Local Plan Issues and Options (Regulation 18)

Comment

Representation ID: 10687

Received: 28/08/2025

Respondent: Farndon Parish Council

I&O_11185
Please see the response on behalf of Farndon Parish Council to question SS16.

Comment

Representation ID: 10688

Received: 28/08/2025

Respondent: Farndon Parish Council

I&O_11186
For the reasons set out in the answers to questions SS9, SS11, SS14, SS15, SS16 and SS17, on behalf of Farndon Parish Council, Option C on its own in unsustainable and unsound. Current national planning policy requires a more cohesive and integrated approach to strategic planning, with a recognition that the current Green Belt at 42 % of the Borough cannot be sustained, not least because areas of it will comprise Grey Belt, and that any allocations at the lower end of the settlement hierarchy need to recognise the particular characteristics of the individual villages. The approach that the Council will need to adopt will inevitably be focused on Option B, with an appropriately assessed Green Belt land release, one which is currently underestimated.

Comment

Representation ID: 10689

Received: 28/08/2025

Respondent: Farndon Parish Council

I&O_11187
Please see the response on behalf of Farndon Parish Council to question SS18.

Comment

Representation ID: 10690

Received: 28/08/2025

Respondent: Farndon Parish Council

I&O_11188
It is difficult to be specific as the actual sites have not been adequately identified. However, the principal issue is that any allocation must be at a sustainable level of units in the context of the existing village of circa 2000 inhabitants and 900 dwellings. An increase of anything approaching 500 units, with an associated population increase potentially of the order of 1200 people (the 2021 Census revealed an UK average of 2.4 residents per dwelling) would be highly detrimental to the character and nature of the village. The existing level of services are inadequate to sustain such an increase. It is currently all but impossible to obtain a face-to-face doctor’s appointment and although the primary school is not at capacity, it is not far off and although having recently expanded in size, it is now physically constrained by existing and new housing development, and consequently it could not expand further to accommodate the demand from 500 new dwellings. An entirely new school would be required. Traffic levels in the village are extremely problematic. The roads are constrained in size by their age and parking is very limited; there being only a very small number of both on-street and off-street parking opportunities, much of which is taken up by adjacent residents and businesses. There are frequent safety issues arising from parking for the post office, chemist and newsagent, and current connections from the village to the wider highways network, primarily the junctions with the A534, see frequent accidents. These will only be exacerbated by increasing the number of dwellings, and seriously exacerbated by increasing the number by anywhere near 500 units. Farndon, as a village, simply cannot bear the unsustainable burden and impact of up to 500 additional dwellings where the village comprises only 900 dwellings. If a future allocation is required in Farndon, then it should be at a significantly lower level, and a more sustainable level, than 500 units. Clearly, any allocation of anything approaching 1500 units would be entirely irrational.   FAR01 – this area is likely to be impacted in part around its southern extent, by the functional flood plain of the River Dee and such areas will be unsuitable for housing development. There is an ecological constraint on the land to the rear of Maddocks Close as it is a designated Green Space as per Planning Application 07/00229/FUL which states that is ‘a habitat area which will be secured in perpetuity to ensure the transition between the development and the countryside will be guaranteed’. Highways access to this area will be problematic as the access to Churton Road and out of the village is opposite the primary school. The Parish Council does not have adequate information to be able to comment on character and visual impact, biodiversity and ecological impact, contaminated land, highways impact and impact on other matters.   FAR02 – The Parish Council is not currently aware of any potential physical constraints to developing in this approximate area for further housing units, at an appropriate level. Access to the east would be to the problematic and substandard Sibbersfield Road, and onwards to the dangerous junction with the A534, which is known to be the scene of frequent accidents. Sibbersfield Road is heavily used in the mornings and evenings to provide access from the north to the A534 and onwards to Wrexham Industrial Estate, the alternative route through the village and/or Holt being unattractive to motorists. Consequently, Sibbersfield Road is heavily trafficked, particularly during the morning and evening rush hours but also by heavy farm machinery and any increase in traffic on the road from new housing development would need to be very carefully assessed, both in the context of volume and the suitability and availability of access on to the road, there having been some difficulties in designing a suitable highways access for the recent smaller housing development to the north of Kings Meadow, of which the Council should be aware. Further, the physical extent of the potential FAR02 allocation would have the effect of beginning to merge the villages of Farndon and Churton, which informs the adverse impact upon character, identity and appearance arising out of the physical extent of the potential allocation. It is not currently proposed to allocate any land for housing in Churton, and it would be equally inappropriate to allocate land that would bring about a potential merging of the two different villages. The Parish Council does not have adequate information to be able to comment on full character and visual impact, biodiversity and ecological impact, contaminated land, detailed highways impact and impact on other matters, at this stage, but does maintain that even if FAR02 is suitable for housing development, it can only be at a much lower level than the potential 500 units envisaged in Options B and C. Anything approaching 500 units would entirely overwhelm the village, severely and detrimentally impacted upon the very character and appearance of this historic, small rural village surrounded by farmed agricultural land in this lesser sustainable location of the Borough.   FAR03 – this area is also likely to be impacted in part around its western extent, by the functional flood plain of the River Dee and such areas will be unsuitable for housing development. The southern area will be adversely impacted by highway noise from the adjacent A534, particularly in the early mornings of the summer months when mitigation measures have no effect. Further, the potential allocation would appear to be adjacent to, or nearby an extensive functioning wastewater treatment works, and issues around odour may arise.

