Cheshire council area
Selling Land in Cheshire West and Chester
By March 2026 Cheshire West and Chester had built more homes than its whole plan asked for up to 2030, yet its own monitor now finds only 1.6 years of housing land. The plan is out of date on numbers, and a new one is due by December 2028, with a targeted call for sites promised for later in 2026.
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- Your price is agreed up front, in writing
- If planning is refused, you keep your land and owe nothing
Four Towns, Ten Service Centres and 42% Green Belt
Cheshire West and Chester is a unitary council covering 941 square kilometres and about 373,951 people. The council's scoping document names its main settlements as Chester, Ellesmere Port, Northwich and Winsford, and records that the North Cheshire Green Belt covers about 42% of the borough.
- A plan in two parts. The Local Plan (Part One) Strategic Policies was adopted in January 2015 and is now 11 years old. Part Two, with land allocations and detailed policies, followed in July 2019. A new plan will replace both.
- Four towns and a large rural area. Part One planned at least 5,200 homes at Chester, 4,800 at Ellesmere Port, 4,300 at Northwich, 3,500 at Winsford and 4,200 across the rural area.
- Ten key service centres. Frodsham, Helsby, Kelsall, Malpas, Neston with Parkgate, Tarporley, Tarvin, Tattenhall, Farndon, and Cuddington with Sandiway.
- Very strong delivery. The council built 4,000 homes against a requirement of 1,640 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, a result of 244%.
Part One explains how that Green Belt falls. Chester, Ellesmere Port and Northwich are either surrounded by it or adjoin it; Frodsham, Helsby, Neston and Parkgate, and Cuddington and Sandiway are inset within it; and many smaller villages are washed over by it. Beyond it, land is governed by countryside, gap and landscape policies instead. Which side of that line a field falls on shapes its route more than anything else.
Cheshire West and Chester in Figures
The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.
Housing Delivery Test 2025
244%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
1.6 years
Short of five years: national policy treats this as evidence of unmet housing need. Position at 1 April 2026, measured against local housing need by the standard method, 1,930 homes a year, plus a 5% buffer. Stated by Cheshire West and Chester Council.
Checked sourceHomes built against homes needed
4,000
of 1,640 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
January 2015
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
New Local Plan started: scoping consultation 7 to 28 September 2026, adoption due December 2028
Checked source
Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.
22,862 Homes Against a 22,000 Target, and Still Short of Land
Part One set a requirement of at least 22,000 homes from 2010 to 2030, or 1,100 a year. The council's Housing Land Monitor Summary Report 2026, published on 4 September 2026, records 22,862 net completions by 31 March 2026: the plan's total for twenty years, reached in sixteen. The recent years show the pace easing:
| Year | Net completions | Against 1,100 a year |
|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 (the peak) | 2,542 | +1,442 |
| 2021/22 | 1,517 | +417 |
| 2022/23 | 1,355 | +255 |
| 2023/24 | 1,366 | +266 |
| 2024/25 | 1,202 | +102 |
| 2025/26 | 1,094 | minus 6 |
Last year was the first since 2013/14 in which completions fell below the plan rate.
Why a Council Ahead of Its Plan Is Short of Land
The yardstick moved. When the council reviewed Part Two in June 2024, it recorded that its 2020 review of Part One found no update was needed, partly because the plan's 1,100 homes a year was around double the government's local housing need figure at the time. Since December 2024 the standard method has risen far above the plan figure, and because the plan is more than five years old, supply is tested against it:
| Part of the calculation | At 1 April 2025 | At 1 April 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Local housing need, standard method | 1,912 homes a year | 1,930 homes a year |
| Buffer | 5% | 5% |
| Five-year requirement with buffer | 10,038 homes | 10,135 homes |
| Deliverable supply | 3,788 homes | 3,269 homes |
| Result | 1.89 years | 1.6 years |
The requirement barely moved, while the deliverable supply fell by 519 homes. The 2025 report had found 1.89 years, so figures quoted before September 2026 are a year out of date. Of the 3,269 homes counted now, 1,897 are on development plan sites with permission, 521 on other permitted sites, 631 from windfall, 210 from a small sites allowance and 10 from prior approvals. The council's scoping document puts the stock of unbuilt permissions at about 4,125 homes.
