News | Transition Wilmslow

Petition to stop building
on Peatland

September 2025

We have approached our MP, Esther McVey to ask her to take a petition to parliament on our behalf. She has agreed and on Friday, 5th September, we dropped of our petition with just short of 500 signatures from people in and around Wilmslow.

Esther McVey will now take this to the House of commons for us in September, asking that a special clause be added to the Government's “Planning and Infrastructure Bill” to stop developments on peatlands across the UK. Hopefully this will stop the housing developments proposed on our precious Lindow Moss and all peatland. We will update you when we know the date and the outcome.

Workshop to Develop Principles for Responding to Planning Applications Report

In May 2025 Thirty members of Transition Wilmslow and wider partners met for a half-day workshop to develop a set of principles that will help the organisation to engage effectively with the planning process.

The aims of the workshop were to:

· Identify what is special about Wilmslow (and what needs to be protected)

· Develop ideas for a sustainable future for the town

· Generate guiding principles for responding to planning applications

· Distil a set of overarching principles to support future responses to planning applications in the area

Ketso, a hands-on toolkit for creative engagement, was used to engage the participants in dialogue and gather their ideas. The RoundView, a systems-based framework of sustainability learning and communication, was used to spark new thinking about sustainable futures as part of the dialogue.

247 ideas were developed on the day. This report first gives a set of distilled principles for responding to planning applications (the key outcome from the workshop),

followed by an overview of the workshop process and a

summary of the subset of these ideas that were highlighted

as important by the participants at the workshop.

You can read the full report by clicking here.

Response to Planning Applications

Wilmslow residents will know that there are several planning applications ongoing, many of which affect our greenbelt.

We have submitted an objection to the Planning Application for houses at the end of Moor Lane/Cumber Lane and you can read the full objection by clicking here.

read the full document here

August 2025 Monthly Newsletter Here's an update on all things super and sustainable from us in and around Wilmslow in the coming weeks: Open Day at Oakenclough, Thursday, 14th August, 11am - 3pm: this isn't a Transition Wilmslow event, but we will be there. There are lots of stalls and activities for families and young people, promoting a variety of things, including the youth service. We will be there at our Community Market Garden doing wheelbarrow races and welly wanging, and getting kids digging up potatoes and may be planting some more things. Pop along if you are looking for something to do. Tree Group Meeting, Thursday, 14th August: Friends Meeting House, 7pm for 7.30pm start: This meeting is the first of the planting season for 25/26 (planting occurs over the winter months). As such the group will be starting to plan where to plant in and around Wilmslow and Handforth over the coming season. The biggest challenge is getting land owner approval to plant. So, if you know of somewhere that the group should look at for planting please let us know by replying to this email. All recommendations are welcome but particularly those that have the land owners details/approval. No project is too small or too big. Do come along if you'd like to be involved in trees. Wilmslow Artisan Market: Sat 16th August 10am to 4pm - we have loads of produce growing beautifully at Oakenclough: courgettes, tomatoes, chillies, and beans, do come along and buy some very local fruit and veg. You can also learn about the wonderful work we are doing at our community gardens and find out how to get involved. The Petition: We will also be asking you to sign the important parliamentary petition that our MP, Esther McVey, is taking to the House of commons for us in September, asking that a special clause be added to the Government's “Planning and Infrastructure Bill” to stop developments on peatlands across the UK. Hopefully this will stop the housing developments proposed on our precious Lindow Moss. The Petition is also available at The Little Red Bus on Racecourse Road if you would like to sign it there. August Members Picnic: Thursday, 21st August, 6pm. We are not having a meeting as such for August, but having a sharing picnic for our paid members and regular volunteers. If you fall into either of those categories, then you are most welcome to join us at The Temp on Gravel Lane. Bring a blanket or chair to sit on, and some food to share (we prefer to keep the food meat-free). We hope it will be a beautiful summery evening, but in case it looks like rain, we will message you with a change of venue nearer the time. Lindow Moss Family Fun Day, Sunday, 31st August, 10am to 3pm - see poster below. A fab free event for all of the community. Become a Transition Wilmslow Member Thanks again to those who have officially become a member, we have had lots of people join us officially and we are so grateful. If you have joined, do come along to our September meeting to pick up your seeded, plantable thank you card. If you are considering it, here's why you should jump in for the incredible price of just £20 a year (that's just £1.67 a month): we are busy bringing a wealth of events, education and fun to our community all year round, and working really hard behind the scenes; everything you are invited to each month is FREE to you, but obviously it's not actually free. We, like all charities, have costs to keep our charity going, we are entirely dependent on donations, grants and now our membership. If you'd like to become a member, please click here for more details. NEW on the Blog: We'd love to add a blog to our website; we know many of you have probably written some inspiring stuff that we could share on our site to add some interest and to educate. If you have a piece of writing about anything related to the kind of work we do then please send it over and we will add it to the new blog page on our website. We'd particularly like to start with something about AI and it's implications on the environment, but we will happily look at all relevant submissions. Email us here. We love volunteers We would still love to hear from you if you'd like to get involved in either the Energy and Planning groups. Planning is particular is going to be an important one in the coming months. Can you spare some time? Reply to this email and let us know how you'd like to get involved, either a little or a lot, whatever works for you. Thanks so much for reading and hopefully see you at some point over the coming weeks. Love from all the team here at Transition Wilmslow Registered Charity 1201884

