LETTER: How will “Crewe West” development regenerate the town?

Dear Editor,
Please find letter addressed to Harworth Estates:

“I have received your flyer regarding bringing forward proposals for a mixed use residential development that will, “Support sustainable growth for Crewe”

One of the statements you make says “a new population attracted to Crewe to support economic growth and the ongoing regeneration of Crewe Town Centre”.

Did you send your comms people to Crewe town centre when they wrote this?

They could have found a great parking space, but very little else.

To suggest that this estate will re-build Crewe and the town centre is a very strange thing to say.

If you had sent a flyer saying that you were going to build yet another housing estate on some fields outside Crewe, close enough to Nantwich to generate top prices, you are going to make a ruck of money from it and you’re going to make the landowner and their family very rich, I would have shrugged my shoulders at the inevitability of it.

However, you have chosen to make this some sort of social experiment, with a single project that will rescue Crewe and make all of our lives better, which is a deep insult to the intelligence of any normal person.

I have many points to make, but the most important questions I have to ask are:

– How many families on the Council Housing waiting list will be accommodated in this development?

– How many children, who through no fault of their own are forced to live in unsuitable accommodation, will be able to given the homes they deserve in your new development?

– How will the huge increase in Council Tax revenue from this estate be used to benefit the residents of Crewe & Nantwich?

You say that this is “Strategically located east of Middlewich Road”. How is this strategic? Can you explain this, please?

This is to meet growing local demand. Aren’t Signallers Croft, Millbrook Place etc, etc already meeting this demand?

You are planning to add another 1,500 people to the population.

How will they access a Doctor or Dentist? Is there a Medical and Dental facility in the, “vibrant centre” that you mention? Where will their children be educated? Do you plan to build nurseries and another school?

This has been a very clumsy, and somewhat moronic PR effort.

Looking at your website:

Zoom in on the map and it actually zooms out. I’m still not entirely sure where these houses will be built.

There are some really bad typos and mistakes. If I was due to make millions from this, I would make really sure that my proofreading was world class. “Submit”. I won’t say anything else.

“Accessed via a new three lane roundabout on Willaston Green Road”. That would be wonderful, but you may struggle to find that road.

You mention a new green open space for people to enjoy. This is already a green open space. You are going to tarmac over it and build 600 houses.

What does a mobility hub mean? Will I be able to get a bus into Nantwich when this is built, because I can’t now.

You also mention enhanced connections? Does this mean hundreds more cars trying to travel along the already congested, potholed West Street and Wistaston Road to get to the station?

You refer to a, “vibrant local centre”. What does this mean?

I would be happy to argue face to face with anybody involved in this that this is absolute nonsense.

“Attracting local businesses and fostering employment” “110 retail and leisure jobs”. These are ridiculous statements to make.

This is a housing estate on a field on the very edge of the Crewe/Nantwich area. I can’t remember “Kingfisher Reach” generating many jobs, and it’s just over the road.

Cheshire East approved the huge Kingsbourne estate, which is just a few miles away from this, and it has no centre, has created no employment opportunities, and no new facilities.

The millions generated in council tax from this development have given zero benefit to local residents.

Clicking through your site goes to a tab that says, “Turley allto” this feels like its going to a 3rd Party.

Feels a bit sleazy. For an investment of this size, and the money you are going to make from it, you could have managed this a lot better.

The most embarrassing and shameful claim you make is that there will be a 10% minimum biodiversity gain. You are going to build 600 houses on 500-year-old farmland!

I cannot believe you have said this and you really should publish the evidence from the scientific body that has provided this data. Walk around Kingsbourne and see how much wildlife is there.

Councillors – do you you honestly think that this will help to miraculously regenerate Crewe and do you support this?

You should be be ashamed of the rubbish that you have propagated. You will build a housing estate on some stunning land in rural Cheshire, make a lot of money from it, then go on to the next project.

I look forward to your replies.

Regards,

Dave
Wistaston