We are seeking your views on the what the new local plan for Cheshire East should contain. The local plan scoping consultation is open until 5pm on 1 September.
4 Baseline information and spatial portrait
4.1 Cheshire East is a large borough in the northwest of England and is home to around 421,300 peopleOffice for National Statistics (ONS) 2024 Mid-year population estimates (rounded). It is located between the Greater Manchester and Potteries conurbations, with the Peak District National Park to the east.
4.2 It has a diverse range of settlements including large industrial towns, smaller market towns, villages of varying sizes and characteristics, and more dispersed rural development. Parts of the borough are urbanised and heavily influenced by the adjacent cities, but other areas, particularly in the southwest of the borough are more deeply rural and agricultural in nature.
4.3 The landscape consists predominantly of the extensive flat lowland plain and gently rolling farmland, bordered to the west by the distinctive sandstone ridge and to the east by the rising Pennine foothills.
Cheshire East in a national context
Size, geographical location and population distribution
4.4 Cheshire East is a large unitary authority in north-west England, covering 1,166 km² with a population of around 421,300 (mid-2024). It has a lower population density than the national average and borders multiple neighbouring authorities, including Cheshire West and Chester, Warrington, Greater Manchester authorities, High Peak, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent and Shropshire. Part of the borough lies within the Peak District National Park, where planning responsibilities rest with the National Park Authority.
Connectivity
4.5 Cheshire East benefits from strong transport connections, with the M6 and M56 providing access to major regional and national destinations. Rail connectivity is centred on Crewe, a key national rail hub with direct services to many major UK cities, while Macclesfield and Wilmslow also have direct links to London. Manchester Airport, located on the edge of the borough, further enhances the area’s connectivity.
Economic contribution
4.6 The borough contains many attractive locations for people to live in, work in or visit, with its transport links making it easy to travel to and from other parts of the country.
4.7 Whilst higher education provision in the borough itself is limited, the universities in Greater Manchester are within a short distance. Cheshire East itself has a longstanding history of hosting scientific research businesses (notably at its Alderley Park site near Wilmslow) and has a high concentration of associated (pharmaceuticals) manufacturing activity, thanks to the presence of AstraZeneca (Macclesfield) and Bespak (Holmes Chapel).
4.8 Vehicle manufacturing, most obviously the Bentley plant and headquarters in Crewe, is another key industry that makes a disproportionately high contribution to jobs in the borough, due in part to the long history of Crewe’s economy and skills base as a centre for the rail industry and engineering.
4.9 Consequently, many highly qualified workers choose to live in communities across Cheshire East, but there are also areas of the borough, particularly in many parts of Crewe, where qualification levels are low and significant deprivation persists.
4.10 Despite its small share of the borough’s overall economic output and employment, mining and quarrying is a strategically very important industry in Cheshire East, with local quarries playing a key economic role. Its contribution (and that of neighbouring Cheshire West and Chester) to salt extraction and processing activity is of national significance and, as of 2024, the borough accounted for around a fifth of all salt mining jobs across Great BritainSource: Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), ONS, NOMIS.
Heritage, culture and natural environment
4.11 Cheshire East contains attractions and institutions that are of national or international importance, namely:
- Tatton Park, near Knutsford, which is one of England’s most popular visitor destinations, with around 700,000 to 800,000 visitors in a typical yearSource: 2024 Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions, VisitBritain & VisitEngland, June 2025
- the Jodrell Bank Observatory site, a UNESCO World Heritage site which is part of the globally renowned Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics.
4.12 Other historic sites, parks and gardens within the borough receive hundreds of thousands of visitors. The Peak District, which extends into the eastern fringe of the borough, is easily accessible.
4.13 There are 78 conservation areas and nearly 3,000 listed buildings in the borough, as well as numerous areas designated for their landscape and wildlife valueSource: Heritage and Local List Supplementary Planning Document, Cheshire East Council, June 2026.
4.14 The canal and river network also forms an important element of the borough’s natural environment, heritage and history.
4.15 Cheshire East has around 40,140 hectares of land designated as Green BeltSource: Local authority Green Belt statistics for England: 2024 to 2025, MHCLG.. This forms part of the Green Belt surrounding Greater Manchester to the north, and the Potteries conurbation to the south.
4.16 Agricultural activities make up a relatively large share of land use and local employment. As of 2024, it accounted for around 2.1% (4,500) of all jobs in the borough, compared to an England-wide average of 1.1%Source: Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), ONS, NOMIS. The vast majority of these jobs (around 4,000) are in farm labourSource: Defra June Survey of Agriculture, Defra, April 2026. As of 2025, the area of farmed land in Cheshire East amounted to 82,000 hectares, or around 70.3% of the borough’s land, which is slightly higher than the farmland’s share of England’s total land area (68.7%)Sources: [1] Defra June Survey of Agriculture, Defra, April 2026, [2] Standard Area Measurements for the County and Unitary Authorities (December 2024) in the UK, ONS Geography, Nov 2025, Standard Area Measurements for the Countries (December 2024) in the UK, ONS Geography, Nov 2025.
Cheshire East’s diversity
Settlements and rural-urban composition
4.17 The borough consists of several towns of varying sizes, along with an extensive rural area covering many villages and smaller settlements.
4.18 As the most recent (mid-2024) Office for National Statistics population estimates indicate, Crewe (population 81,300) and Macclesfield (55,200) are the largest towns. The other main centres of population are the towns of Alsager, Congleton, Knutsford, Middlewich, Nantwich, Poynton, Sandbach and Wilmslow (each with populations between 13,000 and 31,000) and Bollington and Handforth (with populations of 7,000 to 8,000)Source: Mid-year population estimates for small areas, Office for National Statistics (ONS), NOMIS (following ONS’ November 2025 statistical release of mid-year population estimates for small areas).
4.19 However, more than a sixth of the population (18.0% as of 2024) live in rural areasSources: [1] Mid-year population estimates for small areas, Office for National Statistics (ONS), NOMIS (following ONS’ November 2025 statistical release of mid-year population estimates for small areas, [2] Output Area (OA) based 2021 Rural Urban Classification for England and Wales, ONS, August 2025. These areas include some sparsely populated and, in some cases, relatively isolated settlements to the south and west of Nantwich.
Demographic mix
4.20 Cheshire East has a relatively old population, with 22.5% of residents aged 65 and above as of mid-2024, against only 18.7% for EnglandMid-year population estimates, ONS, NOMIS (following ONS’ July 2025 statistical release of mid-year population estimates at and above local authority level). At the time of the 2021 Census, only 5.6% of the borough’s population classified themselves as non-white, compared to an England average of 19.0%. However, Cheshire East’s ethnic diversity has increased over time and the non-white proportion is significantly above the borough average (though still below the national share) in Handforth, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and CreweSource: 2021 Census table TS021 (Ethnic group), Office for National Statistics (ONS), NOMIS. Cheshire East also saw a substantial inflow of migrants from Eastern Europe, from the early 2000s onwards. Many of these residents have settled in the borough with higher populations located in Crewe.