Cheshire West and Chester Local Plan Scoping Consultation

Response from Cheshire West and Chester Liberal Democrats

Overall position

Cheshire West and Chester Liberal Democrats welcome the preparation of a new Local Plan and broadly support the proposed scope.

Our starting point is that Cheshire West and Chester needs more homes, particularly genuinely affordable and social homes that meet the needs of local people. But success cannot be measured simply by the number of homes allocated or granted planning permission.

Our approach is that Cheshire West and Chester should provide the right homes, in the right places, with the right infrastructure, while protecting the environment and character of our communities.

This reflects Liberal Democrat national policy that new development should have appropriate infrastructure, services and amenities in place, alongside support for neighbourhood planning, rural exception sites, brownfield regeneration and genuinely affordable housing.

The substantial increase in the borough's assessed housing requirement makes this principle more important, not less. Residents should not be expected to accept significant development on the basis of vague promises that schools, GP services, drainage, roads or public transport will catch up at some unspecified point afterwards.

The new Local Plan should therefore seek to deliver:

• Genuinely affordable, social, accessible and energy-efficient homes.
• Infrastructure delivered alongside development rather than years afterwards.
• Strong towns and villages with viable local facilities.
• Better public transport and safer walking, wheeling and cycling connections.
• Protection and enhancement of our natural environment, settlement gaps and green infrastructure.
• Effective action on flooding, drainage, sewage and water capacity.
• Reliable broadband and mobile connectivity.
• Protection of Cheshire West's heritage and distinctive communities.
• A meaningful role for parish and town councils, neighbourhood plans and local residents.

1. Housing, settlements and sustainable development

The settlement hierarchy

We support a clear settlement hierarchy, but the capacity of a settlement to accommodate further development must not be judged simply by counting the facilities currently located there.

The council should consider:

• Existing and planned school capacity.
• GP, pharmacy, dental and wider healthcare provision.
• Highway and junction capacity.
• Wastewater and drainage capacity.
• Public and community transport.
• Access to employment and essential services.
• Broadband and mobile connectivity.
• The cumulative impact of previous development.
• The availability of local shops, community facilities and recreational space.
• The relationship between neighbouring settlements.

A settlement should not automatically be considered suitable for substantial additional growth simply because it is comparatively large. Equally, proportionate development in smaller settlements may sometimes help sustain local shops, schools, public transport and other valued services.

Brownfield land and existing permissions

The Local Plan should maximise the appropriate use of previously developed land, particularly in locations with good public-transport connections, while ensuring that brownfield schemes provide an appropriate contribution towards affordable and social housing.

This is consistent with national Liberal Democrat policy supporting brownfield regeneration and affordable housing within brownfield development.

Cheshire West and Chester should start by ensuring they have a robust, accurate and up-to-date list of brownfield sites in the area. This register should not be opt-in by the landowner.

The council should also publish clear information on:

• The number of homes with planning permission that have not been built.
• How long permissions have remained unimplemented.
• The reasons for non-delivery.
• The steps being taken to unlock stalled sites.

National Liberal Democrat policy supports a "use-it-or-lose-it" approach where developers secure permission but refuse to build.

This matters because communities should not continually be asked to accept additional allocations while significant existing permissions remain undelivered.

2. Affordable housing

The Local Plan should maximise the delivery of genuinely affordable housing, particularly social rent and other tenures related to local incomes rather than simply discounted from market prices.

Affordable-housing requirements should be robust and transparent. Where developers seek to reduce affordable provision on viability grounds, viability evidence should normally be published and independently scrutinised.

The council should report not merely the number of affordable homes granted permission, but:

• Homes completed.
• Tenure.
• Property size.
• Accessibility.
• Location.
• Whether the homes continue to meet the identified needs of the community.

Rural affordable housing

Rural housing needs require particular attention.

Many villages experience high house prices, limited private and social rented accommodation and shortages of smaller homes for younger people, local workers and residents seeking to downsize.

We therefore support strong policies covering:

• Rural-exception sites.
• Community-led housing.
• Community land trusts.
• Housing-association development.
• Social and affordable rent.
• Smaller homes suitable for younger and older residents.
• Accessible and adaptable properties.
• Local-connection arrangements.
• Permanent affordability.

This builds directly on national Liberal Democrat support for rural exception sites.

Local-connection policies should give appropriate priority to people who live or work locally, have close family connections or provide an essential service within the community.

Where affordable housing is provided through rural-exception or community-led development, legal mechanisms should be used wherever possible to ensure that the homes remain affordable for future generations rather than eventually being lost to the open market.

