A furious councillor said a House of Commons select committee hearing into new towns appears to confirm the letter sent by Cheshire East's leader and deputy had 'sealed the fate of Adlington', and both should resign.

Cllr Hayley Whitaker (Poynton, Con) was referring to the letter sent to the New Towns Task Force (NTTF) in June by council leader Nick Mannion (Macclesfield, Lab) and deputy Michael Gorman (Wilmslow, Ind) which appeared to support the proposal for Adlington new town.

The letter was referred to at a recent select committee hearing when NTTF chair Sir Michael Lyons was asked what consultation there had been with local leaders before the task force made its recommendations on possible sites.

Sir Michael used Adlington as an example and said: "When we came to prepare our report for government, we explicitly asked, in every case, the relevant local authority, were they content to be listed amongst those areas which we were recommending to government.

"In that case, Adlington responded by a letter signed by the leader and the deputy leader saying they were.

"I think we felt that was safe enough at this stage for us to put the proposition forward to government for consideration."

Map of the proposed development area (Credit: New Towns Taskforce)

Cllr Whitaker said she was 'nonplussed' on hearing that statement at the hearing.

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"That letter sealed the fate for Adlington," she said.

"A letter written and signed with no consultation, no scrutiny, no public or councillor opinion.

"Signed, in my opinion, with no authority to do so.

"I am now convinced that had that letter not supported the new town, Adlington may have fallen out of the shortlisted 12 areas.

"The leader and deputy must now resign."

She added: "My Conservative colleagues and I have been clear from the moment this proposal was dropped on us, during the Labour Party conference, we are against the new town.

"We will continue to fight against this proposal, and to ensure that residents have a voice."

ALSO READ: Photos from the latest protest against the Adlington new town proposals

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No decision has yet been made on which areas will definitely go forward for new town development.

Councillors Mannion and Gorman apologised publicly for the letter at a meeting of the full council last month.

And the council says the leaders have since written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – the decision maker – asserting the council's opposition to the proposed new town at Adlington and setting out the reasons for its opposition – emphasising the need for any proposals to be consistent with the Cheshire East local plan.

A Cheshire East Council spokesperson said: "The leader and deputy leader of the council have previously apologised for the letter sent to the Secretary of State about the new town's proposal for Adlington, and they accept that the letter was poorly worded.

"The letter was intended to express a more general view in support of the principle of new towns, recognising the role that appropriately planned and delivered new towns could play."

The spokesperson said the Adlington new town proposal was brought forward without any formal involvement of any Cheshire East councillor, including the leader and deputy, nor any chair or vice-chair of any of the council's committees.

"In December, Cheshire East Council unanimously supported a notice of motion to formally object to the government's proposal for a new town on land at Adlington," said the spokesperson.

"While there is a recognition that there is a need for additional housing, particularly affordable housing, locally and nationally, the notice of motion identifies many reasons for the council's objection to the Adlington proposals.

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"This includes that the proposition is at odds with several of the government's own planning policies."