HEARINGS that will determine the future of Knutsford and Holmes Chapel are set to begin next week.

The final examination hearings for Cheshire East Council's eagerly awaited Local Plan begin before a Government-appointed Planning Inspector sitting in Macclesfield.

Current proposals for Knutsford could mean up to 650 homes built in the town – which includes the 200 given outline permission next to Parkgate Industrial Estate earlier this year.

Members of the public and any organisations are welcome to attend the hearings at Macclesfield Town Hall starting on Tuesday, September 16.

The Inspector will only hear statements from those parties who made representations on the ‘submission version’ of the plan during the prescribed period, and who were seeking some change to the plan.

No-one else will be invited to speak but they can attend to observe.

The Local Plan Strategy document sets out the authority's case for sustainable economic growth and is the strategy that the council wants to adopt to manage development in Cheshire East up to 2030.

The Local Plan and all associated documents, including the comments received during the representation period, were submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on May 20 this year in preparation for independent examination.

The strategy has undergone nine rounds of public consultation since 2010, and the final six-week consultation, when even more comments were received over March and April this year, attracted 3,458 responses alone from 657 individuals and organisations.

Clr David Brown, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council, said: “We are delighted that this major milestone in the progression of the Local Plan has now been reached after many months of preparation.

"We are very much looking forward to presenting our case at these hearings and demonstrating that we have a properly prepared, thorough and sound plan.”