Cheshire council leaders urged to resign after proposing new town without local support

A Cheshire council leader is being urged to resign after it emerged he had written a letter backing a new town of 20,000 homes for the area, which led to it being listed on the government’s list of proposed sites and has since sparked a huge backlash.Residents said they were blindsided when Adlington appeared on the government’s list of 12 proposed sites for new towns across England, with work on at least three due to start this parliament.It later emerged the Labour leader of Cheshire East, Nick Mannion, and his deputy, Michael Gorman, had written a letter to the New Towns Taskforce in June “on behalf of Cheshire East council to reaffirm our support for the [redacted] new town proposals currently under consideration”.Sir Michael Lyons, the chair of the taskforce, told the housing committee last month that it had explicitly asked all local authorities in areas where a new town was put forward if they were happy for the area to be listed.“In that case, Adlington responded by letter, signed by the leader and the deputy leader, saying they were. I think we felt that was safe enough at this stage for us to put the proposition forward to government for consideration,” he said.Mannion has apologised for the letter, saying it was “badly worded” and he “regretted the confusion, anxiety and concern” it created. He and Gorman said it was “intended to express a more general view in support of the principle of new towns”.They have since written to the government saying there were “fundamental flaws” with the planned new town in Adlington, and it was “unacceptable to Cheshire East council”.The Conservative group on the council has submitted a motion, to be debated next week, saying it no longer has confidence in the leader or deputy due to their original letter, and calling on them to resign.Opposition councillor Hayley Whitaker said the letter “sealed the fate for Adlington” and was written “with no consultation, no scrutiny, no public or councillor opinion”.A petition signed by more than 19,000 people opposing the new town was handed to the government in December.The housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, said decisions on new towns would be made “in the national interest” and not “based on the number of signatories to a petition in opposition”. The commitment to new towns is a flagship part of the government’s pledge to build 1.5m homes.Adlington, a village on the border of the Peak District, has a population of about 1,200, with the proposed new town on green belt land intended to ease the housing burden in neighbouring Stockport and Macclesfield.Critics have said it is the wrong type of housing in the wrong area, and it would create unnecessary “urban sprawl”. The leader of Stockport council likened it to someone in Westminster “throwing a dart at a map”.Unlike other new town proposals, the plan was designed by private developers Belport, rather than a local authority.“This is our home, and it’s now in somebody else’s hands – I think the whole village is fairly traumatised. None of us know where we stand. It’s really worrying for a lot of people,” said Aysha Hawcutt, who has lived in Adlington for 16 years with her husband and two sons.“It also makes you think, was there betrayal at some level? Who do you trust? What can you believe?”Mannion and Gorman have been contacted for comment.