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Bollington Neighbourhood Plan Update 2024-2040
STOP PRESS !
The Update to the Neighbourhood Plan has now been confirmed by Cheshire East Council and accepted as part of the Development Plan in a formal Decision Notice published on 3rd March 2025. This follows the Report by the Independent Inspector which concluded that the Bollington Neighbourhood Plan (modification), subject to some recommended amendments, has met the requirements of the ‘Basic Conditions’ and other relevant legislation, and does not require a referendum. The Inspector’s recommended amendments have been incorporated into the final version of the Plan.
The supporting documents are: the Basic Conditions Statement, the Consultation Statement, the Modification Statement and the Strategic Environmental Assessment Screening .
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Bollington Neighbourhood Plan Update 2024-2040
Background and Progress
The Bollington Neighbourhood Plan was adopted in June 2018.
In September 2023, Bollington Town Council decided that it was appropriate to carry out a review of the Plan in the light particularly of the publication of the second part of the Cheshire East Council Local Plan (the SADPD) in 2022 and with increasing emphasis on effects of climate change. The Steering Committee appointed to develop the updated version of the Plan held two public meetings, issued a comprehensive questionnaire to every house in the Community and made a presentation at the Annual Town meeting before issuing a draft version of the Plan Update for consultation. The Plan now covers the period up to 2040 and has sections on Housing, Employment, Retail, the Green Environment, the Built Environment, Tourism and Leisure, Moving Around, Infrastructure and recommended Community Actions.
The draft version of the updated Plan was open for consultation for a six week period from 10th June to 22nd July (the Regulation 14 consultation). Cheshire East Council (CEC) completed its own consultation at the Regulation 16 stage of the process on 5th November and then issued its decision as the Regulation 17(e) stage as follows: ‘The proposed Bollington Neighbourhood Development Plan (Modification) was accepted by Cheshire East Council and submitted to independent examination.’ The Plan and supporting documents were submitted to the Independent Inspector who completed his Report on 30th January 2025. The Inspector was concerned primarily with whether the Plan complied with the legal requirements for Neighbourhood Plans, particularly the Basic Conditions and he made a number of ‘Examiner Modification’ recommendations to ensure that these conditions were met. These recommendations were primarily to ensure clarity in wording and to remove some cases where he considered requirements were already covered in existing CEC policies.
The Inspector recommended that the local planning authority should make the Plan subject to incorporation of his recommended modifications and in his final comments stated:
“The Update is the result of a great deal of hard work by volunteers and an enthusiastic response from the local community. From this it is clear that a local passion exists for Bollington, for its history, and for the community. It is also clear that the Town Council and its Working Group has forged a good working relationship with Cheshire East Council officers. The resulting Bollington Neighbourhood Plan Update is a testimony to the hard work and cooperation that the Working Group has achieved. It will form a worthwhile addition to the Local Development Plan.”
The modifications required by the Inspector have been incorporated into the final version of the Bollington Neighbourhood Plan Update 2024 – 2040 and accepted by Cheshire East Council who have confirmed formal acceptance as part of the Local Development Plan on 3rd March 2025.
Bollington Neighbourhood Plan Update 2024-2040 References
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Sectors
Overall Vision and General Policy
(See Policies for full details)
The Overall Vision for Bollington is as follows:
“Bollington will continue to be a picturesque Working Town with industrial heritage roots. It must capitalise on its gateway location to the Peak District to support a high quality, vibrant and inclusive community life. It must retain a level of infrastructure, services and facilities appropriate to the size and mix of its population.”
General Policy V1 covers ‘Maintenance of Community Attributes’ as follows:
General Policy V1 – Maintenance of Community Attributes.
“In Bollington development is considered sustainable where it contributes positively to:
- amenity, health and safety of existing and future residents.
- the design, historic and cultural integrity of the Town.
- the landscape or townscape and the natural environment.
- the maintenance of stable levels of employment and potential economic growth.
- the target of carbon neutrality by 2045 or sooner.
Development will be supported where the overall effect is a positive contribution to these attributes with no significantly unacceptable effect on any of them.”
Housing
Bollington has seen significant increases in housing numbers over the last few years. There is a strong demand for housing here. Section 3 of the Plan sets out the Policies for Housing. This includes an independent Housing Needs Assessment covering the period up to 2030 and a further indicative assessment to 2040. The five Policies on housing cover New Dwellings, Housing Location, Parking Provision for New Dwellings, Type of Housing and Design of Housing. Development sites should be located within the Settlement Boundary and should be located on Brownfield sites, Suitable small-scale infill sites or Windfall sites. Any development should provide a mix of homes and a preference is expressed for two and three bedroomed properties suitable for either younger families starting out or older persons downsizing from existing properties. There are detailed requirements on design of housing set out in Policy H5.
Employment, Business and Retail
The Objectives for Employment and Business are to retain Bollington’s character as a ‘Working Town’, encourage economic growth and support stable employment. The three Policies cover ‘Regeneration of existing employment land’, ‘Establish Bollington as a centre for business in high-value specialisms’, and ‘Encourage the growth of home-based businesses’. The Retail section seeks to provide a better, more attractive and diverse retail offering, which supports the needs of the Community.
The Green Environment
The Green Environment section has three policies on Open Space requirements and three policies on Natural Environment requirements. The Open Space policies seek to ensure that formal allocation levels of Open Space are maintained and any new developments must be accompanied by additional Open Space, to maintain and improve existing Open Space locations and access to them, and confirms the designation of the six areas of Local Green Space identified for special protection in the 2018 version of the Neighbourhood Plan.
The Natural Environment policies concern protection of wildlife corridors and habitats identified as important in the independent professional studies carried out as support for the Update to the Plan, protection of major landscape features within Bollington, and requirements for landscaping and planting for any new developments.
Two policies on Green Belt issues which had been included in the draft version of the Plan submitted to the Inspector were deleted in his recommended modifications on the grounds that either they were already covered in the CEC Local Plan or they did not comply with National Policy for safeguarded land. However there is still a discussion of these issues in the section on the Green Belt.
The Built Environment and Heritage
This section is concerned with maintaining Bollington as an Historic Town and preserving the character of the four Conservation Areas. The one policy in this area sets out requirements for any development within one of the conservation areas or its setting including that any new development must not harm key landscape focal points and settings in their proximity.
Tourism and Leisure
The Update to the Plan retains the Objective ‘To support the amenities, infrastructure and services necessary to improve the visitor economy.’ The policy seeks to support the amenities, infrastructure and services necessary to improve the visitor economy.
Moving Around and Infrastructure
The two policies in the Moving Around section cover ‘Improving safety and efficiency of moving around’ and ‘Parking provision’. The introductory discussion to the policy on improving safety includes results from the Questionnaire on a 20 mph speed limit and on introduction of more safe crossings both of which were supported, and also includes results from the Bollington Town Council speed indicating device (SID) over several years at different locations in the Town. The Inspector’s Modifications included the requirement that a recommendation for a 20 mph speed limit should be transferred from the obligatory policies in the Plan and transferred to the non-obligatory Community Aspirations section of the Plan on the grounds that this was not something involving land use and requiring planning permission. The discussion on this and on the need for additional safe crossing points remain in the main text.
