THANK you for providing space to discuss the Cheshire Gateway proposals. It is telling that the developers are now choosing to criticise objectors as a “vociferous minority” and labelling our precious greenbelt as spoiled area “less suitable for agriculture”.

No meaningful heritage, wildlife or resident surveys have been conducted.

The “vociferous minority”

includes the National Trust, Bollin Valley nature groups, hundreds of Little Bollington, Agden, High Legh, Dunham, Lymm and Bowdon households, the thousands who signed our petitions and looking at its most recent report – Cheshire East Council too.

For the developers to now dismiss the quality of a landscape simply because it has roads and pylons crossing it misses the point. It has always been a working place and a crossroads. I t has always been the buffer against the very city growth it served and it is part of the green lungs of Manchester.

This land is a haven for protected wildlife near the river Bollin. It provides the open setting which Dunham Massey deserves and it is at the very frontier of the greenbelt. Quite simply, put unsightly warehousing here and an entire tract of land between the A56 and M56 is threatened.

As for Tatton Estates, I do wonder where its ideals as a custodian of our land and heritage have disappeared to. If this development was mooted on the land on the approaches to Tatton Hall and Knutsford, do we seriously believe this would be considered ?

I am a smallholder living near to the proposed scheme. I see the terrible traffic accidents that already occur. I notice how polluted the air and river Bollin is becoming on certain days. I see how the wildlife has retreated to enclaves.

I also consider myself a custodian of the land. This land is important to us all and should be preserved for future generations.

V Whitworth Little Bollington