First Peel Hall consultations slammed as “shambolic mess” by campaigners

TWO leading resident groups, campaigning against unsympathetic and over development of North Warrington, have heavily criticised the inaugural public consultation phase promoting the future of Peel Hall as a ‘shambolic mess.’

Peel Hall Campaign Group members attended the first two ‘Design Code and Masterplan’ sessions held at St Andrew’s and Radley Common community centres last week and say they walked away with concerns over low turnout and had discovered several eye-opening proposals along the way. Both events were organised by developers Countryside Partnerships with social housing provider, Torus, in attendance.

Peel Hall campaigners have now joined forces with Winwick’s Local Plan Campaign. Both are said to be incensed over why thousands of residents from surrounding communities, and an entire village, have been left out of what they call a significant first round of consultations. Both are calling for an immediate halt to the sessions and for the consultation to be restaged after a serious rethink.
To date, the three-phase fact-finding exercise, set up by consultancy group Lichfields, has been poorly attended, leaving both groups highly suspicious of ‘incompetent wrong-doing.’ They are angry their initial findings have been met with confusion and mixed responses. Peel Hall campaigner David Sawyer said he walked away from the first consultation appalled by the ‘shambolic mess,’ and that it was apparent that no one was prepared to explain the poor turnout, nor fully explain specific issues.

“The Winwick group is now planning to lodge an official complaint with developer Countryside in a bid to establish who was responsible for leaving the Parish of Winwick out of the consultation process. Peel Hall campaigners say they will also be asking questions to find out why hundreds of their supporters and residents were not notified.
A spokesperson for the Winwick group said: “After learning of the proposed dates and locations of the consultation meetings, a number of Winwick residents were concerned that even though Peel Hall sits within the parish of Winwick, no event was planned for our village.”
“On further investigation and contact with the developer, we learned that a meeting was held on May 31st attended by a Cllr for Poplars & Hulme, who we are not prepared to identify at present, our MP for Warrington North, and the developer. The decision was made here as to how, when and where the public consultation meetings should occur. Subsequentially, our group discovered from the developer that the same ward councillor we believe arranged this meeting, had not followed the correct process by failing to contact the parish council directly.”
Their spokesperson went on to say: “According to the developer an email was sent to borough councillors for Burtonwood and Winwick via their council email addresses. The developer informed us of those councillors, one never replied, and other declined the meeting. This approach was completely the wrong procedure. The Clerk of Winwick Parish council should have received this email, but he didn’t. Borough council responsibilities and Parish Council ones are very different and vitally so in terms of local democracy”.

The group said they have an ‘overarching concern’ that borough councillors and the developer ‘don’t truly understand’ where Peel Hall sits. This, they say, is leading to an even greater worry that their village will be forgotten when it comes to such matters as section 106 monies for additional primary school places, or calming measures to cope with the expected huge increase in traffic created by the development.
The group spokesperson concluded: “For a parish, that has fought for years against this development, to be forgotten so quickly, feels like a real kick in the Peel Halls.”
Campaigner Wendy Johnson-Taylor said she felt dreadfully let down after discovering her group was left out of the initial consultation planning meeting. “I’m angry because we had been promised, by the council’s top-tier, to be kept informed and involved at every important stage. I shouldn’t really be surprised as it’s becoming noticeably clear our group is being sidelined by local councillors, don’t forget there’s an election coming. The annoying thing is, if our groups had been involved this wouldn’t have turned out as it did.”
Both groups say they will continue to work together and are hoping the consultation sessions will be halted and rescheduled following much wider and more acceptable mailshot distribution throughout the area. Wendy added that both groups were looking forward to resurrecting a much more ‘productive and meaningful dialogue’ across the table with all parties concerned.
Peel Hall was sold by Satnam Millennium Ltd earlier this year, following a residents’ battle spanning more than 30 years. It was sold for than £100 million in a partnership between both housing providers.

Cllr Cathy Mitchell responded by saying she was on leave with her husband on May 31 and therefore was unable to attend the meeting.
“I only decline meetings when I can’t attend them, not because I can’t be bothered.”
She added: “I have also emailed the developer to ask them to hold a consultation event in Winwick and they said no. I have asked them to let us have consultation materials that we could display at Winwick Leisure Centre and I have asked them to add the Parish Clerk to the mailing list of consultees.”

Poplars & Hulme Cllr. Nathan Sudlow, who publicised the first round of consultations, said: “A series of events were planned by the developers Countryside in community venues that directly border the Peel Hall development site.
“Borough Councillors from Poplars and Hulme, the neighbouring wards of Poulton North, Burtonwood and Winwick, and the MP for Warrington North were invited to a meeting with the developers where they were shown draft consultation drawings. These drawings have now been shown in open public consultation meetings where any residents were able to come and contribute and have their voices heard.
“The final decision on locations and times of consultations were taken by the developer, Countryside. Councillors encouraged the developers to have as open a consultation process as possible, asking for a wider area to be leafleted and encouraging multiple consultation events at different locations over different days and different times.
“Unfortunately, some councillors were unable to attend the meeting as they were on annual leave, outside of Warrington or otherwise occupied with work at the time of the meeting.
“As I’m sure many readers will be aware, last week, I called on the developers to extend their consultation period and I am continuing to press for further consultation opportunities.
“Ensuring the best outcomes for our community is my top priority. My ward colleagues and neighbouring ward colleagues continue to do the best we can, listening to and representing our communities and continuing to challenge the developer.
“Borough councillors fought with residents for 30 years against the development of Peel Hall, unfortunately the decision was snatched out of our hands and permission was granted by the Conservative Secretary of State, Michael Gove, hundreds of miles away in London.
“We can’t stop the development of Peel Hall, but we will do what we can to ensure local voices are properly heard and the development returns the best results for our community.
“As ever if residents want to get in touch or raise concerns, they can do so by emailing [email protected]
Meanwhile he is awaiting legal clarification on some of the comments made by the campaign groups.

Call for Peel Hall consultation to be extended