CPRE responds to Warrington Local Plan Consultation

Economic factors take priority over social and environmental issues in the draft Warrington Local Plan

CPRE’s response to the Warrington Proposed Submission Local Plan 2021-2038 Consultation welcomes a number of positive developments. The amount of Green Belt release proposed has been reduced from 11% of the total Green Belt area to 5%, but generally advocate that Green Belt release should be a last resort after all options to develop available brownfield and windfall sites have been exhausted. However, we are concerned that there is limited reference to the climate emergency and our Net-Zero commitments in the plan.

Our response, which is available to download below, also highlights the importance of protecting the large number of ecological assets within the borough, raises the issue of a lack of genuinely affordable housing in the plan, and recommends that carbon zero/neutral development should feature more strongly throughout the document.

Download response

We recognise that without a democratically adopted Local Plan the countryside and open greenspace across Warrington is more vulnerable to speculative development, so we hope that the policies and allocations are progressed to better steer future development to the most sustainable places without further delay.