Stockport’s Lib Dem leader Cllr Iain Roberts writes for the Stockport Mail
What do you do when the Government says you’ve got to build 20,000 new homes, and if you don’t come up with a plan they’ll just let developers build pretty much wherever they like? The answer is that you come up with a plan!
The ten councils across Greater Manchester have been working together and they have a plan, but it’s deeply worrying. They propose building thousands of houses on greenbelt land near Heald Green, Cheadle Hulme, Woodford and High Lane.
I say we need to protect our greenbelt.
Stockport is being targeted by developers and, when you add it together with Cheshire East’s housebuilding plans, this would see an area of green fields the size of Heald Green concreted over. All those new houses will mean more cars on our busy roads, more children needing school places, more medical centres, shops and all the rest of it.
What can we do?
We do need more homes for people. Stockport is a popular, growing area to live and we need new homes for our children and grandchildren. But those homes should be built in our towns first.
Before we open up the greenbelt for development we must bring every empty home back into use, develop every old mill building, empty warehouse, factory and derelict piece of land. Only when all that is truly done should we move onto the greenbelt.
And we need to be sure we can deal with the extra traffic and school places. Right now we are being given warm words about how important that infrastructure is. Words are all very well, but we need firm plans and we need the money to deliver them – and they won’t be cheap.
Have your say. Go to the website, www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/gmsf, before the consultation finishes in December. We can get this right. We can build the homes we need without concreting over the greenbelt. But to do it we need some new thinking from both the Government and the Greater Manchester councils, so we have to make our voices heard.
