The Poynton Pool planning application (23/4152M) was meant to be heard on the 28th February 2024 but has been rescheduled to be heard at the Strategic Planning Board on Wednesday 27th March 2024.

Here's what we know so far:

• until the agenda is published, we can’t confirm the following (agenda scheduled to be published 5 working days prior to the meeting - 20th March):
  - if it definitely will be heard at this meeting
  - whether the meeting will be held at Crewe or Macclesfield
• members of the public CAN attend. Let Cheshire East Council know if you plan to go as a non speaking member of the public so they can plan space accordingly - speakingatplanning@cheshireeast.gov.uk
• speaking is limited, Friends of Poynton Pool will be arranging for relevant speakers to attend so please don't register to speak. If you think you can help please get in touch with us - friendsofpoyntonpool@gmail.com

Information about the meeting will be updated here.

Updates on the planning portal

The planning application (23/4152M) has now received objections from the following:

• The Woodland Trust
• Cheshire Wildlife Trust
• CPRE The countryside charity
• Principal Nature Conservation Officer for Cheshire East council
• Environmental Planning Arboricultural Team for Cheshire East Council

Cheshire East Council have started to respond to some of the objections. You can find them on the planning portal here.

It’s becoming clear from the responses that Cheshire East Council are planning to steamroller this project through in the face of mounting evidence that it is a wholly disproportionate response to a very small risk.

When you read their response to the Friends of Poynton Pool objection report, you will see that with regard to our concerns relating to the structure of the dam, they will identify the nature of the soils when they excavate the trees and their roots and remove the topsoil. So, if you were in any doubt before, you can see that they have no regard for our environment. They are paying lip-service to our concerns. You will note the common thread in their communications is to contradict and refute all of our findings, opinions and suggestions. No attempt has been made to take on board anything the community and our experts have to offer.

Cheshire East made sure to emphasise as part of the planning application that they had listened to the public’s concerns and reduced the number of trees to be removed from 44 to 31. However, it’s come to light from the responses on the planning portal that they were paying lip service to the public's concerns.

There's been a lot of documents being changed by stakeholders on the planning portal since the public consultation closed on 10th Jan 2024. Here's a summary of what's happened:

1) Updates to the following documents (13th February 2024) without track changes. The plan remains unchanged since the original consultation despite these document changes:

- EAR P01 – P02

- Landscape Management

2) Subsequently a document was uploaded to say what had changed but this doesn’t match what actually changed.

3) Added 295 page PDF on biodiversity net gain (14th February)

4) Documents removed (16th February 2024):

- EAR P01

- 295 page PDF on biodiversity net gain

5) Added Single Page PDF on biodiversity net gain (16th February, dated 13th February 2024)

Consequently, this has removed any form of audit trail. The overall plan hasn't changed so it's unclear why documents are changing. As it is now, if an application needs to go to the planning inspectorate in the case of an appeal they won’t have all the information from start to finish to make an informed and balanced decision. We've been told that really it should be opened up to a new public consultation.

If you are a Planning Consultant or a Planning Lawyer, or have skills in media and communication and would you be interested in supporting Friends of Poynton Pool in our endeavors to save our community asset email friendsofpoyntonpool@gmail.com.

Latest update on the project costs

While Cheshire East residents are busy putting £60 stickers on their green bin and anticipating another 4.99% council tax rise, have a look at the latest costs for the project.

The total is now coming out at £1,403,630.00 and they’ve already spent over half a million pounds to date.