3. Infrastructure must come with development

We believe this should be one of the strongest principles in the new Local Plan.

Before strategic sites are allocated or significant growth is proposed for an area, the council should publish objective infrastructure-capacity assessments.

These should include:

• School places, including SEND provision.
• GP capacity and GP-to-patient ratios.
• Dental and pharmacy provision.
• Wider community and healthcare provision.
• Foul-water and sewage-treatment capacity.
• Surface-water drainage and flood risk.
• Water supply.
• Highway and junction capacity.
• Road safety and maintenance.
• Bus services and public-transport accessibility.
• Rail accessibility where relevant.
• Safe walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure.
• Electricity and energy-network capacity.
• Broadband and mobile-phone coverage.

For each significant development or allocation, the evidence should show:

1. Existing capacity.
2. The additional demand generated.
3. The infrastructure required.
4. Its anticipated cost.
5. Who is responsible for delivering it.
6. How it will be funded.
7. When it must be operational.

Infrastructure commitments should contain enforceable delivery triggers so that facilities are available when residents need them.

National Liberal Democrat policy already establishes the principle that infrastructure, services and amenities should be integrated into the planning process.

GP and healthcare capacity

The need for robust healthcare assessments has been strengthened significantly by Liberal Democrat policy adopted at Autumn Conference 2026.

Conference specifically endorsed a requirement for developers to ensure there are enough healthcare professionals when people move into new developments. It also endorsed stronger neighbourhood-level planning of primary and community healthcare.

We therefore ask the council to go beyond assessing whether a GP building physically exists.

Planning evidence should consider:

• GP-to-patient ratios.
• Workforce capacity.
• Appointment demand.
• Pharmacy provision.
• Dentistry.
• Whether premises have physical capacity to expand.
• How additional healthcare demand arising from development will be funded and staffed.

Where significant development would create additional primary-care demand, developer contributions should support the necessary infrastructure where legally possible.

4. Schools and education infrastructure

Education capacity should be assessed before housing allocations are confirmed.

The council should publish projected school-place demand generated by significant developments and clearly explain how additional places will be provided.

Particular attention should be given to:

• Primary and secondary capacity.
• SEND provision.
• Home-to-school transport.
• Safe walking and cycling routes.
• Rural school sustainability.

Cheshire West & Chester Liberal Democrats are calling for a Rural School Transport Guarantee and a presumption against the closure of good and outstanding rural schools, recognising both the educational and wider community importance of rural schools.

This is particularly relevant in rural Cheshire West, where schools often serve as important community facilities as well as educational institutions.

The Local Plan should therefore consider whether development can help sustain viable local schools, while ensuring that growth does not overwhelm existing capacity.

5. Transport, highways and active travel

Public transport

Housing growth should be concentrated where residents can realistically access employment, education and essential services without being wholly dependent on the private car.

For rural communities, this means assessing the actual frequency and usefulness of public transport rather than simply recording that a bus route exists.

Transport-capacity evidence should consider:

• Frequency.
• Evening and weekend provision.
• Connections to schools, colleges and employment.
• Reliability.
• Interchange with rail.
• Accessibility for disabled passengers.
• Whether services can realistically accommodate additional demand.

Walking, wheeling and cycling

We are committed to ensuring continuous high-quality walking and cycling infrastructure to be required in all new housing developments from the outset, together with a national network of traffic-free "Greenways" connecting villages and rural communities with towns, schools and transport hubs.

The Local Plan should reflect this principle.

New development should not consist of isolated estates with disconnected fragments of cycle lane. It should create continuous, safe connections to schools, shops, public transport, employment and neighbouring communities.

Highways

Highway assessments should examine cumulative development rather than treating applications in isolation.

They should consider:

• Junction capacity.
• Existing congestion.
• Road safety.
• School traffic.
• Rural lanes.
• Pedestrian safety.
• Maintenance condition.
• HGV movements.
• Displacement of traffic into neighbouring settlements.

Where mitigation is required, it should be implemented at an appropriate stage of development rather than after congestion has already worsened.

6. Drainage, sewage, flooding and water

The Local Plan should contain a strong and transparent framework for water infrastructure.

Sites should not be allocated on the assumption that wastewater capacity will materialise later without evidence from the responsible infrastructure providers.

Assessments should consider cumulative development across sewerage and drainage catchments.

Autumn Conference 2026 reinforced Liberal Democrat policy on investment in sewage-treatment capacity, transparency over pollution and the need to prepare for future water shortages.

