As Leader of Stockport Council, Cllr Mark Roberts received a letter from government last night advising him of their decision to intervene due to what they describe as “failing to progress” our Local Plan.
The letter can be read here. (This link takes you to the MHCLG website.)
Responding to this letter, Cllr Mark Roberts, Leader of the Council and of the Liberal Democrats at Stockport Town Hall, said:
“The government’s intervention into our work on the Local Plan should ring alarm bells for all those who value the Green Belt.
“We are committed to building the right homes in the right places through sustainable development. Our administration published a draft Local Plan in 2024 that delivered exactly this across our brownfield sites, before this Labour government then threw the baby out with the bathwater, doubled our housing target and forced us to go back to the drawing board. At the same time they removed Green Belt protections by the back door and tied local councillors hands behind their backs in standing up against the big developers.
“Our officers have been working diligently to deliver a Local Plan, despite the delays and changes both the Conservative and Labour governments have thrown at us. This work will continue, but it is clear that the government has not just moved the goalposts but changed the game entirely. Having created a developers’ charter it is now forcing its agenda on Stockport to concrete over the Green Belt, no matter the consequences for our community. Residents should rightly be outraged by the Government. I certainly am.”
Cllr Jake Austin, Cabinet Member for Housing & Environment, added:
“We take our responsibility to deliver a Local Plan for Stockport seriously, and the timeline set by this government’s intervention falls in line with the work we have been undertaking over the last six months.
“As Liberal Democrats, our approach on the Local Plan has always been to deliver a balance of the housing we need in the borough, while protecting the Green Belt sites that our residents deeply care about. This government intervention makes it clear that Labour do not care about that balance.”
