The leader and deputy leader of Cheshire East Council have apologised publicly and said they 'sincerely regret' writing a letter which appeared to support the proposal for Adlington new town.

The letter, obtained through a freedom of information request, was sent to the New Towns Task Force by council leader Nick Mannion (Macclesfield, Lab) and deputy Michael Gorman (Wilmslow, Ind) in June.

On Wednesday, December 10, the two leaders faced a barrage of questions and challenges from angry councillors and members of the public.

And the meeting of full council had to be temporarily adjourned for a few minutes for legal advice, when Poynton & Adlington councillor Michael Beanland (Con) demanded to know under what constitutional authority the two leaders had made the declaration that the council supported the controversial proposal.

Later, as councillors discussed a notice of motion calling for the council to oppose the new town plan, a furious Cllr Jos Saunders (Poynton, Con) said: "Why are we having this notice of motion at all?

"We're having it because the leader and deputy leader wrote a letter on behalf of Cheshire East reaffirming their support for the creation of a new town, including Adlington.

"You should not have done this. You wrote this letter in June, 80 councillors only found out about Adlington in September.

"You can state it's at an early stage, our support is not unequivocal, but you shouldn't have written that letter in the first place.

"By writing it, on behalf of Cheshire East Council, it implied local support, and it has none."

The full council voted unanimously to oppose the plans (Credit: Gekko Media)

As other councillors criticised the letter, there was a call of 'resign' from the often vocal public gallery.

Cllr Mannion told the packed hall at Tatton Park: "I wish to take this opportunity to publicly express my sincere regret for the confusion, anxiety and concern that has been created by the badly worded letter sent in June this year. I am sorry…"

He said he would be supporting the notice of motion, brought by Labour and Conservative councillors, to oppose the new town proposal for Adlington and urged all councillors to back it.

"But one comment I must add, if the proposal for Adlington is ultimately progressed by the government, we must ensure that the views of all our communities, both those of geography and those of interest and local business are adequately considered," he said.

Cllr Gorman told the meeting: "For my own part, I regret the letter which was forwarded to Sir Michael Lyons, chair of the task force in June, which was simply not drafted well.

"I gave the impression that we were supporting the Adlington proposal. This is not the case.

"Engaging with the government, with the New Towns Task Force, is not the same as approving it."

Adlington is one of 12 sites being considered for a new standalone town and up to 20,000 homes could be built on greenfield land around the existing village if the proposal goes ahead.

The full council voted unanimously on Wednesday to oppose the plan.

A decision on whether the site will proceed to the next stage is expected from the government next year.