There was a public consultation at Mablins Lane Community School on Thursday afternoon/evening, with plans for upwards of 400 new homes to be built off Parkers Road/Moss Lane in Leighton. It’s a few hundred yards from where I live, a sprawling area of new housing that has grown since the late 1980s. In principle, I have no objections. There’s promise of a vast open space with landscaped play areas for the kids. With any new development you get improved walkways and cycle paths, plus there’s a good chance that the crossing will be upgraded and the road speed dropped. Oh, and if the local councillors push hard enough we could get a community centre. That’s progress, as the area has never managed to secure a doctor’s surgery despite thousands of people living in the area. There’s an assumption that everyone has cars and is prepared to drive in and out of town. That poor in terms of health, congestion, emissions and expense.
The local pub (the Eight Farmers), Bargain Booze and COOP will be delighted, as will the nursery and hair salon. However, what about the additional strain on the roads? This could mean another 800 cars on the road. Also, the school (plus Leighton Primary about a mile away) is already full. Where will the new kids go?
As for the housing, it is likely to be a good mix of two, three, four and even five bed homes. As the Crewe and surrounding area needs around 500 new homes each year, this ticks Cheshire East’s box very nicely, thank you very much. So I suspect that when it goes to planning later this summer there will be few objections. It just depends what fuss (if any) the existing residents cause, and whether the Highways Agency or Cheshire East (from a schools perspective) block the application. We will see...
