Tatton Estate has withdrawn a much larger 2024 land bid at Ashley and says its current plan is for up to 1,070 homes on a smaller site south of the M56 – not the 11,000-home scheme campaigners have warned about.
Altrincham Today first reported the plans earlier this month, after the Estate confirmed an early vision for around 1,000 homes on Green Belt land near the village, just over the Cheshire East boundary from Hale and Bowdon.
That prompted the Keep Ashley Green campaign, which said a 2024 submission covering about 291 hectares could support more than 11,000 homes and would affect Altrincham, Hale, Hale Barns and Bowdon as well as Ashley.
The Estate now says the 2026 Call for Sites submission to Cheshire East Council is eight parcels totalling about 41.5 hectares, all south of the M56. That land could include homes, community and commercial uses, a primary school, public open space and landscaping. There is no planning application.
The earlier 2024 submission covered about 291 hectares, including land north of the motorway. That land still appears on the council’s website because the two exercises are shown together. The Estate says it has asked the council to remove the 2024 mapping and is waiting for confirmation.
Pete Crowther, CEO of Tatton Estate, said no land north of the M56 formed part of the 2026 submission.
He said: “Our vision is for a carefully planned, landscape-led and mixed-use extension to Ashley, entirely south of the M56, where homes are delivered alongside the infrastructure, community facilities, local opportunities and connections needed to support a thriving village for generations to come.”
The Estate’s vision document also showed further land to the west and east as possible longer-term potential. It says those areas were not included in the 41.5 hectares and there are no current proposals for them.
Crowther said Cheshire East needed new homes, but they should not be planned in isolation. The Estate’s ambition was “a carefully planned, landscape-led and mixed-use extension to Ashley, entirely south of the M56”, using the village’s station, the motorway and proximity to Manchester Airport.
Any detailed scheme, it says, would still have to go through technical work, community engagement and the Local Plan process.
