Consultations

There are a number of consultations currently open for residents to make comment. Here are a few which may be of interest:

Cheshire East Council - First Draft Biodiversity Net Gain Supplementary Planning Document (Closing date: 14th June, 2021)

The draft Biodiversity Net Gain Supplementary Planning Document has been published for consultation and provides further guidance on the implementation of policies in the Local Plan, including SE3 ‘Biodiversity and Geodiversity’, SE4 ‘The Landscape’ and SE5 ‘Trees, Hedgerows and Woodlands’ of the Local Plan Strategy. This is the first stage of consultation on the Supplementary Planning Document which, once adopted, will be a material consideration in decision-taking.

Link to consultation page.

Cheshire East Council - Telecare Charging Consultation 2021 (Closing date: 22nd July, 2021)

Cheshire East Council is proposing that people aged 85 and over, and who are also living alone, should pay £5 per week for the telecare service. This is the same charge that other Cheshire East Council telecare users pay.
People who cannot afford to pay this charge will continue to receive the service for free, subject to a financial assessment process. A person is also able to cancel their telecare service at any point.

Link to consultation page.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Technical consultation: changes to permitted development rights for electronic communications infrastructure (Closing date: 14th June, 2021)

This consultation seeks views on proposed planning reforms that will allow the deployment of telecoms equipment to be quicker whilst ensuring that there are appropriate environmental protections and safeguards in place. Proposals we are consulting on include:

• Enabling the deployment of radio equipment housing up to specified limits and allowing greater flexibility for installing equipment cabinets in existing compounds to support 5G deployment and incentivise the use of existing sites for site sharing;
• Strengthening existing masts by permitting alteration or replacement and increases in width and height up to specified limits to enable sites to be upgraded for 5G and for mast sharing;
• Enabling the deployment of building-based masts up to specified limits, including masts located nearer to highways, to support deployment of 5G and extend mobile coverage, subject to prior approval and specified limits; and,
• Enabling higher new masts to deliver better mobile coverage and mast sharing, subject to specified limits.

Changes to the safeguarding procedure and technical changes to the definition of ‘small cell system’ are also proposed.

Link to consultation page.

More consultations from Cheshire East Council are available to view on their website.