Housebuilding & Neighbourhood Plan

We now know more about the situation in Cheshire West & Chester, and Kelsall specifically, following the increased national targets for housebuilding.

CWAC must update their planning policies to deliver a near-trebling of their housing target. This will include distributing the borough-wide target to various areas, including the main towns & cities, followed by key settlements in the rural area, including Kelsall, then smaller villages.

Until then, key spatial planning policies, for example Green Belt, settlement boundaries, industrial zones, open countryside, cannot be used to automatically refuse applications. Unfortunately, reviewing the Local Plan will take a long time! CWAC's current end date is Dec 2026/ Spring 2027.

What's happening in Kelsall?

Obviously developers will be moving fast with planning applications. At the end of 2024, many sites were submitted to CWAC as potential development sites. The map shows the sites submitted around Kelsall, highlighted in red. The fact that these sites have been submitted does not necessarily mean that they will all be developed.

Only one site has already applied (Green Lane Farm), but developers are working on other sites – as several residents have pointed out, a lot of interest in fields around us!

What about the Green Belt?

The North Cheshire Green Belt is the darker shaded area to the north of the village, on the map. All other undeveloped fields are known as 'green field' land, but this is not Green Belt.

New government rules oblige Local Authorities to consider some development in areas of Green Belt that are less valuable. This may apply to those nearest the village.
The Green Belt in Cheshire is extensive (second map) and CWAC may consider 'releasing' more areas for building.

What can we do about all this?

Kelsall Parish Council and some local volunteers have started work on updating the Neighbourhood Plan. This will take some months and not be completed by the time the first applications are submitted.

We are also talking to CWAC, some developers and other organisations to see what can be done to manage the impact on the local area.

To be realistic, this work can influence the look and mix of development, but refusing development is not an option, and this will be the case at least until CWAC allocate our detailed target, and we can complete a solid draft plan.

We will send out requests for feedback soon, please take part to help shape our plan!