Further amenity and provision of schools, transport, medical facilities, shops etc. should be mandatory and legally binding. Such aspects should be guaranteed as part of developments, especially as the government own the current land, and not be allowed to impact surrounding areas. Travelling to schools and other services is not promoting sustainable communities and increases the likelihood of increased car journeys etc. increasing the carbon footprint.
- The plan is not consistent with the Government's 25 year environment plan, and does not contribute to objectives to seek biodiversity net gain. There are significant available brownfield sites across Warrington near to employment areas and available transport links, and with both Fiddlers Ferry power station being decommissioned and the Unilever site also mothballed, those could pose suitable options.
- There needs to be adequate provision of sustainable, active transport links not just on the development, but properly connecting the cycle and walking infrastructure into Warrington.
- Road connectivity into Warrington is already bounded and bottlenecked via the ship canal, small historic bridges or underpasses (e.g. near the canal) or Stockton Heath centre. Full transport modelling should be undertaken independently to understand the impacts on the surrounding communities, and the socio-economic impacts taken into account.
- Essentially, the council is promoting development on this area as a strategic expansion in Warrington, and I believe that the overall cluster developments should be subject to a full Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to consider the proposed developments properly against other options, e.g. existing Brownfield sites etc.