Land At Sandbach Road, Congleton Data via plota.co.uk

25/2500/OUT - Outline Planning Approved at committee

Approved at planning committee on 5 March 2026, subject to a legal agreement. The council issues its decision notice once the agreement is signed.

Proposal

Outline planning application with all matters reserved except for Access, for residential development of up to 120 dwellings with public open space, associated landscaping and the formation of new access off Sandbach Road. Data via plota.co.uk

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View original council record ↗Last checked 28 Oct 2026, 06:55

Street View

Application progress

✓

Received

1 Jul 2025

✓

Validated

14 Aug 2025

✓

Committee

5 Mar 2026

Decision notice

Not issued yet

Under consideration

No decision has been issued yet. Plota predicted a decision soon after comments close on 16 Feb 2026; it is now day 442.

The consultation period closed on 16 Feb 2026.

Planning committee

Decided by Cheshire East Strategic Planning Board on 5 Mar 2026. The council has not yet issued its decision notice.

Approved

As officers recommended.

Officers advised approval because housing, economic and public benefits outweighed the identified countryside, landscape and heritage impacts.
Parish councils and residents raised concerns about traffic, infrastructure, flooding, ecology, landscape, services and the development’s scale.
The committee approved the application subject to a Section 106 agreement and conditions.

Read how the committee decided The proposal, site, planning advice, objections, public representations and committee decision.

Source: Plota analysis of Cheshire East's committee minutes of 5 Mar 2026.

Documents 32

Statements & assessments 22

Site constraints 2

Agricultural land, grade 3b

Not best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) agrees.

Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.

Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 2

Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.

Not affected

Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No listed building at the site

Checked on 17 October 2026. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Nearby new applications

1 Oct 2026Pending

GREENWAYS COTTAGE Sandbach Road, Wall Hill, Congleton, Cheshire East, CW12 4TE

Proposed agricultural workshop for storage of machinery, equipment maintenance a...

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6 Aug 2026Pending

GREENWAYS COTTAGE Sandbach Road, Wall Hill, Congleton, Cheshire East, CW12 4TE

Agricultural determination for the Construction of an agricultural workshop

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Important details

Council: Cheshire East
Application type: Outline Planning
Received: 1 Jul 2025
Validated: 14 Aug 2025
Ward: Odd Rode
Parish: Newbold Astbury-cum-Moreton
Case officer: Show
Target decision: 30 Jul 2026
Decision level: Strategic Planning Board
Applicant: Show
Agent: Asteer Planning LLP

Decision outlook

Day 442, past the statutory target. 36% of outline applications in Cheshire East are decided within thirteen weeks; extensions of time are common, and the council need not decide on the day. Last seen undecided on 28 Oct 2026.

target

predicted

Day 442351 days past the 91-day target

13%decided within 8 weeks

49%approved

29%go to committee

Plota live figures for outline applications decided by Cheshire East in the last twelve months, from validation. Cheshire East decision record →

Consultation & key dates

Comments by: 16 Feb 2026
Statutory expiry: 30 Jul 2026

Cheshire East

Planning Authority Score

1.9/10

Poor

#274 of 296 councils

Relevant to this application:

Major dwellings

Cheshire East is one of the slowest councils in England for householder decisions, ranking #268 out of 296. The council extends the time limit on 65% of applications - one of the highest rates in England. Expect your application to take longer than the standard deadline. Householder applications are slightly more likely to be approved here (91%) than the national average (90%).

Among the slowest councils in England

for householder decisions

These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance

Cheshire East decision statistics

Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026

87%

Overall approval rate

Above avg (87%) #168 of 296

91%

Householder approved

Above avg (90%) #170 of 296

39%

Decided in 8 weeks

Below avg (63%) #268 of 296

65%

Extended time limit

Above avg (41%) #279 of 296

72%

Minor dwellings approved

358 decided (1-9 homes)

76%

Major dwellings approved

25 decided (10+ homes)

79%

Change of use approved

119 decided

2,513

Total decisions

321 refused in the year to March 2026