join our campaign
Every voice counts!
Thank you to every single one of you who objected to the Bellway Homes planning application by the 3 July deadline. Every objection counts, and all comments will be reviewed by the case officer as the next step.
Environmental impact assessment
In August 2025, Bellway Homes made an application to Cheshire East Council to argue that it did not need to complete and Environmental Impact Assessment. We wholly disagree with this and encourage our supporters to share our concerns with Cheshire East.
How else you can help
There are lots of ways to support our campaign, such as:
- Follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with the latest news
- Share any photos or videos you have of wildlife, plantlife etc. on the LPS59 site to team@protectlindow.co.uk
- Help us with leafleting in the Wilmslow area
- Let us know if you would be happy to display a banner at your home
- Share your professional expertise – for example, by helping us review the many planning application documents from Bellway Homes and pulling out the salient details
- Object to the Bellway Homes argument that it does not need to complete an EIA before 11 September using our guide to help form your arguments
- Help us spread the word – tell your friends and neighbours
- Email your councillors and MP to voice your concerns about the loss of this important habitat.
If you can help, get in touch with us on team@protectlindow.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you.
your support counts!
Every contact tells a story. Every voice counts.
Our argument
lindow peat
is nationally important
the local plan
didn’t account for peat
help us stop
developments before it’s too late
Our supporters
Lindow Community Primary School
“We are very concerned about the plans, primarily due to the access to the site and the safety of our children. Safety on the lane has been a huge concern for the school for a number of years as the pupil numbers have grown, and we have had near misses on several occasions.
“We are incredibly concerned that if this development was to go ahead the construction traffic would create a potentially dangerous situation on the lane, especially during the start and the end of the school day when there are 160+ pupils plus parents walking along the lane.
“We cannot stress enough how concerned we are.”
Esther McVey MP
“I fully endorse Protect Lindow’s aim to get LPS59 returned to the Green Belt. The site is of huge historical and ecological importance with peat, notable ‘moss rooms’, protected hedges, and many important wildlife habitats. Any development would completely contradict the many policies Cheshire East have to protect such landscapes and risk altering the ecological profile of Wilmslow forever.”
Councillor Mark Goldsmith (Residents of Wilmslow)
“This field is not just any old field. It is a piece of medieval history that should be preserved for future generations. Therefore, I completely support Protect Lindow’s campaign to return it to Green Belt. I will therefore be urging Cheshire East Council to stop developers building houses on this important land and to remove it from their next Local Plan. This field is an important part of Wilmslow’s history and to lose it to ever more executive housing would be an irreversible tragedy.”
Lobbying other groups
Here’s a sample email which you can use to make your objections known. We already have the support of Residents of Wilmslow councillors and Esther McVey, but you can email them to add your voice to the campaign.
Here’s a sample email you can use:
Hello,
I am writing to urge you to keep calling for a reassessment of the land at Upcast Lane, Wilmslow – known as LPS 59 – and help us prevent development on this important site. This land is home to nationally and internationally important peat habitats and is a natural extension to Lindow Moss.
The council’s decision to safeguard this land for housing, as determined in the 2013 local plan, was taken without the full facts. It’s now known that this site contains significant peat deposits yet the local plan has not been retrospectively reviewed to accommodate for this.
By neglecting to reclassify the land, the council has left this site open to developments which would permanently damage the peat and even cause the many tonnes of carbon stored within it to be released into the atmosphere.
Two separate housing developers are proceeding with plans to build more than 200 homes on this site. Bellway Homes has already made a planning application to the council, and I urge you to keep supporting us in our campaign to overturn this premature planning application.
If the land had been recognised as having such critical importance back in 2013, the site would never have been removed from the green belt. The council’s own Landscape Character Assessment outlines a policy to protect and manage areas of peat and mossland to maximise the biodiversity, spirit of place and maintain the distinctive moss rooms which can be found at this site. I am urging the council to restore this land to its protected state before lasting damage is caused.
Wilmslow is internationally known for its peatlands thanks to the discovery of the Lindow Man in 1984 and the protection of these spaces should be of national importance.
Please keep calling for an urgent review of this land and support the need to restore this site back to Wilmslow’s green belt.
Helpful links
Find your local councillors’ contact information
Esther McVey’s contact information
You can also email groups such as: Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Friends of Lindow Moss, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England and The Woodland Trust, and MP candidates for Cheshire East from other parties.
Get in touch
Email us on team@protectlindow.co.uk or search Protect Lindow on Facebook.
