Cheshire East Council is reviewing its stance on the climate emergency.
Borough council bosses considered the need for a longer-term planning strategy that extends into the 2040s, at an Environment and Communities Committee meeting on Friday.
Councillors considered whether to update the local plan, following changes in national planning policy, saying that other local policies were needed.
A report to the committee highlighted the need to respond to the arrival of HS2 at Crewe and the investment opportunities it will bring.
There is also a need to reflect priorities in the council’s new corporate plan, which includes “much stronger action” on tackling the climate emergency and becoming a carbon neutral local authority.
Coun Mick Warren, chair of the committee, said: “The preparation of a new local plan would be a major undertaking involving extensive public consultation.
“It would also need to take account of the Government’s proposed planning reforms expected to come into effect in 2024. While any new local plan was in preparation, the policies of the existing, adopted local plan strategy would remain the starting point for deciding planning applications.”
Councils must review their local plans within five years of adoption and decide whether the policies within them need to be updated.
The council’s current local plan was adopted in July 2017 following more than three years of public comments and submissions on the proposals and 13 rounds of public consultations.
The local plan sets planning policies and allocates sites for development and is used to inform decisions on planning applications.
