The Council shall consider planning applications in accordance with their Local Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Local Plans are Council documents that set out the amount and distribution of housing and employment land over a specific period.
The adopted Development Plan for Cheshire West and Chester is the Local Plan (Part One) Strategic Policies (2015) and the Local Plan (Part Two) Land Allocations and Detailed Policies (2019). The adopted Local Plan sets out the Council’s planning strategy for the City up to 2030.
The Council is working on preparing a new Local Plan. The Regulation 18 Local Plan Issues and Options 2025 consultation ended on the 29th August 2025. This set out three spatial strategies for development. The site was identified as an option for development in all three spatial strategies. The latest Local Development Scheme anticipates adoption of the plan in Summer/ Autumn 2027.
This development will assist in addressing the shortfall in housing that has been identified by Cheshire West and Chester Council. National policy requires the council demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply, however the latest published position is just 1.89 years, and as a result the policies most important for the determination of planning applications are out of date. This shortfall will need to be addressed through the provision of new residential sites across the authority, such as the Land West of Sibbersfield Lane.
The provision of a deliverable site such as this which can make a substantive and rapid contribution to recovering the shortfall in housing land supply and deliver much needed market and affordable homes should be given substantial weight in the planning balance.