Response to Belport’s Adlington Park EIA scoping request Oct 2026 26/3607/E

Planning authority: Cheshire East Council

Planning reference: 26/3607/EIA

Following the government’s decision not to include the Green Belt area of Adlington as a priority location for a New Town, landowners Belport have submitted a request for an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) scoping opinion for Adlington Park, a proposed development of up to 1,275 dwellings.

An EIA scoping opinion is a request for a planning authority to consider the scope and level of detail to be included in the Environmental Statement for a development application. The developer sets out their views, and the planning authority responds with any changes they will require.

In our response to the submission, we note that Belport’s proposed scope is inadequate across a large number of issues. We also note that the proposals for Adlington Park should be viewed in the context of the multiple other development applications eroding the gaps between settlements and the likelihood that Adlington Park will be just the first of multiple development applications by Belport for the area.

We are therefore calling on Cheshire East Council to do the following:

i) Demand a master plan from Belport for the entirety of the land they wish to develop, not just
for the current identified area

ii. Require that the EIA covers a wider area in order to provide a fuller picture of the setting than
is offered in the developer’s scoping document

iii. Call for (a) a composite master plan map (similar to the key diagrams in Local Plans) that
covers a far wider area and (b) a full flood and river quality survey of the Dean and Bollin rivers
and their tributaries, covering the whole of Adlington Parish and the northern part of Prestbury
Parish that falls within the Adlington Hall estate land that is held by Belport. Similarly, the whole
approach to environmental constraints should be extended to this wider area which Belport
have publicly identified as being the extent of their development intentions – and that wider
approach should be required to address the presence of former coal seam workings

iv. Call for the EIA to (a) address the long term road traffic capacity impacts on the wider road
network. (Would any existing roads need to be widened or new ones need to be built? If so,
what would be the environmental implications, inc. harmful emissions and run-off)? And (b)
explain how the railway station could be upgraded and expanded and the services improved

v. Ask to see infrastructure plans adequate for the scale of development ultimately envisaged

vi. Not to accept the report’s summary of impacts on a very limited area around the proposed Adlington
Park, but to make their judgements based on the maps in Annexes 1 & 2

vii. Call for all potentially significant environmental impacts – including light pollution and air
quality – to be assessed over the wider ‘call for sites’ area indicated by Belport

viii. Demand (a) a detailed, quantitative, flood risk assessment and (b) an explanation of how the
developers would intend to deal with the wet soil conditions and with traffic run-off in the Red
Brook catchment whilst providing access roads and pavements, nearly 1,500 houses, garages, a
primary school and a community facility

ix. To require Belport to fully take on board CEC’s climate change policies and commitments and
explain how it intends to work towards complying with them

x. Require the applicant to: (a) declare the acreage covered by the designation of ‘Best and
most versatile’ agricultural land, (b) identify and map ancient hedgerows, (c) provide a detailed
arboricultural report that identifies ancient and veteran trees as well as those covered by TPOs,
(d) conduct a spring mapping and survey exercise of all ponds and (e) provide a bat survey

xi. Require a more extensive landscape assessment

xii. Insist that tourism and the visitor economy are scoped into the EIA

xiii. Require a very detailed transport plan which includes an explanation of how access to (and
egress from?) the site would be safely dealt with, what level of road collisions are envisaged,
what traffic flows are planned for around the site, what new public transport provision would
be made by the developer, how public rights of way would be dealt with and how the developer
envisages improvements could be made to the railway station and the services to it

xiv. Require thorough groundwater monitoring, a detailed drainage plan and on-site investigation
of the Smithy Meadow Pits and the underground areas around them

xv. Assess the dark skies value of Parcel A

Consultation close date: 30 October 2026

Search for application 26/3607/EIA on Cheshire East Council website (you only need to enter the reference number – leave all other fields empty)