We therefore support:

• Published wastewater-capacity assessments for significant allocations.
• Evidence of sewage-treatment capacity.
• Strong sustainable-drainage requirements.
• Protection of flood plains and natural drainage.
• Proper consideration of cumulative development.
• Long-term maintenance arrangements for sustainable drainage systems.
• Measures to prevent additional sewage pollution and surface-water flooding.

Sustainable drainage should also contribute positively to biodiversity and attractive green infrastructure rather than simply functioning as an engineering afterthought.

7. Climate-resilient, high-quality homes

New homes should be designed to reduce both household bills and carbon emissions.

National Liberal Democrat policy supports zero-carbon standards for new homes.

The Local Plan should therefore pursue the strongest standards legally available on:

• Energy efficiency.
• Low-carbon heating.
• Renewable energy.
• Water efficiency.
• Overheating and climate resilience.
• Electric-vehicle charging.
• Tree cover and shade.
• Sustainable drainage.

Homes should also be designed to remain appropriate as residents' circumstances change, with meaningful provision of accessible and adaptable housing.

8. Village facilities and community infrastructure

Planning policy should recognise that successful places consist of more than houses.

The Local Plan should protect important community facilities including:

• Village and community halls.
• Schools and nurseries.
• GP surgeries and pharmacies.
• Local shops.
• Post offices and banking facilities.
• Pubs.
• Libraries.
• Places of worship.
• Sports pitches and recreation facilities.
• Allotments.

Development should contribute fairly towards improving facilities where additional population creates additional demand.

The loss of valued community facilities should require strong evidence that the facility is no longer needed or viable and that reasonable attempts have been made to retain it.

9. Settlement gaps, countryside and green infrastructure

We support strong protection for meaningful settlement gaps where they preserve the distinct identity of neighbouring communities.

Development should not result in the gradual coalescence of villages or settlements without clear strategic justification.

Green infrastructure should be planned as a connected network and should include:

• Trees and woodland.
• Hedgerows.
• Wildlife corridors.
• Rivers, brooks and wetlands.
• Public rights of way.
• Accessible natural green space.
• Playing fields.
• Play areas.
• Allotments.
• Connections between settlements and the countryside.

New green infrastructure should include clear and properly funded arrangements for long-term management.

The plan should also protect important landscapes, including the setting and character of the Sandstone Ridge.

10. Farming and agricultural land

Cheshire West is a major rural and agricultural area, and agricultural land should be considered as part of the borough's strategic infrastructure rather than simply as undeveloped land awaiting another use.

Autumn Conference 2026 adopted policy giving greater weight to national and local food security, nature-friendly farming and local food supply chains.

The Local Plan should therefore consider:

• The quality and productivity of agricultural land.
• The cumulative loss of productive farmland.
• Farm viability.
• Access and movement for agricultural businesses.
• Soil quality.
• Biodiversity and nature recovery.
• Opportunities for local food production and supply chains.

Food production and environmental improvement should not automatically be treated as competing objectives.

11. Neighbourhood Plans

We strongly support neighbourhood planning.

Cheshire West and Chester Liberal Democrats support the creation of Parish and Town Councils in every part of Cheshire West and Chester to help promote local decisions and reduce inequalities in delivery of services. Where Parish and Town Councils do not exist, neighbourhoods must be given a method of neighbourhood planning that exists separately from the Unitary Authority level.

The council should give neighbourhood-plan groups indicative housing requirements as early as reasonably possible in the Local Plan process.

This is essential if neighbourhood plans are to shape development positively rather than having to respond retrospectively after strategic decisions have already effectively been made.

National Liberal Democrat policy explicitly supports expanding neighbourhood planning.

Neighbourhood plans should be empowered to influence:

• Local design.
• Site-specific priorities.
• Infrastructure.
• Important views and landscapes.
• Green spaces.
• Settlement gaps.
• Community facilities.
• Walking and cycling routes.
• Local affordable-housing needs.

The council should also clearly explain which emerging Local Plan policies are strategic and where neighbourhood plans retain scope to establish locally specific policies.

12. Heritage and local character

Cheshire West's historic environment is one of the borough's greatest assets.

The plan should protect:

• Listed buildings.
• Conservation areas.
• Archaeology.
• Historic street patterns.
• Important views and settings.
• Locally significant heritage assets.
• The distinctive character of villages and rural landscapes.

Protecting heritage does not mean preventing all change. High-quality development and sensitive reuse can secure the long-term future of historic buildings and places.

Good design should respond to local character without simply reproducing the past.

13. Digital infrastructure

Reliable mobile and broadband connectivity should be treated as essential infrastructure.

The Local Plan should require assessment of digital connectivity for major development and encourage infrastructure that addresses existing mobile "not-spots" as well as serving new homes.

