Congleton's New Estates. What does it mean for the town?

Why does Congleton have so many new estates?

For the last couple of years, Congleton has undergone a significant transformation, and this includes the likes of new residential areas – Cranberry Gardens, Falcon Rise and Alderley Gate come to mind, as well as a new bypass, currently undergoing construction to the West of the town. Yes, a new bypass. It seems that with the new housing developments, Congleton's already existing bypass road, the Clayton Bypass which goes from Congleton Fire Station and up towards the A34 past the ambulance station, was all the town needed up until two years back. Until property developers, working on contracts with East Cheshire Council, decided to build new housing estates, transforming Congleton from a medium-sized commuter town into a large-scale commuting traffic jam.

But what about the train station?

A lot of people moved into Congleton or remain in the town for a few good reasons, with the main reason is being the education system. Its primary schools are consistently rated high on Ofsted reports and its two high schools, Congleton High and Eaton Bank always rate excellent with outstanding features. The community atmosphere is familiar, there are some unique shops (although increasingly fewer and fewer) and festivals are other reasons. But there is one other main reason – the train station. Congleton's train station allows the towns’ residents to travel and work in Manchester, Macclesfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford and Birmingham (changing at Stoke-on-Trent station). Would more and more housing developments change that? With the train station located on the East of the town centre and all the new housing developments to the West, along with the new bypass, there is little expectation that commuting by train will increase. Instead, it's traffic will increase, and the inevitable jams that have already begun to plague certain roads.

Are the New Housing Estates needed?

Some people would say yes, and others would say no. Has anyone thought about whether they're needed or wanted by the people living and working in the town? Because it doesn’t look like it. Congleton has always been a commuter town for the A34, M6 and Manchester. It has always been the place everyone passes through if they want to get to Stoke-on-Trent/Newcastle (under Lyme), Manchester or even Sandbach. So why the new housing estates? Congleton already has the boroughs of Buglawton, West Heath, Daven, and others, which have empty houses going for sale in Butters John Bee and Reed Rains. Why do property developers feel it's so important to bring more housing developments to the outskirts of the town, and mainly why are they concentrated to the West of the town? Congleton's big enough as it is, with the heart of the city, shutting itself off due to the high rental values of the buildings. Why aren't the council focusing on the town itself move rather than how much money can is made out of the people who want a place to live in and will hardly use the town facilities?

Is Congleton going to lose everything it stands for because property developers want to squirrel every pound out of the town? Is that what the towns planners should be focusing their attention? Or should they focus on the town centre as well?

Having a place, you can call your own is essential, I know that as a recent graduate who lived away from home in student halls for two years and commuted from home for my third year. I'm not disputing that. What I am debating is the necessity of so many new estates. Moreover, how many affordable homes are included in these new schemes? Is that anywhere near the 30% target for Affordable Homes that councils are supposed to achieve?

I thought it was strange that at nearly every junction into the main town, there was a yellow sign with a small house symbol and a name written on it. But having been away for months and only really seeing the station, I only recently traversed around the West of the town and started noticing just how many yellow signs there were. Just on the way to Tesco's, I spotted eight new signs. Eight!

Isn’t that a bit much? Where did developers find space for eight new developments? I didn't think Congleton was that sparse. From the time I was nine-months-old, Congleton was where I went for my education. It was where I shopped; it was where I went on family day outs. But the sudden influx of new housing estates has changed the town I knew into one I don't recognise anymore.

Is it so hard to revitalise the town centre and bring in new people that way? Trying to bribe them with new houses, primarily as the estates concentrated along a bypass that when built, will virtually eliminate any need ever to come into the town centre at all.

The town centre is dying.

Capital Walk is shut down. The rents of each sector were so high, eventually either all businesses left or closed, not to be replaced. No-one could afford a living and the rents at the same time. The heart of the town centre, Congleton was built around a few streets, and half of the retail outlets are now gone. 

Hair and Beauty salons, Takeaways and Charity Shops are dominating the high street, and even they are closing down, including the charity shops. Yes, there are a few other shops and Pubs dotted around. I congratulate WH Smiths for hanging on there, seeing as it is one of the few shops I remember from my childhood and is now firmly a staple retailer of the town. But with so few other shops, more and more shoppers are going elsewhere.

Two more shops were forced to close recently. Do you want to know what they recently turned into – a Hair and Beauty salon and an E-Cig shop. The old Halifax building is Hair and Beauty. How many salons and Charity shops do we need in this one town?