What the Shortfall Means Either Side of the Green Belt Line
Since August 2026, national policy S5 has read a supply below five years as a sign that housing need is going unmet, and that opens a route for homes past a settlement boundary. It does not decide an application on its own: the land has to relate well to the town or village next to it, and local roads, schools and drainage need the capacity, now or through planned works. It does not apply in the Green Belt. Within a settlement boundary, policy S4 applies instead: the starting point is approval, and a refusal needs harm that substantially outweighs the benefits.
- Outside the Green Belt. S5 is the main route while the shortfall lasts. Part One's countryside policy STRAT 9 keeps development to what needs a countryside location, and a shortfall this deep is likely to reduce the weight it carries against well placed land at a settlement edge.
- Around Northwich, check the gap policy first. Policy GBC 3 of Part Two protects five key settlement gaps outside the Green Belt: Lostock Gralam and Northwich, Leftwich and Rudheath along the Dane valley, Davenham and Leftwich, Davenham village and Leftwich Grange, and Davenham and Moulton. Land inside one faces a harder case than land beside it.
- Inside the Green Belt, around Chester, Ellesmere Port and the inset towns and villages. S5 does not reach here, but national policy allows homes on grey belt land where need is evidenced, and a supply under five years is one of the ways to show it. Major schemes here must also satisfy the Golden Rules: a higher share of affordable homes, the infrastructure to support them and new green space open to the public. Both tests are set out in our grey belt guide.
- Previously developed land anywhere. Yards and former commercial sites follow their own tests inside and outside the Green Belt.
The shortfall is a weight in the balance, not a permission. The council will still expect a site to justify itself on access, landscape and flood risk, and the adopted plan still carries weight where it is not out of date.
Chester's Green Belt, Wrexham Road and the Protected Landscapes
Part One's spatial strategy planned at least 5,200 homes for Chester, of which about 1,300 were to come from a single Green Belt release at Wrexham Road. Part One's explanation adds that where a key service centre is constrained by Green Belt, its figure reflects what it could take without Green Belt release. Any further change to Chester's Green Belt boundary will be a matter for the new plan, and until then the grey belt tests are the main route for open Green Belt land.
Five large employment sites stay in the Green Belt but are recognised in policy GBC 1: Chester Zoo, the Countess of Chester Health Park, Dale Barracks, Chester Business Park and the Urenco site at Capenhurst. Limited infilling or redevelopment of these previously developed sites is allowed where it has no greater impact on openness.
Areas of Special County Value
Policy GBC 2 names eight landscapes where development must respect local character: Beeston, Peckforton and Bolesworth; the Dee coast; Delamere and Utkinton; the Grosvenor Estate and Dee Valley; the Helsby and Frodsham Hills; the Weaver Valley; Willington; and the Wych Brook valley. These are local designations, not national ones. They shape the layout, scale and screening of a scheme rather than ruling land out, but a field in one needs landscape evidence from the start.
Ten Service Centres and the Villages Below Them
Part One gave each key service centre a minimum figure for 2010 to 2030, and Part Two confirmed the list in policy R 1:
| Key service centre | Homes planned, 2010 to 2030 |
|---|---|
| Helsby, Tarporley | At least 300 each |
| Frodsham, Tattenhall | At least 250 each |
| Cuddington and Sandiway, Farndon, Kelsall, Malpas, Neston and Parkgate, Tarvin | At least 200 each |
These minimums belong to a plan whose target was, by 2020, around double the government's figure. The new plan will have to decide how much of a far higher need the villages take, which makes the next two years important for land on their edges.
Below them, R 1 lists local service centres, the next tier, such as Christleton, Mickle Trafford, Waverton, Kingsley, Norley, Great Budworth, Ashton Hayes, Tilston and Aldford. Some are marked as subject to extra restrictions under STRAT 9, the Green Belt and countryside policy. At Tattenhall, Part Two allocated land west of Ravensholme for up to 30 homes and safeguarded land behind 68 to 84 Castlefields, not to be supported before 2025 and then only if shown to be needed to meet any outstanding housing requirement in Tattenhall. That date has passed, so the need test is now the live question.
Small plots at the edge of these villages are covered on our paddocks and small sites page, which describes the kind of land we take on.
The Land We Look for in Cheshire West and Chester
- Fields that adjoin Northwich, Winsford or one of the key service centres outside the Green Belt, clear of the key settlement gaps.
- Land on the edge of Tarporley, Tattenhall, Malpas, Kelsall or Farndon that the new plan may need for village growth.
