Community Wellbeing

The community consultation undertaken in support of the neighbourhood plan has clearly demonstrated that ensuring that new development is connected to good quality walking and cycling routes is vitally important to addressing the overarching development strategy for the town. It is universally acknowledged that many trips made by private cars are less than 5km –being easily walkable or cyclable. National planning policy and guidance are clear in making sure that new and existing developments have access to walking and cycling as realistic alternatives to using private cars.

To ensure accessibility for all, including disabled people, this policy seeks to ensure that major development includes appropriate infrastructure such as accessible pavements, dropped kerbs, and smooth surfaces. Consideration should also be given to the needs of individuals who rely on mobility aids, ensuring routes are navigable and safe. Additionally, include tactile paving and other aids for visually impaired individuals to enhance usability and safety.

The Town Council and Cheshire East Council have both been working closely with other partners in the town for several years to identify and enhance the network of specific cycle connections in the town. In 2019 the Town Council published a revised cycling masterplan for the town, and it identified several routes that should be prioritised within the town. This fed into the recently published Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) that have been prepared by Cheshire East Council. The LCWIP identifies a series of priority schemes (West Heath to the town centre, Lower Heath to the town centre and the railway station to the town centre that provide links between existing infrastructure to provide strategic links within the town. This policy seeks to bring together the findings of these documents and ensure that any new development contributes towards the principles and framework set out by these documents in a manner that is both effective and proportionate relative to the development which is proposed. Major developments have the ability to contribute directly to these routes, whilst other developments can ensure that they responds and do not undermine the wider delivery of these routes.

• Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Congleton, Macclesfield and Wilmslow – Cheshire East Council Feb 2021
• Congleton Cycling Masterplan – Congleton Town Council Jan 2019
• Congleton Town Strategy – Cheshire East Council (2012)
• North Congleton Masterplan – Cheshire East Council (October 2015)
• National Planning Policy Framework 2023 – paragraphs 108 and 110

Congleton experiences a high level of private vehicle use in and around the town. Whilst this may provide some benefits in providing residents with the freedom and autonomy to choose where, how and at what time they travel from one place to another, there are also negative impacts on congestion, air pollution and road safety within the town. However, as detailed within the Transport in Congleton report by Stephen Joseph Associates, such impacts are not inevitable and moving forwards the Town Council is committed to improving transport accessibility, efficiency and sustainability. In this respect, the Neighbourhood Plan has been identified a primary vehicle through which it is considered this can be delivered. Congleton Town Council is committed to the retention and improvement of the public transport network that serves the town and the wider area it serves.

This commitment extends to the championing of sustainable transport modes and an aim to ensure all residents have convenient, affordable alternatives to private cars for everyday journeys. Matters of public transport, like any other elements of service delivery, are important to consider as part of the achievement of sustainable development. The priorities set out for Congleton within the evidence base for Local Development Framework in 2012 highlight public transport as a key priority. The Cheshire East Local Plan does provide where appropriate, some limited planning policy guidance but this is not effectively linked to the specifics of Congleton, nor to the matters that have been raised by local people when responding to the neighbourhood plan consultation.

As a result, the Town Council is committed to championing change and improvements to the public transport network. The policy that is set out above provides the framework for how the Town Council will work with local partners, including but not limited to, Cheshire East Council, public transport providers (including rail providers) and community groups to enhance the public transport connectivity within the town and make sure that it is integrated with other sustainable modes such as walking and cycling.

While promoting walking and cycling is a priority, it is essential to recognise that not all residents can participate in these modes of transport due to disabilities, health conditions, or other mobility issues. As such, developments should also include provisions for convenient and accessible parking for disabled people and ensure that public transport options are inclusive, with appropriate facilities such as accessible bus stops and clear wayfinding.

• Transport in Congleton – Stephen Joseph Associates, March 2024

Policy 11 provides a strategy for overarching change and transformation to movement and connectivity habits within Congleton as informed by the Transport in Congleton Report. In addition, the Town Council are also aware that localised, small-scale interventions also have an equally important role to play in improving the quality of sustainable travel routes and connections throughout the plan area.

Through initial consultation with local stakeholders, a series of small-scale interventions have been identified where improvements to the local network would be beneficial. It is acknowledged that some of these interventions are planning matters to greater or lesser extents, but nonetheless their inclusion within the neighbourhood plan as an aspiration is important in order to indicate the scope for improvement in these locations.

Where relevant, the potential impact of planning applications on the interventions listed above or the routes to which they relate will be considered, and more generally the inclusion of these proposed changes within the Neighbourhood Plan provides a starting point for further work with stakeholders to deliver change which is partly outside the scope of this neighbourhood plan.

In promoting the implementation of these proposed changes, the Town Council hope that the physical qualities of the sustainable travel network can be improved, contributing to its attractiveness as an alternative method of travelling through the town.

