Hartford 495 Homes Plan: Green Belt Bid, 45% Affordable

Redrow has applied to build up to 495 homes on farmland north of Chester Road in Hartford, on the western edge of Northwich. The 34 hectare site is in the Green Belt.

The outline application, 26/03357/OUT, was validated by Cheshire West and Chester Council on 19 October. It is made by Redrow Homes North West on behalf of BDW Trading Limited. Only the main access is up for approval now. The layout and house designs would follow later.

It is the third large housing bid on Chester Road in Hartford this year, and none of the three has been decided.

What Redrow is proposing

The developer’s planning and affordable housing statement sets out two options:

• Option 1: up to 465 homes, plus 1.2 hectares of land for a one-form-entry primary school
• Option 2: up to 495 homes, with no school, if the council’s education team says one is not needed

Both options include:

• a local centre of up to 1,500 square metres, which could hold a convenience shop (up to 400 sq m), a GP surgery (up to 500 sq m) and a children’s nursery (up to 600 sq m)
• 15.5 hectares of public open space, which the statement puts at 45% of the site
• play areas, a community orchard, allotments and a wetland in the north-east corner
• homes of two and two and a half storeys, with the taller ones on the Hartford side

The statement says the shop, surgery and nursery are possibilities, not commitments. The final mix would depend on “market demand and end-user requirements”.

How traffic would get in

The main entrance would be a new junction on Chester Road with a right-turn lane. The statement says two houses, 366 and 368 Chester Road, would be demolished to make room for it.

A 3 metre shared path would run east towards Hartford and the station. Littledales Lane, on the western edge, would carry an emergency access, and pedestrians and cyclists, but no everyday traffic.

The statement says Hartford station is about 600 metres away, with an hourly train each way to Crewe and to Liverpool Lime Street. The 82 bus runs hourly along Chester Road to Northwich and Chester.

Affordable homes and the Green Belt case

The statement offers 45% affordable housing, up to 223 homes. That is the “golden rule” figure for Green Belt sites in national policy: the borough’s usual 30% requirement plus 15 percentage points.

Redrow’s case is that the land counts as “grey belt”, Green Belt that does not do much to keep towns apart. Under the latest national rules, homes on grey belt land can be approved if they meet that affordable housing test and other conditions. We covered the same argument at Guilden Sutton earlier this month.

The statement also leans on the council’s own housing figures. It says the council’s 2026 Housing Land Monitor shows a supply of only 1.6 years of the homes it needs, against the five years expected. The statement puts the gap at 6,866 homes over 2026 to 2031.

The other two Hartford schemes

Redrow’s statement lists two other outline applications on Chester Road, both still awaiting a decision on the council’s register:

Together that is up to 930 homes. Redrow’s environmental statement tested the three schemes together for their combined effect.

What people said before it was submitted

Redrow’s statement of community involvement says leaflets went to 193 nearby homes in July. It received 31 responses. One was someone asking about buying a future affordable home. The rest raised concerns or objections, including:

• traffic on Chester Road at peak times
• the loss of Green Belt and farmland
• pressure on schools and GP surgeries
• the scale of the scheme

The document says letters to the ward councillors and Hartford Parish Council drew no reply.

Early comments from Network Rail

The site sits between the West Coast Main Line to the east and the Mid-Cheshire line to the north. Network Rail’s asset protection team commented on 27 October that it had “not received an enquiry from the developer for this site”. It said the drainage design must be reviewed because water could soften the Victorian embankment and cutting next to the site.

What it means for you

• If you live in Hartford or on Chester Road: the council’s register gives 18 November 2026 as the closing date for neighbour and site notice comments, and 4 December for the press notice. You can comment on the application page.
• The decision is some way off. The register shows no committee date yet, and the education team’s view will decide whether the school land stays in.
• Nothing is fixed yet beyond the access. Housing numbers, the school and the shops would be settled at a later “reserved matters” stage if outline permission is granted.

You can follow other decisions on our planning applications page.