Why is everything, businesses big and small being forced to close, only to be taken over by another salon or Charity Shop? And that’s before trying to add up all the takeaways. You might be wondering what any of that has to do with the housing estate crises Congleton has. 

Well, I'll tell you.

There are zero points in building any newer housing developments if there is no town to live in.

Schools are a high selling point. Congleton has a wide range of excellent primary and secondary schools and has excellent accessibility to great sixth-form colleges and further education colleges. Yet it still does not disregard that all Congleton has become known for is to be a commuter town for Manchester, Macclesfield, Sandbach, and Stoke/Newcastle.

And I'm sorry to say that as more and more housing estates are built, everyone who travels into the town will gridlock the roads and traffic jams will become the new norm. A 10-minute school run by a car turned into a 30/40-minute chore. The new bypass, limited as it is from the A534 Sandbach Road in the Southwest up to the Macclesfield Road and the A34 in the North will act as nothing more than a Commuter Link road around the town. The bypass almost prohibits anyone coming into the town centre itself from further afield from the Western edge of the area.

Even as a commuter link road, the bypass is lacking in that it does not also link up with the A34 Southbound route.

People are already angry with the congestion on the A34(S), A54 and A534 roundabout with the Tesco Express and its pedestrian controlled traffic lights. So how is it going to be a different story with the Macclesfield Road and A34 North out towards Marton and the three new developments in Black Firs and Somerford, when all these new housing estates are built and fully occupied?

As of Autumn, 2019, there are 15 new housing estates signposted in and around Congleton. These are:

1. Alderley Gate - A34 North, comprising 131 homes, of which 39 are affordable.
2. Astbury Place - Brook Street, comprising 66 homes, of which 14 are affordable.
3. Black First Park - Blackfirs Lane, comprising 84 homes, 14 shared equity and 2 are affordable.
4. Blossom Gate - Back Lane, comprising 83 homes, of which 18 are probably affordable.
5. Cranberry Gardens - Macclesfield Road, comprising 201 homes, of which 21 are affordable.
6. Daneside Park - Forge Lane, comprising 45 homes, of which 13 are affordable.
7. Falcon Rise - Canal Road, comprising 118 homes, of which 18 are affordable.
8. Loachbrook Meadow - Sandbach Road, comprising 186 homes, of which 48 are affordable.
9. Somerford Grove - Holmes Chapel Road, comprising 70 homes, of which 19 are affordable.
10. Somerford Reach - Chelford Road, comprising 117 homes, of which 45 are affordable.
11. Spen View - Padgbury Road, comprising 120 homes, of which 36 are affordable.
12. Sweet Briar Court - Campion Place, comprising 51 homes, of which 15 are affordable.
13. Sycamore Gardens - Biddulph Road, comprising 10 Executive homes only, zero are affordable.
14. West Field Court - Back Lane, comprising 20 homes, all shared equity and probably affordable.
15. Westlow Heath - A34 North, comprising 137 homes, of which 26 are affordable. 

Collectively, there have been approximately 1,439 new homes built around the town, with others planned and in the pipeline for other phases, including some of these estates. Of these, a maximum of 348 of these newly built homes are probably affordable, but actually only 262 are described as affordable. This equates to between 18 and 24%, which is below the Planning target of at least 30% for Affordable Homes. Although at prices up to £180,000 for a 2 Bed Semi-Detached House on some of these developments, it is debatable how many of these Homes can genuinely be classified as "Affordable." The remaining properties are mostly larger Executive homes of varying sizes up to 6 bedroom, built to entice the better-off commuter population to move into the area to take advantage of the existing and improved road-links to the North and West.

It can be estimated, therefore, that with all these new development, and with developments not covered by the yellow signs, that the population growth with be somewhere between 4,500 and 7,500, in a town, which at the last census had 26,500 people living there. This means that the town will grow between 17 and 28%, whilst the national population growth of the UK has only been 4.5% since 2011, and is estimated to grow by another 4.5% in the next few years. So why is Congleton supplying over two, possibly three, times the population growth for this part of East Cheshire?

Take a look around the town and take note of all the pesky yellow signs. Drive and look at how much the asking prices for the newly built houses are, including the majority of those classified as affordable homes. Take note of where these are concentrated concerning the Town Centre. What is more important - the town and its accessibility to get around, or to create much of the additional housing for East Cheshire and an overspill commuter belt for Manchester and beyond?