Inadequate public consultation that didn't meet statutory requirements. Events at Halliwell Jones were insufficient and the venue was poor - not signed very well. Needed to engage better with residents most impacted by the proposals.

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The plan fails to meet the NPPF paragraph16 requirement as it has not demonstrated the achievement of sustainable development in that there are shortcomings in the economic, social and environmental justifications. The economic growth aspirations of the Local Enterprise Panel are not substantiated and are more optimistic than other providers.

The levels of economic growth and housing demand in south Warrington are predicated on a need created by wholly unjustified destruction of vast swathes of distinctive Green Belt highly valued by the Communities of south Warrington. Employment needs for the unrealistic levels of growth forecast will have to be largely met outside the Borough as employment rates in Warrington are currently high. The Council appears to have a Plan which is focussed on protecting its industrial property investments rather than creating a Plan for sustainable development which largely protects existing Green Belt. This is an unsound approach to developing the Plan.

The May 2021 election results showed that candidates that resisted Green Belt release got the majority of votes. The need to destroy vast swathes of Green Belt for industrial/logistics development close to Junction 20 M6 is not soundly justified. Self-evidently, logistics providers are attracted to any location at the junction of two major motorways (M6 and M56 in this case) and close to a third major motorway (M62). The need is therefore easy to make but importantly, the Plan is not sound because it fails to address whether other locations in and outside the Borough are available and more suitable thereby avoiding unnecessary and unjustified irrevocable destruction of a vast area of Green Belt for all generations to come. Given the Prime Minister's and Secretary of State announcement that they want to protect Green Belt from Development The Plan should be put on hold until the Government clarifies its policy in this area next year.

Object to the allocation as it is an unjustified destruction of Green Belt. The building of a logistics centre is also counter to the Council's climate change objectives. The site would rely on diesel HGVs and there is no rail link. Air quality, noise and congestion will increase as a result of this proposal. Junction 20 is already overload the proposal will make this situation worse. The development will employ persons from outside the area which will cause more problem for traffic in south Warrington.

The increased employment on a Green Belt area of existing low unemployment is used to help justify many of the 2400 plus 1800 homes on Green Belt which the Plan now says will be needed. The south of Warrington does not want the Junction 20 logistics/industrial development and therefore that aspect of housing need should be reviewed. The proposal destroys the rural distinctiveness of south Warrington Parishes.

The ability to deliver the associated truly affordable housing provision on SEUE is not evidenced in the Plan and the sustainability of such housing is also not demonstrated. Housing need in the Plan would be significantly reduced if the Plan did not propose widespread use of the Green Belt in south east Warrington for employment use which will almost certainly be non-sustainable logistics development. The housing needs set out in the Plan are therefore not sound.

A major flaw in the Plan is the lack of understanding of the area of south Warrington. Employment of residents is spread across the north-west with a consequential heavy reliance on cars. The laudable aspirations of LTP4 are not going to deliver the change of transport behaviour hoped for largely because LTP4 is focussed too much on travel to and from the Town Centre whereas this is not the reality of life for many residents. The Plan would result in release and development of Green Belt without first addressing the extant and woeful transport shortcomings. The funding assumptions are likely to be unachievable from S106 monies and they are all far too late.

The proposals appear to be prepared by consultants who do not understand the current infrastructure situation and the constraints of 3 water crossings between the south of Warrington and the Town Centre (River Mersey, the Ship Canal and Bridgewater Canal). The Plan seeks to repeat past errors. The current ongoing developments of nearly 800 new homes at Grappenhall Heys and Appleton Cross were approved in 2017 despite planners admitting that the A49/A56 junction in Stockton Heath was at capacity. No transport improvements or mitigation were offered. The nearest village centre and shops in Stockton Heath are only accessible by crossing the Bridgewater at one of three points. Two of these are single lane of which one is also a wholly unsuitable ancient hump back bridge which essentially is for cars and light vans only. The third route is the A49 which is already overloaded and unable to be widened. Also: The centre Park bridge is a rat run via the Red lane Hump back bridge. Canal crossing points are at saturation point. Lyons Lane as an arterial route from the A49 is not satisfactory as it already at peak load at key times due its proximity of both sites of schools in the area. The A556 in Lower Stretton is already unsuitable for the level of traffic it handles and despite the chicane system that has been put in place. The Plan and the 4200 new homes will create extra traffic on this route in the Borough. Lower Stretton cannot handle any such increase and the environmental and social impact for existing residents in Lower Stretton is unacceptable. The plan to modify the Cat and Lion junction just moves some of the problem slightly further down the road and creates two junctions on the A49 on the short stretch between the M56 and the Owens Corner roundabout. The road is already overloaded at peak times and the new houses will exacerbate the problem. Junction 10 M56 and Junction 20 M6 will be unable to deal with the extra traffic created from 4200 homes at peak times. The noise and air pollution from extra traffic in the area and on the motorways bounding two sides of the Urban extension is also unacceptable.

