Shaping Congleton's Future
Town Centre and Retail
Policies 7 through 10 focus on promoting a lively town centre, enhancing tourism and leisure opportunities, and supporting retail and leisure development both within and outside the town centre.
Policy 7 – Ensuring a Vibrant Town Centre
Within the primary shopping area (as defined by the Cheshire East Local Plan) all planning applications which would result in a change in land use should demonstrate how they will contribute positively towards the long-term sustainability of the town centre and high street.
Mixed-use developments will be encouraged throughout the town centre, with a focus on food and drink, evening economy and office uses. Residential development which is limited in its scale and would not interrupt an otherwise unbroken frontage consisting of active uses will also be considered acceptable. With the exception of householder applications, all new development within the town centre boundary (as defined by the Cheshire East Local Plan), will be required to demonstrate how the proposal has sought to connect to and enhance the quality of the public realm through the effective design and treatment of all new streets, spaces, forecourts and public areas.
Where opportunity arises, applications which propose new pedestrian routes as part of any development which contributes to the wider permeability and connectivity within the town centre will be supported. Care should also be taken to use a suite of surfacing materials which successfully reflects the character of the street scene and wider area.
All new commercial developments, including public spaces and retail areas, must ensure accessibility for all individuals, including wheelchair users and the visually impaired. This includes providing level access, appropriately designed ramps, tactile paving, and adequate space for manoeuvrability in public and retail areas, ensuring that all facilities and services are accessible.
Justification
Safeguarding and enhancing the future of Congleton town centre is at the core of the neighbourhood plan. Traditionally, like all market towns, this was as a retail centre, offering shops and services to the rural hinterland. Over the last 30 years, the role of our town centres has irrevocably changed, and with new retail practices, including the growth of out-of-town shopping, the growth of online retailing and the changing patterns brought on because of COVID-19, town centres need to reinvent themselves. In Congleton this process began as early as 20 years ago in the work that led to the 2008 Congleton Town Masterplan, the Public Realm Strategy (2012) and culminated in the 2022 Town Centre Vitality Plan.
The neighbourhood plan embeds much of the thinking behind these documents and strategies within this policy. Applicants are encouraged to think carefully about the uses they are promoting, and how the streets and spaces around them can collectively ensure that a high-quality experience is provided for residents and visitors alike referring, where appropriate, to these documents. Maintaining a strong active frontage along Duke Street, Bridge Street and High Street will help to protect the ‘heart’ of the town, within which a mixture of different activities and uses will be promoted in order to create a flexible and resilient high street and town centre.
Policy 8 - Tourism and Leisure in the Town Centre
Planning applications for food, drink and other evening economy uses will be considered acceptable within Congleton Town Centre, particularly where the nature of the use proposed is family-oriented and can demonstrate that it is genuinely inclusive and accessible, catering for all ages, genders and levels of mobility. Such development must also demonstrate compliance with all relevant amenity standards set out within the neighbourhood plan and Cheshire East Local Plan documents.
Planning applications for tourism related uses (including but not limited to museums, galleries, hotels) will normally be acceptable within the town centre or in the improvement areas identified within the neighbourhood plan, with support given to applications which seek to co-locate these with other leisure and civic uses.
Justification
This policy focuses on making sure that there is increasing flexibility to provide and accommodate a range of retail, leisure, food and drink and other community uses within the town centre. This means that Congleton can continue its transformation towards a 21st-century service centre. Changes to the use classes order and relaxation of permitted development rights have already added a degree of flexibility in certain cases and this policy is designed to ensure that where planning permission is required that this is equally supported in principle.
The policy sets out a series of criteria or requirements that all developments of this type should meet in terms of making them accessible for all. It’s really important that where these are delivered, they can be for the benefit of all people within the town, residents and visitors alike.
One of these considerations is how these might co-locate or work alongside other extant civic and leisure uses and buildings within the town to help improve the range of services on offer, share resources and ensure that activity can occur day and night, evenings weekends and holidays.