• Congleton Local Transport Development Plan – August 2022
• Transport in Congleton – Stephen Joseph Associates, March 2024

Congleton benefits from an expansive Green Infrastructure network which features a wide range of different habitats supporting a rich variety of plants, birds and animals. The ecological and biodiversity qualities which benefit this network are already matters which the public and Town Council have recognised as being particularly important to the town, evidenced by recent guidance approved by Congleton Town Council’s Planning Committee relating to trees and shrubs. The neighbourhood plan has been identified as an important opportunity to help further consolidate the importance of this local network within local planning policy.

As part of the work that underpins this neighbourhood plan, a detailed assessment of the ecological qualities of the whole of the Congleton was undertaken by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT) during 2017 and 2018. The work by CWT looked in detail at the ecological networks throughout the town, the areas of highest habitat distinctiveness. As part of this, it concluded by showing an initiative wildlife corridors plan which is the basis for the map that accompanies this policy. This was in response to community feedback on the neighbourhood plan which identified the protection and enhancement of places for wildlife and ecology being particularly important – the river valleys being identified frequently as being special. Whilst there are a number of wide-reaching policies within the Cheshire East Local Plan that seek to protect biodiversity and wildlife, the establishment of clear ecological corridors has not been identified.

This policy seeks to achieve that role, in line with guidance in national policy. Additional protection is provided for these areas from any development, with the policy clearly setting out how any landscape proposal within these corridors (or adjacent to them) should be delivered – including provision of larger trees and native planting.

• Protecting and Enhancing Congleton’s Natural Environment – Cheshire Wildlife Trust (March 2017)
• Congleton Habitat Distinctiveness Map – Cheshire Wildlife Trust (2018)
• National Planning Policy Framework – paragraphs 185 and 186
• Congleton Planning Committee Trees and Shrubs Guidance

Improving access to healthcare and other community wellbeing assets in the town is important to ensure sustainable development is delivered. This policy sets out that new health and wellbeing facilities (and in this sport and playing pitches and children’s play are also included) should be delivered to be as accessible as possible through walking and cycling. This also means thinking carefully about on-site facilities such as cycle parking to make sure that this is effectively delivered.

The neighbourhood plan cannot request or identify new or expanded provision of services and facilities – this being the role of local NHS trusts and other partners, including Cheshire East Council – however, the neighbourhood plan can ensure that land use planning decisions prioritise the retention, reuse and repurposing of existing facilities to improve the network of facilities across the town working in tandem with policies supporting education diversification and protection of community facilities.

Major developments, through their design and landscape treatment have the opportunity to contribute effectively to mental wellbeing of future users and occupiers. Work by the Royal Town Planning institute on Mental Health and Wellbeing and Planning for Dementia (2020) both set out the importance of considering mental health as part of planning decisions.

This in part is picked up in the National Design Guide (2019). Compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and Building Regulations Part M will be required as a standard to ensure provisions for disabled access.

• Congleton Town Strategy – Cheshire East Council (2012)

One of the key priorities identified as part of the 2012 Congleton Town Strategy that preceded the adoption of the Cheshire East Local Plan Strategy in 2017 which allocated sites to the north of Congleton, was that the town needed to prioritise the delivery of new educational provision. Whilst some limited educational facilities are provided as part of the wider allocations (including a new special needs school), there is still needs for the improvement and enlargement of existing educational establishments all types across the town. The Cheshire East Local Plan is silent on all matters pertaining to planning applications for new educational facilities.

This policy is designed to both encourage the provision of new and expanded educational establishments in the town (a key target of the NPPF) and ensure that several concerns that have been highlighted by the community when these occur. The biggest issue is the impact of parking at pick up and drop off times from schools, or noise and disturbance from outside sport and play. It is important that new schools and other education facilities are easily accessible by, and give preference to, walking, cycling and public transport over the use of private cars.

• Congleton Town Strategy – Cheshire East Council August 2012
• National Planning Policy Framework 2023 – paragraph 99

Preserving and enhancing community facilities has been a significant matter for local residents and the Town Council – it is written into both the 2012 Congleton Town Strategy that was prepared in partnership with Cheshire East Council, but also the last business plan prepared by the Town Council in 2020. The growth of the town and its hinterland over recent years, as a result of the allocations delivered in the Cheshire East Local Plan, means that the need to preserve and enhance community facilities is vital for achieving sustainable communities as outlined in the criteria in paragraph 97 of the NPPF.

This policy includes three different elements. The first sets out a policy position designed to protect the existing community facilities in the town that have been identified by the Town Council and the community as being particularly important for their health and wellbeing. It also sets out that where a facility is no longer required by its current user, other community organisations should be sought first before allowing its redevelopment. The second part seeks to do this where only part of the facility might be affected, and where applications are designed to enhance the offer.

• Congleton Town Strategy – Cheshire East Council August 2012
• Congleton Town Council Business Plan 2020 – 23 – Published 2020
• Cultural, arts and community engagement can benefit wellbeing, but how do our neighbourhoods influence our participation? – What works wellbeing foundation (2022)
• The National Planning Policy Framework 2023 – paragraphs 96 and 97