Help Us Defend Poynton’s Green Belt
Cheshire East Council are currently consulting on a new planning document called the Core Strategy, which sets out three options for development up to 2030:
Option 1 would focus most development over the next 15 to 20 years in the Crewe area. This area already has excellent road and rail links.
Option 2 divides the main growth between Crewe and Macclesfield. New development in the Green Belt around Macclesfield town would greatly increase traffic through Poynton.
Option 3 would allow development in what the Core Strategy calls “Key Service Centres”, which are towns with “good public transport”. Poynton is one of the towns listed in Option 3 for major new development, although most people would not agree our public transport is “good”.
If Option 3 is approved, this will lead to development in the Green Belt around Poynton. This would be very bad for Poynton.
• The population of Poynton tripled between 1960 and 1985, with no investment in a bypass or new arterial roads.
• During the Poynton Parish Plan survey in 2006, 95 per cent of local people supported the protection of the existing Green Belt.
• A Bypass will now not be built for many years, if ever, so any building around Poynton will mean many more cars and lorries going through the centre of the village. This would greatly increase congestion and air pollution.
• Poynton’s schools, doctors and social services cannot cope with an increased population.
• A massive development of 900 houses at the former Woodford Aerodrome is planned by BAe and Stockport Council. This will increase traffic and pollution problems in Poynton.
• There is no evidence that any residents of new housing would travel by bus or train rather than by car.
• As the Core Strategy says a “Key Service Centre” must have “good public transport”, Poynton should be taken off the list of such towns.
Please write to Cheshire East to support Option 1 and oppose Option 2 and especially Option 3. Everyone who wants to keep our Green Belt should write and say why Poynton should not be expanded any further. Copies of the Core Strategy documents are available on Cheshire East’s website, at Poynton Library and Civic Hall and at the Council Offices at Westfields, Sandbach. You can comment:
• On-line through the consultation portal: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/ldf
• By e-mail to: ldf@cheshireeast.gov.uk
• By post to: Spatial Planning Team, Westfields, Middlewich Road, Sandbach, Cheshire, CW11 1HZ
All comments must be received by Cheshire East by 17th December 2010. Thank you for your support.
Poynton needs YOU!
Next May, there will be local elections. If you would like to help us work for Poynton, why not consider becoming a Conservative councillor? The Town Council is leading the fight to save the Green Belt – this shows how YOU could make a difference.
If you are interested, please call Howard Murray (0773 971 6111) for an initial, confidential, chat about your options and the process, with no obligation on either side.
Investment at Poynton High School
Good news – Poynton High School has been recognised by Conservative run Cheshire East Council as needing substantial investment in its buildings. It is hoped to build a new Sixth Form Centre at the School, costing around £3 million. Planning and design work will start soon, and it is hoped that building can start in July 2011. The Centre should be complete by September 2012.
Local Conservative Councillor Roger West, a Governor at the School, has welcomed the news. Roger noted that Poynton High is the largest school in Cheshire East, and was mostly built in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Despite some investment over recent years, for example the Performing Arts studio, the last government’s policy of directing money to schools in “deprived” areas did not favour Poynton. We hope that this will soon be put right.
The High School has also submitted a bid for a new all weather sports pitch. While this is still being considered, we hope that the School will also be able to expand its sporting facilities. These should be available for public use out of school hours.
Keeping Poynton Clean
If you see any areas of litter, overgrown paths, graffiti or potholes, please contact the Town Council’s Operations Officer, John Brooks. To contact John, please ring 872404 or e-mail: john.brooks @poyntontowncouncil.gov.uk. Potholes, broken streetlights and other highway related problems can also be reported to Cheshire East using the interactive map on their website, www.cheshireeast.gov.uk or by e-mail to engjmmacc@cheshireeast.gov.uk
Poynton Conservatives News 18 November 2010
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