Parish Council March Update

The Parish Council discussed recent planning decisions, the New Homes Bonus and community safety at Monday night's meeting.

Following the recent decision by CWaC planning committee to refuse the reserved matters application from Redrow/Bolesworth Estate to build 28 dwellings at Smithfields, a meeting will be held this week with Bolesworth Estate; the objective being to establish a way to enable the development to proceed. There is outline planning permission for the site but final plans must be compliant with the Neighbourhood Plan and hopefully a solution can be found without the need for multiple applications in the future.

Cllr Spencer spoke passionately about the decision of CWaC to remove the Communities Fund part of the New Homes Bonus (previously reported HERE). There will now be a substantial loss of funding for local projects not only for Tattenhall but also other rural communities including Malpas and Tarporley. Other communities, notably Winsford, will receive special regeneration grants of £3m which will effectively offset the loss of their share of the New Homes Bonus. Two others, Dodleston & Huntington and Upton which already have loans for local projects are special cases. Upton will have their loan honoured whereas Dodleston & Huntington's will be subject to re-negotiation. The proceedings of the stormy Council Meeting where the decision was approved can be viewed HERE (highly recommended).

Community safety issues were raised at the Open Forum. The worries over speeding traffic past the school will be addressed with re-examining the possibility of a speed limit restriction and/or provision of a controlled crossing. Operation Shield, a police initiative for individual property marking, was also introduced (view HERE). The possibility of parish-wide introduction will be explored at future Parish Council meetings.

Finally, Matthew Morris, for Bolesworth Estate, indicated at the Open Forum that horse box traffic to The Bolesworth International in June will not be directed along Frog Lane but instead access the site via Harthill, thereby avoiding congestion within the village. A flexible one way system will be used to ensure that HGV's and cars do not meet on the narrowest section. This proposal is subject to approval from CWaC. Discussions are also ongoing with CarFest about walking routes from Tattenhall for this event in July.