The local volunteers who make up the Poynton Neighbourhood Plan team, with direction and guidance throughout from a planning professional, have recently put the finishing touches to the Poynton Neighbourhood Plan. This follows extensive local consultation over many months and involved a large number of volunteers from our community in the early stages, as the Plan began to take shape. The Plan, which is evidence-based, covers vital areas such as the Green Belt and the Environment, Housing, Transport and Connectivity, Health and Wellbeing and the Town Centre in considerable detail.
The Submission version of the Plan was recently approved by Poynton Town Council’s Planning Committee, with some minor amendments, and subsequently approved at a meeting of the full Town Council on 4th December 2018. The Plan will now be forwarded to Cheshire East Council, who will check it for compliance with national planning policies and with their own Local Plan, which covers the whole of the Cheshire East area. An Independent Planning Examiner will then be appointed, approval of the candidate being agreed between the Town and Borough Councils, after which Cheshire East Council will arrange to hold a local referendum, probably by early summer 2019. This will involve all those Poynton residents on the electoral roll and, if more than 50% of those who respond vote in favour of the Plan, it acquires legal status, and must be paid due regard by developers, landowners and planning officers.
If the Plan achieves this status it will shape the scale and nature of future development in Poynton until 2030. An added bonus is that Poynton would then be able to retain 25% of what is known as the Community Infrastructure Levy, or CIL, paid for by those responsible for building new housing developments in Poynton.