New development should not create communities in which residents have modern houses but inadequate connectivity for work, education, healthcare or everyday life.

14. Capturing community benefit from development

Communities accommodating significant development should experience tangible improvements in infrastructure and services.

National Liberal Democrat policy supports testing Community Land Auctions so that communities receive a greater share of increases in land value arising from development and that this can help fund local services. It also supports enabling councils to acquire land for housing closer to existing-use value.

Within the powers available to it, the council should maximise transparent use of developer contributions and land-value uplift to fund infrastructure and affordable housing.

For major developments, residents should be able to see clearly:

• What contributions have been agreed.
• What they will fund.
• When they will be paid.
• When infrastructure will be delivered.
• Whether obligations have subsequently been renegotiated.

15. Consultation and community engagement

The Local Plan will be stronger if residents are involved before decisions have effectively been made.

Consultation should therefore include:

• Accessible online information.
• Paper copies in libraries and community venues.
• Parish and town council briefings.
• Workshops for neighbourhood-plan groups.
• Local meetings in affected communities.
• Cross-party consultation, with representatives from all political parties in Cheshire West & Chester.
• Interactive maps.
• Engagement with young people.
• Specific engagement with disabled residents.
• Outreach to social and private renters.
• Engagement with rural residents and people affected by digital exclusion.

Consultation materials should clearly explain what has already been decided, what remains open to influence and what the practical consequences of different options would be.

After each stage, the council should publish a clear report explaining what residents said, what changed as a result and why other suggestions were not accepted.

Conclusion

Cheshire West and Chester Liberal Democrats support the delivery of the homes our borough needs.

But new housing must strengthen communities rather than simply increase their population.

Our approach is therefore based on a straightforward principle:

The right homes.
In the right places.
With the right infrastructure.
While protecting our environment and the character of our communities.

That means genuinely affordable housing, stronger rural housing policies, transparent infrastructure tests, neighbourhood planning, viable local schools and health services, improved public transport, better walking and cycling links, protection from flooding and sewage pollution, safeguarding village facilities and settlement gaps, and strong protection for our natural environment and heritage.

Cheshire West and Chester Liberal Democrats have criticised three motions due to be debated at the Council meeting on 9 February, accusing their proposers of misrepresenting the facts, stoking fear, and distracting from the real crises facing the borough.

Storyhouse targeted with misleading claims

One of the motions centres on a children’s event at Storyhouse which has been wrongly portrayed as inappropriate or sexualised. In reality, the event simply helps children understand that families come in different forms - a basic fact of modern life and something explicitly covered by the National Curriculum.

Children encounter classmates from a wide range of family backgrounds every day. Helping them understand that difference exists is about inclusion and safeguarding, not sex education.

Schools are already required to teach about different family structures, and Storyhouse is supporting that work at a time when schools are under severe financial pressure. Rather than attacking a valued cultural institution, councillors should be thanking it for stepping in where resources are stretched.

Had the Reform UK and Independent councillors proposing the motion spoken to the organisers, they would have known this. Instead, they have chosen to rely on dog-whistle politics to create the false impression that children are being taught about sexual relationships.

Scaremongering over changing rooms

The two further motions should not be debated at all. They are based on speculation rather than evidence, exploiting the absence of clear national guidance to whip up fear.

There is no evidence of offences occurring in public changing rooms in Cheshire West and Chester, nor are Liberal Democrats aware of any mixed-sex changing facilities on council-run premises. Raising alarmist claims without facts does nothing to improve safety - it simply targets a minority group for political gain.

Publicly elected representatives have a responsibility not to use their platform to vilify people or manufacture threats where none exist.

Call for a named vote

Given the seriousness of the claims being made and the potential harm they cause, the Liberal Democrats are calling for a named vote on all three motions.

Residents deserve to know which councillors are engaging in culture-war politics — and which are focused on holding the Labour administration to account for the real issues affecting people’s daily lives: deteriorating roads, unacceptable delays in EHCPs, and a deepening crisis in SEND provision.

Comment from the Liberal Democrats

Rob Herd, Chair of Cheshire West & Chester Liberal Democrats, said:

“This council should be focused on fixing potholes, supporting schools, and making sure children with SEND get the help they are legally entitled to - not attacking a children’s event at Storyhouse or spreading fear about problems that don’t exist.

Storyhouse is doing exactly what the National Curriculum expects, and doing it well. What we’re seeing instead is political theatre - using dog-whistle language to divide communities rather than solve problems.

We’re calling for a named vote so residents can see clearly who is serious about improving Cheshire West and Chester, and who would rather play culture-war games.”