Adlington

Government drops Adlington development from its list of New Towns

We were pleased to find out that on the 23^rd of March 2026 the Government dropped Adlington off their list of proposed New Towns.  

The proposed new town of up to 20,000 homes, equivalent to the size of Macclesfield, could have destroyed vital greenbelt land, ancient woodland and hedgerows that are a feature of the Adlington Estate, the core area proposed for the development.  

This area of Cheshire East is famed for its historic landscape with Adlington being mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The mosaic of hedgerows with established trees and extensive network of streams, rivers and ponds makes this one of the most nature-rich areas in Cheshire.  

The announcement is a huge win for nature and demonstrates the power of communities working side by side with organisations like Cheshire Wildlife Trust. The detailed report produced by the Trust on the impact of a potential New Town was used by Adlington-based campaign groups to add weight to their messaging. The report was disseminated to local councils, MPs, UK Government and was cited as a key reason why the development should be rejected.   

This win may not be the end of the story. The land remains in the hands of developers and is still considered to be a “credible development opportunity” by the Government. This means we could see other schemes brought forward for all or part of the site. Cheshire Wildlife Trust will continue to monitor the situation and campaign to protect nature in Adlington and the wider Cheshire region.

A statement from Cheshire Wildlife Trust

Cheshire Wildlife Trust is concerned about recently announced plans to create a ‘new town’ in Adlington, a small village on the edge of the Peak District National Park.

The development could result in up to 20,000 houses being built on greenbelt, which is likely to put a strain on the neighbouring rural communities of the Peak District and its fringe, including Pott Shrigley, Whitely Green, Prestbury and the small towns of Bollington and Poynton.

The proposals are also likely to impact the wider countryside and its habitats. The Adlington Estate has largely been under the same ownership for the past 700 years, which has helped preserve a traditional landscape of small fields with high hedgerows, in-field trees and ponds across the parish. With close to triple the woodland coverage compared to the rest of Cheshire, the Adlington area has a particularly high number of pockets of woodlands between fields and along brooks that are home to birds, mammals, insects and fungi. In addition to its traditional function of preventing urban sprawl, the Greenbelt around Adlington is also a crucial corridor for the movement of wildlife. Its hedgerows, woodlands, and streams form a network of habitats that connects the Peak District with the Cheshire Plain, allowing species to move through the landscape, feed and reproduce.

Cheshire Wildlife Trust supports sustainable development that avoids impacts to the most valuable habitats and integrates nature into its design. We support the Taskforce recommendations for new towns to ‘’protect, restore and enhance biodiversity’’, but it is clear that this would be unachievable in this location. Due to the scale of the development and the density of habitats, avoiding impacts to woodlands, hedgerows and ponds would be challenging and unrealistic. We hope that this comes through in the results of the Strategic Environmental Assessment that will be required to assess the viability of the proposals, and that the outstanding wildlife value of this area of Cheshire is accounted for when compared to other sites put forward. Any decision must reflect the value of the natural heritage and the quality of the landscape that are so important for the wildlife and people of the region. 

Read our full report

On the 26th of January 2026, Joan Edwards OBE, the Director of Policy and Public Affairs from The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts wrote to The Rt Hon Steve Reed MP, the Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government expressing her concerns for the irreversible damage that the proposed new town would do to the nature and wildlife of Adlington.

You can read Joan's letter here

Local Landscape Designations (LLD) as seen in the map below replaced the designation of Areas of Special County Value’ (ASCVs) in 2018 and are more extensive than ASCVs.

An LLD is described as "an area of the highest landscape and scenic value, which are recognised for their contribution to local distinctiveness and sense of place" in the Cheshire East Local Landscape Designation Review.