Furious Cheshire East councillors are demanding to know why they weren't informed of proposals for a 20,000-home new town at Adlington and who at the council did know.

The government released a report from the new towns taskforce on Sunday (September 28) revealing landowners Belport Adlington Limited had submitted proposals for a standalone new town of 14,000 to 20,000 homes on approximately 970 hectares of greenfield land around the existing village.

The first ward councillors and neighbouring councillors at Poynton knew of it was when the announcement about the 12 national sites suggested as possible locations for new towns was made public – and included Adlington.

A furious councillor Michael Beanland (Poynton West & Adlington, Con) told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It's highly unlikely that Cheshire East didn't know, in my opinion.

"We want to know who at Cheshire East was consulted and who decided it was going to be embargoed."

He added: "We had no idea Cheshire East was involved in expressions of interest.

"That's a massive town – 20,000 homes that's incredible."

He said councillors were meeting with Cheshire East officers next week to find out what was going on.

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The taskforce says, in its report to government, that a new town at Adlington would be strategically located to benefit the economies of both Cheshire and Greater Manchester.

"Cheshire has a nationally significant life sciences cluster, with the Cheshire science corridor boasting a wealth of industry and research and innovation assets," states the taskforce report.

"Greater Manchester has an extremely diverse economy, but growth is constrained by a shortage of housing.

"A new town at Adlington could help to sustain future growth in both Cheshire and Greater Manchester by easing housing pressures and supporting workforce mobility."

The new towns taskforce report to the government can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-towns-taskforce-report-to-government/new-towns-taskforce-report-to-government