Comment

Representation ID: 10691

Received: 28/08/2025

Respondent: Farndon Parish Council

I&O_11189
Please see the answers provided on behalf of Farndon Parish Council to question SS38. Fundamentally, even if any or all of the three potential locations are deemed to be suitable for housing allocations in the emerging plan, they simply cannot individually or cumulatively provide for anything approaching 500 units, in the context of the existing circa 900 dwellings. Such would be entirely unsustainable, and would fundamentally change the character of both the village and the surrounding countryside, in conflict with the NPPF on many different levels.

Comment

Representation ID: 10692

Received: 28/08/2025

Respondent: Farndon Parish Council

I&O_11190
Please see the answers provided on behalf of Farndon Parish Council to questions SS5 and SS38. The current primary school would be incapable of accepting the anticipated pupil demand from up to 500 new dwellings and it is now physically constrained such that a new school at different location would be required. Many residents report repeated and long-term problems securing appointments at the doctor’s surgery, and it is all but impossible to secure a face-to-face appointment with a doctor. Traffic within the village is a serious problem. The roads in the village are narrow, particularly in the Conservation Area and there is very limited off-street parking for both the general public and residents along the roads, resulting in significant levels of on-street parking causing serious congestion and highways danger, arising particularly from those visiting the post-office, pharmacy, butchers, and newsagents. Similar problems arise daily at school drop-off and pick-up times. Any increase in population will exacerbate these serious problems, for which there is no real or adequate solution, although the Parish Council are realistic in their anticipation that there will ultimately be an increase in population using the village roads, albeit one that is hoped to be commensurate with the current size of the village and availability of services and facilities.

Comment

Representation ID: 10693

Received: 28/08/2025

Respondent: Farndon Parish Council

I&O_11191
Yes, in so far as it is set out. The current Government in December 2024 fundamentally changed the national policy approach to Green Belt, in order to increase the available supply of land, particularly for housing. The Green Belt covers approximately 42% of the Borough, and is naturally concentrated across the northern area of the Borough, around the larger built-up areas, which are also the most sustainable locations for further housing development. It is unrealistic to expect that the current Green Belt policy can be carried through without amendment, as it is highly likely that a not insignificant amount of the Green Belt around Ellesmere Port, Chester, and the various villages such as Helsby, Frodsham, Neston and Parkgate, Christleton and Kelsall, which lie partially or entirely in the Green Belt, will be found to be Grey Belt, pursuant to the PPG at paragraph 64-005, and thus fall within the exception to inappropriate development at NPPF ¶155.   A Borough wide Green Belt assessment will need to be carried out, expressly applying the requirements of PPG paragraph 64-005 to determine whether land currently in the Green Belt, should remain so in the Development Plan moving forward. To meet the requirement at NPPF ¶155 the land in question must be sustainably located, and inherent in the finding that housing development in what would previously have been considered to be Green Belt is not inappropriate development, is a finding that such a location is the most sustainably located. It is a fundamental requirement of any strategic policies moving forward that the provisions of NPPF ¶155 have been expressly taken into account in advancing any Green Belt boundaries. Since January 2025 there have been a significant number of appeal decisions where both Inspectors and the Secretary of State have agreed with developer appellants that land that is within the Green Belt spatial designation is in fact Grey Belt, strongly indicating the direction of travel of the Government. In a Borough that is highly constrained with 42% of Green Belt, the Council will need to properly assess the current extent of Green Belt in order for the emerging Development Plan to be found sound. The release of land from the Green Belt where it is found to be Grey Belt and sustainably located will release development pressures from the less sustainably located areas, particularly the more isolated areas to the south of the Borough such as Farndon, where  large housing allocations will leave residents remote from the bulk of necessary services and facilities, and which in the case of Farndon would overwhelm the character of the village and the existing limited services.

Comment

Representation ID: 10694

Received: 28/08/2025

Respondent: Farndon Parish Council

I&O_11192
Yes, for clarity, these two matters should be addressed separately.