Neighbourhood Development Plan

The Kelsall & Willington Neighbourhood Development Plan (NP)is being updated

Current Consultation, November/ December 2026:     HERE

What is the NP?  a local set of planning policies, alongside national and borough plans, which CWAC take into account when deciding planning applications. 

What it cannot do: contradict higher planning policies, in particular we cannot recommend less housing development than mandated by the government and Cheshire West.

For the next 15 years, Kelsall and area MUST accept at least 420 new dwellings.

Since it works only through planning applications submitted, the NP cannot create new businesses or shops, increase school places, make changes to highways, parking etc

What it can do: Influence where the development takes place, and shape what is being built, in terms of design, mix of house sizes, density, green features, developers financial contributions.

Where we're at: We have completed the draft plan documents, based on residents' feedback on locations, design features, and also on national planning changes and new legislation. These are:

• the revised Neighbourhood Plan
• the new Design Code 

What you can do: Give us your feedback on those documents by completing our survey HERE

Background

NP Review

The NP team held first high-level consultation meetings on 17th and 19th October 25.
The full presentation, including speaker notes, can be found here.

Following the meetings, residents were consulted on the high level objectives and priorities for the NP update.
The results showed broad support for the proposals, and can be found HERE.

Original NDP

The Kelsall & Willington Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) was developed between 2012 and 2017 by a group of residents and Councillors, with the support of the Parish Council. It was approved in a referendum of Kelsall & Willington residents in March 2017.

The NDP contains specific planning policies for our local area, which go beyond the CWAC Local Plan. For example, its policies:

• restrict the density of local housing,
• specify a mix of housing including enough smaller houses and bungalows,
• protect sandstone features,
• mandate planting of trees on larger developments,
• Introduce a settlement boundaryaround the built-up area of Kelsall where further housing development can take place.

The development of the new doctors' surgery and 28 retirement units (inc. 21 bungalows) on Chester road, was a direct result of the NDP policy allocating the site, the last remaining one inside the village suitable for development, for this specific use. Without this policy, the site would have been developed with 44 standard market houses.

The NDP's success in bringing about the retirement housing attracted the interest a research team at Cambridge University. Kelsall was one of four sites in England for their 2019 survey into how neighbourhood Planning could contribute to creating age-friendly communities. This is a summary of their results .

The Neighbourhood Plan builds on the 2007 Kelsall Landscape & Design Statement. The most relevant sections are included in its appendices.