June 2025 Monthly Newsletter Our monthly Meeting this Thursday, it soon comes around, doesn't it? This month we have the lovely Tilly from Transition Liverpool coming over to let us know what they've been up to. It's such a great opportunity to hear how other Transition groups are doing. We also have our AGM, which will give you a really good overview of everything we achieved last year. So that's 7.30pm (drinks and biscuits available from around 7pm) at the Friends Meeting House, Bourne Street, SK9 5HD. All welcome. Some of us are meeting at the Unico Lounge from 5.45pm before the meeting to have a meal and a chat - come along and join us, no need to let us know, just turn up. Wilmslow Artisan Market this Saturday We are talking all things Repair Cafe at the market in Wilmslow this Saturday. We really need some helpers though - could you spare an hour to come down and help on the stall? If so, please send an email to transitionwilmslow@gmail.com with your availability for the day (it runs from 10am to 4pm). Do pop along and see us, we love chatting to you all. We can tell you about repairs we've done, and how much we've saved from landfill. The actual Repair Cafe is Sat, 5th July, St Chad's Handforth so get your repairs at the ready. If you can donate a cake or biscuits, please let us know. Starts at 10am and the last repair is taken at 12.30pm. It's a free event, but we do appreciate donations. Pot Luck Get-together This Sunday, 22nd June from 4pm we are having a get-together at Chris Frankland's house (Hillside, Mill Lane, Ashley, WA15 0RD) to enjoy looking around his garden, workshop and trees, which are really incredible and worth a visit. You'll be blown away by the items made in his workshops. In case you don't know, 'Pot Luck' is where you bring some food to share. Bring either a savoury or a pudding and drink. You are most welcome and we look forward to seeing some of you there. Fantastic news about Lindow Moss If you receive the Friends of Lindow Moss Newsletter then you will already have seen this very exciting news, but here it is again: On June 4th, 2025, Cheshire East Planning gave the green light for two vital planning applications, 24/0920D and 24/2020D, to restore an additional six compartments of the cutover peat bog at Lindow Moss. This approval means that the owners can now move ahead with their restoration work, a project that will slow the release of CO₂ from the bog and, over time, transform it into a net carbon sink and support further bio-diversity. This is a fantastic step forward for our environment and a significant win for sustainable development that benefits us all. We'll keep you informed of the restoration works once we have the starting dates. Sadly, there is bad news about a planning application on the edge of the Moss - please see below where we have outlined how we should all get involved to preserve this precious environment. This is really important and we must all object to the application before 3rd July (see more below). Become a Transition Wilmslow Member Thanks again to those who have officially become a member. And if you are considering it, here's why you should jump in for the incredible price of just £20 a year (that's just £1.67 a month): we are busy bringing a wealth of events, education and fun to our community, and working really hard behind the scenes; everything you are invited to each month is FREE to you, but obviously it's not actually free. We, like all charities, have costs to keep our charity going, we are entirely dependent on donations, grants and now our membership. If you'd like to become a member, please click here for more details. We love volunteers We would still love to hear from you if you'd like to get involved in either the Energy and Planning groups. Can you spare some time? Reply to this email and let us know how you'd like to get involved, either a little or a lot, whatever works for you. Shopping Local We are compiling a local, sustainable business directory on our website, and would love to hear your nominations. We will include business such as the Electric Bike Shop, the shoe repair shop and other local businesses that align with our values of treading lightly on the planet. Please let us know who we should include and the reasons why. Just reply to this email address. OK that was all quite a lot, wasn't it? We are busy, which is why we'd love you to get more involved. Thanks so much for reading and hopefully see you on Thursday, Saturday or Sunday. Love from all the team here at Transition Wilmslow Registered Charity 1201884 IMPORTANT!! Cumber Lane Housing Proposal Threatens Lindow Peatland At almost the same time as we celebrated the approval for restoration of the cutover peat bog, Bellway Homes submitted their formal application for a residential development of 133 houses off Cumber Lane, complete with access roads, full infrastructure, and landscaping. This proposal is especially concerning because it targets peatland very near to the cutover peat bog: peatland which had been “safeguarded” for housing! While we recognise that there are many issues with the Bellway proposal, we are particularly concerned that this large-scale development, located so close to the cutover peat bog, could seriously reverse the hard-won efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions and restore the bog as a net carbon sink. It doesn’t appear a robust Environmental Impact Assessment has been undertaken, leaving the valuable restoration work vulnerable to unknown disturbances that such a large-scale development would bring. We objected to the land being taken out of the green belt and 'safeguarded' for future development at the last local plan consultation. We will be pushing hard for the land to returned to Green belt. You can view the full proposal on the Cheshire East Planning Portal here: Cheshire East | pa.cheshireeast.gov.uk | Application | 400192. If you are not able to access it via this link please visit the Cheshire East Planning Website and use the planning application number 25/1573/FUL The "Protect Lindow" Residents Group has a website with further information and are looking for more people to help. Friends of Lindow Moss will be submitting a response that 25/1573/FUL should be refused and the LPS59 allocation permanently returned to Green Belt. We urge everyone who cares about our environment to add their voice via the portal before the deadline of 3 July. Please make time to do this.

