Housing strategy/prospectus

The Council launched its new ten year Housing Strategy in 2025 and is preparing a new local plan which will identify the type and location of new housing needed.

Our Housing Strategy aims to ensure that we have housing that local people need and can afford; to achieve this we will refresh and implement our local planning policies to deliver a good supply of high quality, affordable and low carbon homes to buy or to rent across the borough with the right infrastructure to support communities.

We aim to see over 10,000 general housing new homes built in the lifetime of this plan and we want to see at least 30% of those being affordable. We will also bring 800empty homes back into use by 2028.

We will put the spotlight on the issue of damp and other health hazards faced by people living in substandard accommodation and seek to work with landlords to raise standards. We are proud to own our Council housing, and we will work with tenants to ensure their homes are safe, decent, well managed and maintained.

In the development of Cheshire West and Chester’s Local Plan, the Council will be aiming for a commitment from developers to a minimum number of properties to be built to part M4(2)of the Building Regulations in all new housing developments.

Please refer to the Council's Planning portal for latest Design Code information and guidance.