An Adlington-based farmer says the construction of 20,000 new homes would be ‘a total desecration’.
Alex Kelsall, 31, farms nearly 150 acres which would be decimated by Adlington New Town.
“This is just a total desecration of productive farmland on the edge of the Peak District,” Mr Kelsall said.
“We’re out on the edge of the national parks here and it’s just an extension of Manchester out into Cheshire.”
The Adlington Estate was identified by the New Towns Taskforce in September 2025 as one of 12 sites across England with the potential to be converted into a new town.
In a statement, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government claims the creation of a new town on the Cheshire green belt would ‘serve the growing industries in Greater Manchester and Cheshire.’
In order to construct this new town, almost 1,000 hectares of working farmland and open fields would be destroyed.
Mr Kelsall’s land is encompassed in the new town plans, despite being ‘under private ownership between the family’.
Since Mr Kelsall’s grandfather bought 93 acres in 1956 for £9,000, the farmland has been kept in the family.
Alongside this, Mr Kelsall also rents another 55 acres from his neighbour to farm cattle for beef.
Without being able to farm this land, he claims he ‘would be out of business’.
“The only reason [Belport] want to build it here is pure greed,” Mr Kelsall explained.
“If it happens here, it can happen anywhere in the country.”
Belport Limited, a Banbury-based property investment company, would be responsible for building the new town, should the decision be approved.
While we need new houses, Mr Kelsall pointed out ‘at the end of the day we all need to eat’.
“The more land we build on, it’ll be the poorest in society that will struggle,” Mr Kelsall said, highlighting the impact that a ‘drought or a war’ would have on food inflation.
Since the plans for Adlington New Town were announced, local residents have been campaigning against it and arranging regular protests.
Farmers like Mr Kelsall whose land is under threat support the protests by driving their tractors along the roads.
“We’ll try and support [the protests] wherever we can, to try and stop it happening,” Mr Kelsall said.
“This is a massive amount of land and green space for nature and for food production that will be lost [if the plans go ahead].”
The intended site for the new town is larger than the built footprint of Macclesfield, and larger than Bollington and Prestbury combined.
Belport bought the land in 2023 as a long-term investment and alleged they had ‘no idea that there would be opportunity to be part of [the New Towns] programme.’
According to their FAQs page, ‘engagement with tenant farmers is a priority. We will communicate with them around future implications.’
However, Mr Kelsall alleged that Belport approached him in spring 2025, prior to the announcement of Adlington New Town.
“I was getting phone calls [from Belport, with] no mention of housing going on and just that they wanted to get the whole [estate] back to what it was, and they’d let the land back to me,” Mr Kelsall explained.
“The other thing is, there’s more land been bought up recently, around 20 acres down the road and then some more land that I personally rented.
“I got a letter through the post and 12 acres [that I’ve rented for five years], and they’ve bought that as well and the people never spoke to me [before it happened].”
One local farmer who Mr Kelsall knows was offered £10,000 an acre, which Mr Kelsall claims is ‘an insult for agricultural price.’
He explained that the going rate for agricultural land is £20,000 an acre, however Belport would still ‘stand to make billions of pounds.’
“It wouldn’t be enough to go and buy a house here, never mind a farm somewhere,” Mr Kelsall said, explaining such a purchase would ‘totally take away [his] livelihood.’
The mass destruction of working farmland by Adlington New Town would mean ‘more and more land out of food production’.
Mr Kelsall echoed the sentiment of campaigners at the last protest against the new town plans.
“It’s just total greenwashing because we’ve got no end of brownfield sites and empty houses and places that can’t be farmed,” he said.
“It’s better to do something here and work with nature and try and produce something sustainably than to import things and not have a clue where it’s come from.”
You can learn more about Adlington New Town and the impact it will have here.
Belport Limited was contacted for comment.
Well done Alex! We must do everything in our power to stop the building of Adlington New Town – it is not for the homeless nor is it for first time buyers unless they are very wealthy! It will destroy an ancient habitat which is already incredibly diverse and naturally carbon capturing!
This new town will desecrate ancient wood and farmland, threaten food security and take away farmers’ livelihoods. There is no guarantee that infrastructure will be provided to serve a new town whilst existing towns are already under strain and need investment. Social housing for rent dispersed throughout the land is needed – not so called ‘ ‘affordable housing’ that is not affordable – built only to make a massive profit for investors and a land grab for the government.
Whilst the loss of productive farmland is a major issue there are other serious concerns
1) the loss of one of the most unique eclogical areas in Cheshire, full of ancient trees and hedgerows, untouched for 700 years. No amount of tree planting and greenwashing will make up for this loss.
The Cheshire Wildlife Trust has described Adlington as a nature superhighway linking the Peak District and the Cheshire Plain.
Blocking the ability of the wild animals to move freely through this area would impact on the health if this ecosystem.
Greenbelt is there for a reason – to preserve nature and prevent urban sprawl.
2) the impact of 20,000 houses and 55,000 extra people will have a huge impact on the local infrastructure with road and rail transport unable to cope with the extra pressure.
3) Utilities such as power and water supplies and sewage disposal are already working at full capacity and would not be able to cope with the extra demand.
All these areas of infrastructure would require massive investment to cope wiith this increased demand.
4) Doctors, dentists, hospitals are already struggling to cope with existing demand. Just try getting a hospital appointment when you are competing against 55,000 extra residents.
5) local schools are already reaching full capacity – there are no indications of what extra educational facilities if any will be provided. To match the educational provision provided in Macclesfield per head of popultion New Adlington would require 10 primary schools, 2 secondary schools and perhaps a college. Belport, the developers, are silent on this subject.
New Adlington must not happen and must be opposed at all costs