- Green Belt land around Chester, Ellesmere Port, Frodsham, Helsby or Neston that is contained by roads, housing or rising ground and may be grey belt.
- Former yards, workshops and commercial sites with lawful buildings or hardstanding.
- Larger holdings of 20 acres or more near the four main towns, for the new plan's allocations.
Land here needs evidence on access, drainage, ecology, landscape and, where relevant, the Green Belt purposes, before an application or a plan submission. We pay for all of it. The option price is fixed at the start and set above today's value, you carry on using the land, and if permission is not granted the land stays yours with nothing to pay. Our how it works page explains each step.
A Call for Sites Later in 2026 and a Plan Due by December 2028
The New Plan's Timetable
Plan-making formally began with a notice of intention on 12 June 2026, and a scoping consultation ran from 7 September to 5pm on 28 September 2026. The scoping document says it is not asking for sites, and that a separate, targeted call for sites will follow later in 2026. The council's timetable sets out the rest:
| Stage | Council's timetable |
|---|---|
| Gateway 1: how the council has prepared | 16 October 2026 |
| Consultation on content and evidence (vision, objectives, spatial strategy) | 23 November 2026 to 8 January 2027 |
| Gateway 2: Planning Inspectorate review | 1 March 2027 |
| Consultation on the proposed plan | 1 October to 1 December 2027 |
| Submission for examination | 1 May 2028 |
| Adoption | 1 December 2028 |
The winter consultation on the spatial strategy is where the council will first show how it spreads its need between Chester, the towns and the villages. Land put forward in the targeted call, with evidence behind it, is best placed for that stage. Our guide to call for sites and local plans explains what a council weighs.
The Next Monitor and Delivery Test
The housing land monitor is published each year. The 2026 report came out in September, and the next would measure supply at 1 April 2027. We do not forecast it. The gap today is close to 7,000 homes over five years, 10,135 needed against 3,269 counted, and new allocations in the plan are the council's main way to close it. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026; at 244% the council faces none of its consequences, and a new edition follows each year.
What This Means for Timing
- Land outside the Green Belt that sits well against a town or village can be looked at for an application now, while the shortfall weighs heavily.
- Green Belt land that may be grey belt can be assessed now on its own boundaries.
- Larger holdings are best prepared for the targeted call for sites and the winter consultation.
Questions About Land in Cheshire West and Chester
The council has built more than its plan asked for. Why would it approve more homes?
Because supply is now tested against the government's standard method, 1,930 homes a year, not the plan's 1,100. On that basis the council's own monitor finds 1.6 years, and national policy treats that as evidence of unmet need.
I have seen 1.89 years quoted. Is that still right?
That was the council's figure at 1 April 2025. Its 2026 monitor, published in September 2026, finds 1.6 years at 1 April 2026, so the shortfall has deepened.
My land is near Tattenhall. Does the safeguarded site at Castlefields affect me?
Only indirectly. It was held back until after 2025, and then only if needed for Tattenhall's housing requirement. The council is now short of land borough-wide, so the new plan will have to settle how much more growth Tattenhall takes. We look at how your land compares with it.
I am in the Green Belt near Chester. Can I apply now or should I wait for the new plan?
It depends on whether the land is grey belt. If it contributes little to the Green Belt's purposes, the shortfall provides the need national policy asks for and an application can be considered. If it plays a strong role, the new plan is the realistic route.
The scoping consultation is not asking for sites. How do I get my land in?
The council says it will run a separate, targeted call for sites later in 2026. We can prepare the evidence now so the land is ready when it opens, at our cost.
Tell Us About Your Land in Cheshire West and Chester
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County overview
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Housing Delivery Test: 213%
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Selling Land in Warrington
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Sources
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Housing Land Monitor Summary Report 2026 (4 September 2026)
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Housing Land Monitor Summary Report 2025
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local Plan (Part One) Strategic Policies, adopted January 2015
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local Plan (Part One), spatial strategy policies STRAT 2 to STRAT 9
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local Plan (Part Two) Land Allocations and Detailed Policies, adopted July 2019
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local Plan (Part Two), rural area policies R 1 to R 3
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local Plan (Part Two), Green Belt and countryside policies GBC 1 to GBC 3
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Review of the Local Plan (Part Two) (June 2024)
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local Plan timetable
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local Plan scoping consultation (September 2026)
- Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local Plan scoping consultation, section 4, about Cheshire West and Chester (September 2026)
Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.