Wychwood Update – 22nd May 2014

As a brief update, the Cheshire East Council Local Plan has now been finalised and was submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 20th May 2014. The documentation will now be reviewed before Public Examination, expected later in the year. As you will know, once the Local Plan is adopted, it will dictate the strategy of housing development throughout Cheshire East until 2030, and may also include a new Green Belt which we hope will include our site. The committee are liaising with Cheshire East and the Planning Inspector to secure our place at the examination in public.

There is a long way to go before then, and we expect Hunt/Haddon will continue in their attempts to derail the Local Plan at every opportunity. We will continue to monitor the situation and are working hard putting together our defence as it will be necessary to represent the community at the Public Examination later in the year, to counter the arguments Haddon have put forward.

In the meantime, fund raising and building our community continues to be important with the fast approaching Family Fun Day on Sunday 29th June 2014. We as a committee need to focus as much as possible on our Local Plan defence, so we’d appreciate more volunteers to come forward and help make the day special. It won’t take up too much time, but is vitally important that the community help setup and run these events. We also still need raffle prizes; and residents to bake cakes. Additionally, if anyone has access to horse transport we can use on the day for a collection and return locally of two horses. If you can help with any of the above, please send us a reply.

Wychwood Family Fun Day – Sunday 29th June 2014

On Sunday 29th June 2014 (11am – 3pm) we will be fund raising again with a similar Family Fun Day but hopefully a slightly warmer one!

We will centre around the Village Hall and some of the things happening include:

Kid’s Football Match
Dog Show
Sports as per last year
Magician
Fire Engine
Soft Play Area
Bouncy Castle
Nature Walks
Netball
Burger Van
Face Painting
Ice Cream Van
Raffle
Army Cadets
Stalls in the Hall
Kung Fu demo
Plus hopefully more…

We are looking for the following to help the day be a success:

Raffle Prizes, events or experiences
Prof Footballers to run the kids football match as per last year; this was a massive success with the kids
Any other ideas from Residents to add fun to the day

If you would like to help please contact Shashi Scrase at shashi @ wychwoodvillage .co .uk or Paul Burt at paul @ wychwoodvillage .co .uk

Wychwood Update – 2nd May 2014

Thank you to all those that attended our group AGM last Sunday; we hope we were able to answer many of your questions.

As a brief update, we’d just like to inform you that as expected, Haddon Property Developments Ltd (owned by Mr Peter Hunt) have submitted a very large objection document to the final Local Plan consultation. The document, comprising of almost 24,000 words, has been draw up by their planning and legal team (John Church Planning Consultancy Ltd / Freeth Cartwright LLP) and in summary, questions the legality of the Local Plan, compares a village development on Wychwood Village versus that of the allocated ‘Village A’ site nearby to Crewe Hall; and offers up a whole host of facilities here including a burial ground, of which we have lost count of the amount of times they have changed this to suit what ‘they think’ the area needs (wreaks of desperation!).

We feel the document is weak, full of conjecture, and has been clearly written in a way to suggest that Haddon are looking to take their sites ‘non-inclusion’ directly to the Government Inspectorate. We, with the assistance of some legal and planning experts are working through the document and have been able to counter all points raised, and are not surprised to find a number of key objections against development have been missed out, or blatantly twisted. The document has given us a clear indication of what steps are likely to be taken next; and a source close to Haddon has suggested they are desperate to discredit the plan and the proposed South Cheshire Growth Village as if that goes ahead they realise they will struggle to get any plan approved.

Should you wish to read the document submitted by Haddon Properties, we have posted it here. We’d welcome feedback, especially from those within the industry, just to ensure we have covered all points.

We are also working on some additional measures to prevent development, but at this crucial stage, we’ll need to avoid public communication but rest assured, we are exploring all avenues.

The expectation is that this is going to heat up very soon, so please be ready to act; no time for apathy, just a fight to protect our village and surroundings!