A Housing Needs Survey was conducted for Gawsworth Parish and concluded that the Parish needs 39 new homes. This includes a minimum of 24 a ordable homes within the Parish. Cheshire East is pushing for these houses to be built in the village despite the Local Plan already proposing housing elsewhere in the Parish.

Following the Gawsworth Parish Housing Needs survey which was completed by Cheshire East Council (CEC) earlier this year, it has been identified by CEC that Gawsworth Village requires affordable housing to be built. This is in contrast to the survey results which concluded that the houses could be built anywhere within the Parish, not solely in the Village.

To satisfy this need, CEC has been looking at the field adjacent and to the west of Gawsworth Methodist Hall. The field is currently classed as Green Belt land, however legislation allows affordable houses to be built on Green Belt land where it has been identified that there is an affordable housing need. The proposed development will consist of 12 affordable homes.

CEC owns the field that is being proposed for development. The Engine Of The North is a company wholly owned by Cheshire East Council, with a remit to make best use of CEC assets.

Numerous concerns have been raised by Villagers. However, due to a lack of consultation with the local community many residents have only been made aware of the proposed development within the the last week. Cheshire East are already at step 7 of the 9 stage planning phase which has been conducted under stealth.