PlacesMatter

BCS/BTC Questionnaire results! | Owner's Consultation | Presentation to BTC
Latest update: 21st February 2012

Proposed development runs into difficulties!

A Planning application has now been submitted to CEC but it may well prove to be invalid, requiring additional information to be made public. The application also omits the expected new medical centre. This is a matter of considerable concern.

The chairman, Mrs Sandra Edwards, spoke to the Bollington Town Council (BTC) Planning Committee meeting on 21st February and strongly supported the need for larger houses and the inclusion of a medical centre.

The subject is reported on more fully on another page.

Waterhouse mill site redevelopment

What's to happen now that Kay Metzeler have gone?

Kay Metzeler closed their factory at Waterhouse mill at the end of 2011. The site is owned not by Kays or their group, British Vita, but by a property company who lease the site to Kays. This lease has more than 16 years to run so the owners are in no hurry to redevelop. Kays, of course, now they have finished with the site, are very keen for redevelopment in order to release them from their lease! The owners are sympathetic to this preference.

It is 50 years since this 9 acre site was last developed - in 1962 the previous historic Waterhouse cotton mill was demolished and the then modern industrial premises were built. So this has been a once off opportunity for Bollington to express its interest in the future of this site - we have not left it to others to impose future development upon us. That said, we can only influence the development plan - the site owners are entitled to propose whatever they think they can get planning permission for. But they have told us that they would prefer to reach a consensus with the town in order to avoid an acrimonious planning dispute.

History

This site was developed in the 1780s when Waterhouse cotton mill was first built - see the history of Waterhouse mill. This finally closed in 1960 and the mill was demolished in 1962. The site was immediately redeveloped with a modern industrial premises for Kay Metzeler. Now, 50 years later, Kays have closed this factory. The present buildings were purpose built for Kays. They are well worn and no longer come up to modern industrial requirements and will be demolished. Kays are also responsible for removing any contamination from the site. It is thought that there is very little anyway.

What's happened so far?

In autumn 2010 the owners of the site, Rock Asset Management, approached Bollington Town Council to tell them that this site was likely to be redeveloped and to acknowledge that the town would probably have a view as to what should be built there. A meeting was arranged between the two and the Town Council confirmed that the town would indeed wish to influence the nature of the development.

Bollington Civic Society consultation

Because of the rules relating to town councils and planning decisions, the Town Council cannot be involved in discussions about a possible development and then pass comment on a subsequent planning application. For this reason, late in 2010, Bollington Town Council commissioned Bollington Civic Society to undertake further discussions with Rock Asset Management and to conduct a consultation with the people of Bollington. The Civic Society met senior management from Rock, together with their architect, on two occasions, in December and January. At each of these meetings there was exploration of the planning, financial and physical constraints surrounding the project, the objectives of both parties, and the possible aspirations of the Bollington community.

We are agreed that we would like to see the site redeveloped rather than left derelict. Rock need any redevelopment to be financially viable which means it has to earn more than the present rent. Both parties would like to reach a consensus before a planning application goes in to Cheshire East Council - we both want to avoid a protracted planning dispute, inquiry, etc. We have discussed a variety of possible redevelopments but have not agreed on any particular development. The Town Council and the Civic Society wanted the people of Bollington to have a say, to express their aspirations, to provide guidance, before we had further discussions.

BCS questionnaire and the result

A questionnaire was delivered to every house in Bollington during the first two weeks of February 2011 to enable the public to express their views. There was an enormous response - 755 Questionnaires were returned and the results are published below. Bollington Civic Society and Bollington Town Council sincerely thank the residents of Bollington for so enthusiastically taking part in this consultation and making the results so meaningful and valuable.

The results of the survey and a subsequent consultation day were presented to Bollington Town Council. There have been further discussions with Rock at which agreement was reached with them as to what kind of development would answer the consensus views of the community. There have also been several discussions with the CEC Planners at Macclesfield to ensure that they will go along with the kind of development envisaged.

Please note that it will be impossible to satisfy every person's desires - there are strongly opposed views with respect, for instance, to the need for a supermarket, with slightly more opposed than for. We are trying to make this as democratic as possible and the Civic Society are certainly not making decisions on this matter on behalf of the community. We are obtaining the views of the community and passing them to the elected council.

Owner's consultation

The owner's architect drew up proposals which were put to the community before they submit a planning application. There was a Public Consultation on 8th October 2011 at Bollington Civic Hall. Every home in Bollington received a leaflet advising them of this. There was a very big turnout; at least 1,000 people visited this consultation and more than 250 gave their views to the site owners and their principle architect, Joe Mattin.

There was a striking coincidence of views with the BCS consultation and of the three options for the layout of the site Option A was preferred by 49% of those responding.

Presentation to Bollington Town Council Strategic Planning Committee

On the evening of 25th October 2011 Joe Mattin, the owner's architect, presented the results of the consultation to the BTC Strategic Planning Committee and c.30 members of the public in an open meeting.

The public attending the 8th October event expressed approval for the general direction of the proposed redevelopment preferring Option A over the other two options. The major concern was the availablility of car parking space for local facilities such as the Arts Centre and the churches.

The Coop have now agreed to move their shop to the site. There would also be a pharmacy with the new medical centre. There would be a few relatively small units available for those wanting office space.

The owners are in negotiation to buy the Adlington Road industrial site. This would provide emergency access to the Waterhouse site and a small new development of properties designed specifically for older people.

Timing

At the BTC presentation Joe Mattin said that Kays would be finished with the site by the end of the year (2011). He was intending to submit an outline planning application by 11th November in order that CEC Northern Planning Committee could express a decision by mid January 2012. However, we are not aware of any submission of plans by 20th February 2012.

Once the outline application is passed the owners will seek a developer to undertake the construction of the site.

A full planning application could then be submitted on behalf of the owners and the developer, fully informed by the outcome of the earlier application. This was expected to be completed and passed by late spring 2012, but we must now be looking at autumn 2012.

Construction work could have begun by early summer 2012, but will now be somewhat later, and would last for 3.5 years. This length of development would give necessary time for the Health authorities to organise themselves to provide the necessary funding for the development of the new medical centre, which the community sees as the centrepiece of the development.

Thank you very much for your contribution to this important debate!

BCS Questionnaire Results!

The votes on all those questionnaires returned by Friday 25th February have now been analysed and the results are available ...

Voting results, with graphs

We received hundreds of comments and those received by Monday 28th February have been collected into a single document ...

Collected comments

We have prepared a document of Frequently Asked Questions ...

Frequently Asked Questions

BCS Consultation Day a huge success!

Around 200 people attended the BTC/BCS Consultation Day on Thursday 3rd March 2011 at the Civic Hall, which was organised by Bollington Civic Society. There was a great deal of interest in the results of the recent questionnaire voting and excellent discussion on all aspects of the project.

Page written by Tim Boddington on behalf of the Civic Society project team.