WILMSLOW RESIDENTS COME TOGETHER TO PLANT 400 TREES.

On Sunday, 17th November around 50 Wilmslow residents of all ages came together to plant a new forest in Wilmslow. The event was arranged by the Tree Group of local charity, Transition Wilmslow.

We had the idea following on from the planting of the ‘Tiny Forest’ at Wilmslow High School which we did last February – that was 600 trees planted very close together, a Japanese idea that creates a very fast growing forest, which absorbs a lot of carbon.

Paddy Johnson of the tree group said, “We decided it would be an incredible project to plant more trees, but spaced apart more regularly, so we could compare the growth of the two forests over the coming years, and see which one does better.”

So that’s exactly what we did – The Woodland Trust provided the group with 400 trees and Wilmslow High School agreed that they could use the land behind the existing Tiny Forest.

Lisa Johnson, who helps to arrange events for Transition Wilmslow, said, “It was really important to us to involve lots of people from the community, so we arranged a family tree planting event. We were absolutely delighted that around 50 people came along to join us on the day, despite the weather being pretty wet.”

“It was incredible to see so many children coming along to get involved – how amazing for them to plant these tiny trees and see their progress over the years, growing with them.”

So, 400 more trees were planted, and now we can all watch the progress of the 1,000 strong two forests over the coming years.

Andrew Backhouse, the Chair of the Charity said, “as the climate is changing, so must we – planting trees to offset carbon emissions and to absorb increased rainfall just makes sense right now.”

Get involved by signing up for the monthly email newsletter. More tree planting projects are happening soon, and everyone in Wilmslow and the surrounding areas are very welcome to get involved. We will be planting around 200 more trees at Rugby Club in early December. Please keep an eye on our website and Facebook page, and do get involved. We are in this together.

