Taken from an email from Roger Goulding, Green Infrastructure Team Leader at Cheshire West and Chester Council, dated 25th June 2026:
Please find attached plans for creating woodland, wildflower meadows, wood-pasture and other habitats across ex-Cheshire Farms land (attached plan).
Existing rights of way will be unaffected and hopefully may be more interesting and attractive to walk into the future as these plans are implemented.
It would be good to hear what the Parish Council thinks about the proposals, before we go ahead. Ground preparation works are planned late summer, with first season of planting to commence this winter.
The site won’t be promoted for recreational use outside the parish as a lack of parking, high volume and speed of traffic by the site are likely to make this undesirable.
As with other Council owned sites containing a mix of new woodland and other habitats, we would be happy for local residents to benefit from permissive access to informally use the site, so long as this access is respected. People would need to keep to rides, with dogs on a lead or under close control (particularly within meadows, wood-pasture, near ponds or wetlands areas where ground nesting birds and waterfowl may be disturbed, or if conservation grazing were to be introduced to some of these areas in the future).
We would be delighted to explore options to work with the Parish Council on signage and arrangements if there is enthusiasm for local access. We may be prepared to consider accommodating a small parking area (if an appropriate location could be agreed), but we could only take this forward if it is something the Parish may be prepared to help fund and manage.
As with other sites, we may allow local beekeepers to keep hives on the site. These would be located away from main rides, rights of way, roads and neighbours.
If you’d like one of the team to come to a Parish Council meeting to discuss the proposals, please let us know.
Click below to view / download the proposed plan (opens as a PDF in a new browser tab)