Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that new housing development plans do not overload with traffic existing roads that are unsuitable for heavy numbers of vehicle movements, such as Giantswood Lane in Congleton.

The Government has set out clear policies in the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure that when assessing sites for development in plans or for specific planning applications, any implications of the development for the transport network (in terms of capacity and congestion) or on highways safety can be cost effectively mitigated to an acceptable degree. All developments that will generate significant amounts of movement should be required to provide a travel plan, and the application should be supported by a transport statement or transport assessment so that the likely effects of the proposal can be assessed. Development should only be prevented or refused on highways grounds if there would be an unacceptable effect on highway safety, or the residual cumulative effects on the road network would be severe. Ultimately, it is the local planning authority's responsibility to consider whether a scheme or allocation meets these policy tests or whether it does not.