The proposals appear to be prepared by consultants who do not understand the current infrastructure situation and the constraints of 3 water crossings between the south of Warrington and the Town Centre (River Mersey, the Ship Canal and Bridgewater Canal). The Plan seeks to repeat past errors. The current ongoing developments of nearly 800 new homes at Grappenhall Heys and Appleton Cross were approved in 2017 despite planners admitting that the A49/A56 junction in Stockton Heath was at capacity. No transport improvements or mitigation were offered. The nearest village centre and shops in Stockton Heath are only accessible by crossing the Bridgewater at one of three points. Two of these are single lane of which one is also a wholly unsuitable ancient hump back bridge which essentially is for cars and light vans only. The third route is the A49 which is already overloaded and unable to be widened. Also: The centre Park bridge is a rat run via the Red lane Hump back bridge. Canal crossing points are at saturation point. Lyons Lane as an arterial route from the A49 is not satisfactory as it already at peak load at key times due its proximity of both sites of schools in the area. The A556 in Lower Stretton is already unsuitable for the level of traffic it handles and despite the chicane system that has been put in place. The Plan and the 4200 new homes will create extra traffic on this route in the Borough. Lower Stretton cannot handle any such increase and the environmental and social impact for existing residents in Lower Stretton is unacceptable. The plan to modify the Cat and Lion junction just moves some of the problem slightly further down the road and creates two junctions on the A49 on the short stretch between the M56 and the Owens Corner roundabout. The road is already overloaded at peak times and the new houses will exacerbate the problem. Junction 10 M56 and Junction 20 M6 will be unable to deal with the extra traffic created from 4200 homes at peak times. The noise and air pollution from extra traffic in the area and on the motorways bounding two sides of the Urban extension is also unacceptable.

The proposals appear to be prepared by consultants who do not understand the current infrastructure situation and the constraints of 3 water crossings between the south of Warrington and the Town Centre (River Mersey, the Ship Canal and Bridgewater Canal). The Plan seeks to repeat past errors. The current ongoing developments of nearly 800 new homes at Grappenhall Heys and Appleton Cross were approved in 2017 despite planners admitting that the A49/A56 junction in Stockton Heath was at capacity. No transport improvements or mitigation were offered. The nearest village centre and shops in Stockton Heath are only accessible by crossing the Bridgewater at one of three points. Two of these are single lane of which one is also a wholly unsuitable ancient hump back bridge which essentially is for cars and light vans only. The third route is the A49 which is already overloaded and unable to be widened. Also: The centre Park bridge is a rat run via the Red lane Hump back bridge. Canal crossing points are at saturation point. Lyons Lane as an arterial route from the A49 is not satisfactory as it already at peak load at key times due its proximity of both sites of schools in the area. The A556 in Lower Stretton is already unsuitable for the level of traffic it handles and despite the chicane system that has been put in place. The Plan and the 4200 new homes will create extra traffic on this route in the Borough. Lower Stretton cannot handle any such increase and the environmental and social impact for existing residents in Lower Stretton is unacceptable. The plan to modify the Cat and Lion junction just moves some of the problem slightly further down the road and creates two junctions on the A49 on the short stretch between the M56 and the Owens Corner roundabout. The road is already overloaded at peak times and the new houses will exacerbate the problem. Junction 10 M56 and Junction 20 M6 will be unable to deal with the extra traffic created from 4200 homes at peak times. The noise and air pollution from extra traffic in the area and on the motorways bounding two sides of the Urban extension is also unacceptable.