May Update

NEW: Become a Transition Wilmslow Member

As you know from reading our newsletter each month, we are busy bringing so many events, education and fun to the community and working really hard behind the scenes; everything you are invited to each month is FREE to you, but obviously it's not actually free. We do have costs to keep our charity going and like all charities, we are entirely dependent on donations and grants. So we are launching an official Transition Wilmslow Membership. If you'd like to become a member, please click here for more details. We'd love your feedback on this, and will be doing an official launch in the next week or so.

Tiny Forest Wildlife Count

On Sat, 24th May, we will be heading down to the Tiny Forest at Wilmslow High School to do a wildlife count. It's such a lovely thing to do with your family - little ones in particular love to count the bugs and butterflies. The Tiny Forest is not only important as a carbon sink, but is a haven for biodiversity. We feedback the information we collect to EarthWatch so they can see what's happening across all Tiny Forests in the UK - we are really proud to be part of this process.

If you want to get involved, just head down to the Tiny Forest (what3words.com/spider.swift.bleak) any time between 10am and 1pm on Sat, 24th. Just let us know if you have any questions.

Volunteers Needed

We are a wonderful group run by volunteers but WE NEED YOU! We are looking for more help specifically in the Energy and Planning groups. Can you spare some time? Perhaps reply to this email and let us know if you can get involved, either a little or a lot, whatever works for you. We can confirm that getting involved in community groups is so good for the soul and makes your feel satisfied and happy. We have so many lovely people and we are keen to have more.

October Update

Meetings! Put these dates in your diary now:

THIS Tuesday 15th October 7.30pm Quaker Meeting House: we'll have an update from all our wonderful groups and we'll do some planning ahead, and think about how we can continue to build our community. If anyone would like to join Andrew at Unico (Grove St) to eat before the meeting, he will be there from about 5.45pm - upstairs this time.
Tuesday 19th November 7.30pm Quaker Meeting House: Car Wars! EV v. ICE - which side are you on? TW member Mel Harris sets out the facts and the arguments for us to debate.

Lindow 40 Years continues: We're launching an open call photography exhibition which will take place at The Guild next April /May. The brief is to photograph the wonderful artworks that are currently on the moss and details are here: www.discoverlindow.org/photographyexhibition or see the flyer with all the details below. Do get involved, we'd love to see lots of your photos.

More Trees Please: we will be planting many more trees this Autumn (1,200 at least) - want to get involved? See more about our Tree Group here. The next tree group meeting is TOMORROW Monday, 14th October at the Friends Meeting House at 7.30pm - all are welcome so please do come along if you'd like to get stuck in to sticking trees in the ground and preserving our existing trees in and around Wilmslow - we'd love more people to come along.

Repair Café: Our Next Repair Café is Saturday 2 November at St Chads in Handforth. Get in touch if you are a volunteer repairer (small electrics, bikes, furniture, knitting, textiles etc) or if you can help in the Café or by donating homemade cakes and biscuits. Email us at repaircafewilmslow@gmail.com, we would love to hear from you. The event is getting busier and busier so more volunteers are now very much needed. It so gratifying that the concept is so popular and becoming so busy, but it does mean more help is required.

Exciting Update: We are delighted that Lisa Johnson will take on work for Transition Wilmslow for at least the next year, to maintain our mailing lists, respond to enquiries, and production of newsletters and social media and communication with Wilmslow. It’s not something we have been doing as well as we would like recently, with so much exciting work going on with trees, gardens, and the Moss - plus an exciting potential energy project on Colshaw. We're delighted to have someone who can pick up all these loose ends.

Accounts Help: If you have particular skills in financial management that you might like to offer us, we would love to hear from you, as we need to replace at least one trustee and need that skill set. Email us here.

Donate: if you want to make a donation to the work we do here at Transition Wilmslow, you can do this from the homepage of the website, even donating £1 helps us to continue our work around Wilmslow, supporting nature, biodiversity, climate action and eco education.

Or Click here: paypal.me/transitionwilmslow