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Greenbelt building plans paused as Labour and Tories back down
by Lib Dem Team on 25 March, 2017
This field in Woodford is just one area that will be concreted over under plans being championed by Labour and Conservatives.
The Labour/Conservative Combined Authority has paused plans to build on greenbelt land after a huge outcry from local people and a campaign to Save the Greenbelt from the Liberal Democrats.
A revised version of Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, due out in March, has been delayed by six months. The proposals, which include plans to decimate Greater Manchester’s greenbelt, will now be out in September, with consultation period extended from six to 12 weeks.
The decision was taken by the Labour/Tory run Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which is promoting the plan. The Combined Authority is run jointly by nine Labour council leaders, the Labour mayor and Trafford’s Conservative leader and Mayoral candidate Sean Anstee.
Jane Brophy – Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester – is campaigning to save our green belt.
“Public pressure has forced Labour and Conservatives to back down for now, but there is still a long way to go. The Lib Dems will continue to oppose over-development of our precious greenbelt.” said Cllr Iain Roberts.
The Liberal Democrats have twice tried to scrap the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework. On both occasions, Labour and Conservative councillors worked together to keep it on track.
Jane Brophy, Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester, has promised to scrap the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework if she is elected on May 4th.
I believe most people are against too much development including the local MP Mary Robinson but I think we must be practical and expect some erosion of the green belt.
Totally disagree Bruce. If you look at Stockport there are many buildings that can be converted into apartments and yesterday I counted 15 tower cranes in
Manchester – most if not all on building sites for apartments on brownfield sites.
Building on greenfield sites without associated infrastructure is actually counter-productive on any number of levels.
I suspect both Alan and Bruce are correct.
Brownfield sites seem the obvious first steps as the assocated infrastructure will be pretty much there. But the scale of the housing problem suggests to me that some greenfield developments will also be necessary. This is nothing new – urban areas have been developing for the last 150 years by the joint use of green and brown sites.
Genuine question: Which party/local MPs voted which way when the greenery that was Cheadle Royal was being considered for what is now the colossal business park? And the same question regarding the conversion of St Anne’s Rd into an extended car park for the same business park? Can Iain enlighten me on that, as it would be interesting to know whether ANY political group defended it. Thanks for any info.
Although this thread has been removed since last week, I’d still appreciate a response – when you get a minute… Thanks
Hi CT – apologies, meant to reply to your Cheadle Royal query and forgot.
The answer is that I don’t know. None of the local councillors were on the council when that decision was taken.
St Ann’s Road North has always been a public highway with parking permitted. The change that happened more recently, supported by all councillors, was to stop cars parking near the chicanes to improve safety.