will question whether this will genuinely shape future decisions or simply repeat promises made in previous planning exercises. Communities across Cheshire East have already experienced significant housing growth without corresponding improvements to roads, GP capacity, school places and other essential infrastructure.
Sean Houlston believes that these points must now be translated into firm policies that put infrastructure ahead of large-scale development.
Sean Houlston said:
"People understand that communities evolve and that new homes will always be needed, but too often the infrastructure comes years after the development, if it comes at all. If Cheshire East Council is serious about creating sustainable communities, then roads, schools, GP surgeries, public transport and utilities must be planned and delivered alongside new housing, not treated as an afterthought.
"Residents in Sandbach have seen the pressures that rapid growth can place on local roads, healthcare and public services. This new Local Plan is an opportunity to reset that approach. We need a genuine Infrastructure First strategy that ensures communities are ready before thousands of new homes are built."
The Local Plan will also review the borough's settlement hierarchy, consider future Green Belt and Grey Belt policy where required by national planning rules, assess housing and employment land needs, and determine how growth should be distributed across Cheshire East over the next two decades. The council says future decisions will be informed by evidence on infrastructure capacity, transport, environmental constraints and the availability of suitable land.
This first consultation is not about approving individual developments. Instead, it asks residents what the Local Plan should contain and how the council should prepare it. Further consultations on draft options, evidence and proposed site allocations will follow before the plan is adopted, currently expected in 2029.
