Shaping Congleton's Future
Vision and Objectives
Congleton For Everyone Now and in the Future.
Congleton will thrive as a distinctive town that offers a comprehensive range of homes, shops, jobs, services and facilities supported by the required infrastructure to cater for the needs of all our residents and businesses and encourage an environmentally friendly and sustainable approach.
The special and unique character of Congleton, including its heritage assets and the surrounding countryside, will be protected, enhanced and promoted to make the town an attractive place in which to live, work and visit.
To enhance our environment and implement sustainable building and renewable energy initiatives.
To develop an integrated sustainable transport framework within the town improving walking and cycling routes between everyday facilities such as shops, services, open spaces and the surrounding countryside.
The long-term objective for Congleton is to have a range of high-quality community, leisure, health, social, creative and cultural facilities available and accessible to everyone who lives in the town.
To meet the objectively assessed local housing needs of Congleton especially the needs of the existing and future residents of the town to create a vibrant and inclusive local community.
The objective of the policies is to preserve and extend our green spaces.
To improve the attractiveness, vibrancy and accessibility of the town centre.
To secure the future prosperity of Congleton, it is important to retain and attract a variety of new employment opportunities within the town to meet local needs and to support the local economy.
Key Themes
Having outlined the issues and concerns which exist in present-day Congleton, the key themes below form the backbone of the Congleton Neighbourhood Plan.
- Protecting and enhancing the environment.
- Creating a town that is accessible for all.
- Improving health, education and wellbeing.
- Providing for an ageing population.
- Improving traffic flow.
- Regenerating the town centre.
- Ensuring the right housing supply.
- Stimulating employment.
A Brief History of Congleton
Congleton is a long-established market town on the banks of the River Dane. Situated at a point where the foothills of the Pennines meet the Cheshire Plain, the town and its surrounding parishes have a rich history. The earliest settlements appear to have been in Neolithic times with archaeological finds from the Stone and Bronze ages. There is evidence of activity from the Romans and the Vikings in the vicinity and the Saxon Earl Godwin of Wessex held the town until it passed to the Norman Earl of Chester, as recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086.
During the latter part of the twentieth century, the town lost much of its traditional industrial base in textiles, although there has been some success in introducing new manufacturing, notably Siemens. Silica sand extraction has also provided a major industry during this time. One of the town’s older manufacturers, in ribbons and labels, continues to thrive, but many of the mills that characterised the town have been demolished or renovated and put to new use. Many of the older buildings within Congleton remain, contributing to the three conservation areas which can be found within the town. Increasingly modern development, both commercial and residential, has taken place since the 1960s on the western periphery of the town and has spilled over into neighbouring parishes.
Congleton has historically been a “green” town, where tongues of landscape, such as hedges, fields and clumps of trees, extended into the heart of the town. Much of this has been lost to development in the recent past and there is little undeveloped space in the modern town. The valleys of the River Dane, Howty Brook and Timbersbrook run to and around the town, as does the Macclesfield Canal. These provide biodiversity and a green resource for recreational and leisure activities for the people of the town.
The Victorian Congleton Park, in the central Dane Valley and the redeveloped sand quarry known as Astbury Mere, together with some small community gardens, also help to preserve some of the traditional green environment of the town.
Phone
(01260) 270350
Address
Congleton Town Council, Town Hall, High Street, Congleton, CW12 1BN