Cllr Brian Silvester (@CllrBSilvester)

The whole planning system is a disgrace. Developers are being allowed to get away with the murder of our beloved countryside. As a Leighton Parish Councillor, on behalf of my constituents, I am totally opposed to this enormous housing development of 2,100 new houses, across the Middlewich Road to Leighton Hospital. The land is in open countryside and is NOT allocated for housing in the Local Plan and should , therefore, be refused. Leighton is being used by Cheshire East as a dumping ground for the new housing that is not wanted in Knutsford, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge etc. At the Annual Meeting of Cheshire East, the Deputy Leader of the Council spoke about the possibility of a 'Leighton New Town' to go alongside the new hospital.......and it now looks like that talk was not too far off the mark. Leighton has already had 1250 houses passed in recent years. Developers promised to build a Village Hall as part of the planning gain from the development of those 1250 new houses..... but that has never happened. The promises of new infrastructure on the back of this gigantic application, like the space for a new primary school, provision of employment land, retail and health services and space to support a local centre and public open space.are illusional and a sham. It is noted that they only promise to provide the land for a new school and a local centre etc. What happens, as is very likely, there is no money to build these new facilities or to run them ??? This is an outline application. If it is passed, the land will probably be sold onto a developer, who will submit a detailed application, that might have no resemblance to the original application. The whole process is an insult to local residents, who deserve better. Time after time we have seen massive planning applications passed locally with huge promises of infrastructure being provided from 'planning gain', but mysteriously, once the building starts, the developer is allowed by Cheshire East to walk away from the promised grandiose infrastructiure proposals in the planning permission and local people are left with very little ....... but they are left with thousands more houses, greater congestion, longer waiting lists etc.The whole planning system is a disgrace. Developers are being allowed to get away with the murder of our beloved countryside. On a detailed point. A local resident has reported to me that there are some historice human graves on the site and this needs to be dealt with sensitively and according to the law. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c04kxzz2v2qo https://pa.cheshireeast.gov.uk/planning/index.html?fa=getApplication&id=406189 crewe.nub.news/news/local-news/consultation-launches-for-2100-homes-and-new-employment-space-in-crewe-289954