Policy 9 - Leisure Development Outside of the Town Centre
Applications for small-scale tourism and leisure uses (applications that would not be considered major) outside of the Town Centre, but within the settlement boundary will normally be considered acceptable where they do not impact negatively on residential amenities of adjoining or nearby uses and are provided with appropriate parking and servicing to meet their need.
Outside of the settlement boundary, new or expanded tourism and leisure development will be supported, particularly where proposals would include the re-use of existing buildings, would be well related to an existing facility or attraction, and where these are delivered in accordance with policies PG3 – Green Belt, PG6 – Open Countryside, EG 4 – Tourism and SC 1 Leisure and Recreation of the Cheshire East
Local Plan.
Justification
The role of tourism and leisure in Congleton is valued by the Town Council and often complements other land uses in and around the town centre, for example the flourishing Market Quarter. This policy welcomes tourism and leisure developments of a small scale within the settlement boundary yet outside the town
centre, acknowledging the contribution such facilities can make, whilst ensuring residential amenity is protected.
Outside of the settlement boundary tourism and leisure will be supported where they relate to an existing facility or attraction, protect amenity and comply with the Cheshire East Local Plan policies relating to the Open Countryside and Green Belt.
Policy 10 - Local Retail Locations
In addition to the retail hierarchy identified within the Cheshire East Local Plan the following three local convenience shopping locations are identified within the neighbourhood plan area:
1. Lower Heath – Rood Hill / Manchester Road
2. Buglawton – Buxton Road
3. 62-68 Havannah Street
Small-scale retail development (less than 280sq/m net retail space) will be allowed along these routes which are designed to provide convenience shopping for the local communities that they serve. New retail development that is less than 280sq/m adjacent to any of the established Cheshire East Local Plan retail areas will also be permitted.
New hot food takeaway uses within the neighbourhood plan area will only be acceptable where they are accompanied by a management strategy to ensure that the amenity impacts, parking and servicing arrangements are effectively managed.
All new developments must ensure accessibility for all individuals, including wheelchair users and the visually impaired. This includes providing level access, appropriately designed ramps, tactile paving, and adequate space for manoeuvrability.
Justification
In Congleton several locations are identified within the Cheshire East Local Plan including a ‘local urban centre’ at West Heath Shopping Centre and a neighbourhood parade of shops at Hightown (adjacent to the railway station on Biddulph Road). There are three additional neighbourhood local shopping streets where retail would be acceptable. The delivery of these would be in accordance with guidance within the Cheshire East Local Plan policies RET1 and RET2. Collectively this means that there is a spread of local shopping areas around the town servicing local people. Small-scale retail development (less than 280sq.m – as this is the threshold for exclusion from Sunday trading laws) outside of these areas is also permitted to ensure that local corner shops and newsagents can be both delivered and expanded effectively, whilst at the same time ensuring that they do not unduly harm the amenity of any surrounding uses, particularly including residential dwellings.
Hot food takeaways are very much part of the modern retail landscape, especially after they have now become a sui generis use. Whilst policy RET5 includes some criteria that should be met – mainly design and amenity – this policy adds additional criteria that sets out that a management strategy (that could be effectively conditioned and monitored in line with policy RET5 criterion 2) to help deal with any residual effects. The evidence that sits behind the Cheshire East Local Plan (Table 9.2 of the SADPD) clearly shows that there is a significant undersupply of retail capacity within Congleton, in the region of between 1300 – 1600 square metres. The Cheshire East Local Plan policy RET 1 (of the SADPD 2022) sets out a retail hierarchy for the whole borough and identifies several shopping areas, outside the town centre, where new retail development should be focused. However, these areas are relatively small and do not include land that would meet these demands. In that respect, development would normally be provided within the town centre.
Evidence Base
Phone
(01260) 270350
Address
Congleton Town Council, Town Hall, High Street, Congleton, CW12 1BN