The proposals appear to be prepared by consultants who do not understand the current infrastructure situation and the constraints of 3 water crossings between the south of Warrington and the Town Centre (River Mersey, the Ship Canal and Bridgewater Canal). The Plan seeks to repeat past errors. The current ongoing developments of nearly 800 new homes at Grappenhall Heys and Appleton Cross were approved in 2017 despite planners admitting that the A49/A56 junction in Stockton Heath was at capacity. No transport improvements or mitigation were offered. The nearest village centre and shops in Stockton Heath are only accessible by crossing the Bridgewater at one of three points. Two of these are single lane of which one is also a wholly unsuitable ancient hump back bridge which essentially is for cars and light vans only. The third route is the A49 which is already overloaded and unable to be widened. Also: The centre Park bridge is a rat run via the Red lane Hump back bridge. Canal crossing points are at saturation point. The A556 in Lower Stretton is already unsuitable for the level of traffic it handles and despite the chicane system that has been put in place. The Plan and the 4200 new homes will create extra traffic on this route in the Borough. Lower Stretton cannot handle any such increase and the environmental and social impact for existing residents in Lower Stretton is unacceptable. The plan to modify the Cat and Lion junction just moves some of the problem slightly further down the road and creates two junctions on the A49 on the short stretch between the M56 and the Owens Corner roundabout. The road is already overloaded at peak times and the new houses will exacerbate the problem. Junction 10 M56 and Junction 20 M6 will be unable to deal with the extra traffic created from 4200 homes at peak times. The noise and air pollution from extra traffic in the area and on the motorways bounding two sides of the Urban extension is also unacceptable.

The proposals appear to be prepared by consultants who do not understand the current infrastructure situation and the constraints of 3 water crossings between the south of Warrington and the Town Centre (River Mersey, the Ship Canal and Bridgewater Canal). The Plan seeks to repeat past errors. The current ongoing developments of nearly 800 new homes at Grappenhall Heys and Appleton Cross were approved in 2017 despite planners admitting that the A49/A56 junction in Stockton Heath was at capacity. No transport improvements or mitigation were offered. The nearest village centre and shops in Stockton Heath are only accessible by crossing the Bridgewater at one of three points. Two of these are single lane of which one is also a wholly unsuitable ancient hump back bridge which essentially is for cars and light vans only. The third route is the A49 which is already overloaded and unable to be widened. Also: The centre Park bridge is a rat run via the Red lane Hump back bridge. Canal crossing points are at saturation point. Lyons Lane as an arterial route from the A49 is not satisfactory as it already at peak load at key times due its proximity of both sites of schools in the area. The A556 in Lower Stretton is already unsuitable for the level of traffic it handles and despite the chicane system that has been put in place. The Plan and the 4200 new homes will create extra traffic on this route in the Borough. Lower Stretton cannot handle any such increase and the environmental and social impact for existing residents in Lower Stretton is unacceptable. The plan to modify the Cat and Lion junction just moves some of the problem slightly further down the road and creates two junctions on the A49 on the short stretch between the M56 and the Owens Corner roundabout. The road is already overloaded at peak times and the new houses will exacerbate the problem. Junction 10 M56 and Junction 20 M6 will be unable to deal with the extra traffic created from 4200 homes at peak times. The noise and air pollution from extra traffic in the area and on the motorways bounding two sides of the Urban extension is also unacceptable.

Use of 2014 ONS data is inappropriate, 2018 is better. 2019, James Brokenshire, the then Communities Secretary of State confirmed in a letter to Andy Carter, subsequently published, that 2014 was a starting point not a target. The Council are unsound in seeking to base the Plan on 2014 ONS data when all parties acknowledge that this is no longer a sensible starting point and 2018 should have been used instead. In the last 10 years, annual new housing build rates achieved in Warrington have been well below the delivery assumptions for the Plan period. Given this track record, the Plan is using unrealistic and unachievable growth assumptions for housing delivery and is therefore unsound.

The impact on climate change by the loss of Green Belt is not reflected in the draft Plan. The SEUE is not sustainable.

The Plan has not properly considered all aspect of Town Centre regeneration given changing shopping and leisure habits. The Pandemic accelerated this change. Whilst the regeneration of Times Square and the Cultural Quarter have been very successful and welcome, much of the Town Centre including Bridge Street, Sankey Street and the Golden Square Shopping Centre should have been the subject of a much more radical review. We have seen major stores like M&S S and Debenhams leave for good and a more radical approach is needed to create a fully regenerated Centre area with more residential and leisure activity close to major transport interchanges for younger town dwellers who are less likely to have cars. This mirrors the type of development going on in neighbouring cities like Manchester and Liverpool. The Plan has missed this opportunity and is not sound for this reason.

Fiddlers Ferry would be a good location for housing development rather than the element of industrial development proposed in the Plan because it has a rail link which could be used for a tram or light railway connection to the town centre.