The Cheshire West and Chester Local Plan was adopted on the 29th January 2015 and forms part of
the statutory development plan for the borough. The Local Plan will be developed in two parts, Part
One Strategic Policies and Part Two Land Allocations and Detailed Policies.
Local Plan (Part One) Strategic Policies
The Cheshire West and Chester Local Plan (Part One) Strategic Policies is the first local development
document to be produced by Cheshire West and Chester Council. The purpose of this Plan is to provide
the overall vision, strategic objectives, spatial strategy and strategic planning policies for the borough
to 2030. The Local Plan (Part One) will be the starting point when considering planning applications
and will be supported by the Cheshire West and Chester Local Plan (Part Two) Land Allocations and
Detailed Policies Plan in due course.
The Local Plan (Part One) includes policies that have been informed by a suite of evidence base
documents prepared to support the Plan to ensure that the policies reflect locally determined priorities
for new homes, jobs, the environment and infrastructure development.
The Local Plan (Part One) includes:
Overall vision for the borough
Strategic objectives for new development in the borough
Spatial strategy for the location of new development including the identification of key sites
Strategic economic, social and environmental policies to support the spatial strategy
Schedule of proposed retained policies from the currently adopted Local Plans
The Local Plan (Part One) is supported by a wide range of background documents including:
Sustainability Appraisal
Habitats Regulations Assessment Screening Report
Monitoring, Implementation and Viability
Key Sites Background Paper
Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2013
Employment Land Study Update (2013)
Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA)
Strategic Housing Market Assessment Viability Study
Cheshire West and Chester Retail Study Update (Interim) 2013
Stage Two of the Chester Green Belt Study: Technical Site Assessment
Strategy and Housing Background Paper
Key Service Centre Background Paper
Infrastructure Delivery Plan
5 Cheshire
West and Chester Council Local Plan (Part One) Strategic Policies
Local Plan (Part Two) Land Allocations and Detailed Policies
The Cheshire West and Chester Local Plan (Part Two) Land Allocations and Detailed Policies local
development document will provide further detailed policies which will support the strategic objectives
and policies set out in the Local Plan (Part One), including a review of a number of allocations in the
currently adopted Local Plans.
Other documents
Adopted policies
Whilst the policies within the Local Plan (Part One) will replace some of those contained in the currently
adopted development plan for the borough, some extant policies will be retained until such time as they
are replaced by policies within the Local Plan (Part Two). A schedule of policies which the Council
proposes to retain is included in Appendix A 'Retained policies'. Changes to the adopted policies maps
are set out in Appendix B 'Changes to Policies Map', which includes new allocations.
The adopted development plan policies for the borough are set out in the following documents:
Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Local Plan was adopted in 2002 and the policies contained within
this document (with the exception of Policy H8) were saved in 2007.
Chester District Local Plan was adopted in 2006 and the policies contained within this document (with
the exception of policy HO1) were saved in May 2009.
Vale Royal Borough Local Plan was adopted in 2006. The policies within this document (with the
exception of policy GS1 and H1) were saved in 2009.
Cheshire Replacement Minerals Local Plan was adopted in 1999. The policies contained within this
document were saved in 2007.
Cheshire Replacement Waste Local Plan was adopted in July 2007. The Policies contained within this
document were saved in 2010.
Supporting documents
The Local Plan is accompanied by:
Local Development Scheme (LDS) - which sets out the programme for the preparation of the Local
Plan documents and Supplementary Planning Documents, including the Local Plan (Part Two)
Land Allocations and Detailed Policies Plan
Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) - this sets out how the Council will involve the community
and stakeholders in the preparation and review of the Local Plan, Supplementary Planning
Documents and development management decisions
Cheshire West and Chester Local Plan
6 Cheshire
West and Chester Council Local Plan (Part One) Strategic Policies
Annual Monitoring Report - this will assess the progress of the delivery of the Local Plan and its
supporting documents and review policy effectiveness
The Local Plan is also supported by a set of evidence base documents which provide a comprehensive
and robust set of background information. This has been used to inform the preparation of the policies
in the Local Plan. A list of all evidence base documents is provided in Appendix E 'Evidence base'.
Relationship to Neighbourhood Plans
Neighbourhood plans are community-led frameworks for guiding how future development will take place
in an area. Neighbourhood plans must be in general conformity with the strategic policies in the Local
Plan. There are currently in the order of 20 communities within the borough that are preparing
neighbourhood plans and another ten communities considering preparing a neighbourhood plan. Once
the process of preparing a neighbourhood plan is successfully completed for a community, the policies
within it will form part of the development plan for that area.
Relationship to other Council plans and strategies
The Local Plan is a key Council document. It is the spatial expression of the borough's priorities and
development needs going forward. It provides the planning framework to support the priorities identified
in other Council plans and programmes including the Council's Corporate Plan (Altogether Better, the
Council Plan 2011 - 2015), the Sustainable Community Strategy and other Council strategies covering
regeneration, housing, climate change, environment and waste.
The first Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) for Cheshire West and Chester was prepared in 2010
(Together we can aim high, Sustainable Community Strategy 2010-2026) and was refreshed in July
2012 (Altogether Better: An interim partnership plan, July 2012). The Interim Partnership Plan was
prepared jointly by the Local Strategic Partnership (West Cheshire Together) and the Health and
Wellbeing Board for Cheshire West and Chester. The document builds upon the first SCS and sets out
how to make a real difference to the well-being of our communities over the period to 2017.
The Council and its partners are also working as one of the Government's pilot areas to deliver a whole
place community budget, Altogether Better West Cheshire. The vision is to deliver the highest quality
of life in the UK to West Cheshire residents, creating more outcome focused services for our customers
and delivering the right services, in the right place at the right time.