Author: stockportlibdems

Liberal Democrats have raised concerns about the continuing changes to planning being drip-fed by the Labour government, with announcements today around loosening the requirement to protect nature and biodiversity and a consultation on moving more planning decisions away from residents through their locally-elected representatives.

Added to the changes already announced last year and earlier this year, it means Lib Dems will have to bring forward a draft Local Plan for consultation wildly at odds with the version they published last summer. Government action means the new draft will have to include the release of significant tracts of Green Belt land, now termed “Grey Belt” by the government, to meet the much higher, compulsory housing and employment land targets that all councils face.

Cllr Jake Austin, Cabinet Member with responsibility for delivering the Local Plan, said:

“Not content with announcing plans to railroad over local democracy by drastically reducing the say our residents and communities will have over development, the government is now rolling back on its promises to protect our natural environment. Labour are creating a system which gives developers a free pass to build without consideration for our communities, green spaces, or natural environment.

“We are committed to making sure Stockport builds enough homes for everyone who wants to make this brilliant borough their home, and we will work tirelessly to make this happen, but Keir Starmer’s drastic reforms are bulldozing through the protections that keep building sustainable.

“Development is a careful balance between building the homes we desperately need without disrupting our communities or destroying our environment. This Labour government is making it impossible for any local authority to maintain that balance.”

Cllr Mark Roberts, Leader of the Council and of the Liberal Democrats at Stockport Town Hall, said:

“We have always accepted the need to build more homes in our borough. But they have to be the right homes in the right places. To date we have focussed on breathing life back into our Town Centre and the surrounding areas, but there was always going to be a need for careful development in other parts of the borough to meet demand.

“The Liberal Democrats drew up and published a plan last summer that delivered what Stockport needed in a sustainable way, but the new Labour government have completely changed the rules. They haven’t just thrown the baby out with the bathwater, they’ve lobbed the bath out the window with it! They’ve given the green light to developers to concrete over our Green Belt and change our communities forever. Councils like Stockport and others across GM will be given no options to avoid this. Local people and councillors will essentially have no say over whether the government allows large scale development by the back door.

“People should be angry with the Labour government and their Green Belt Land Grab. We certainly are.”

Stockport Liberal Democrats join a growing group of organisations warning the government against its proposals, with the RSPB describing the reforms as a step that will “put wildlife seriously at risk”.

Cllr Mark Hunter has written the below in response to an open letter from the Conservative Councillor on Stockport Council:

Cllr Crossen,

Thank you for your email. I am disappointed, but not surprised, that you choose to ignore reality whilst writing a letter clearly intended more for voters’ eyes than for mine.

As you should be well aware, Stockport councillors – including Conservative councillors who have since lost their seats – voted to leave the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework at the end of 2020, with a view to protecting our Green Belt. It was the right decision.

That was under a local Labour administration that did not then do enough to draft and adopt a Local Plan, and they left it to the Liberal Democrats to pick up the pieces when we regained minority control of the council three years ago, at the end of May 2022. Since that time we have taken and continue to take senior legal advice at each stage on the most appropriate way forwards.

You will recall that the summer of 2022 was particularly special for the Conservative party. Boris Johnson had to resign as Prime Minister, Liz Truss briefly replaced him, crashed our economy and was eventually replaced in turn by Rishi Sunak.

During that chaotic time there was much speculation during the leadership campaigns about changing the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and about making the then compulsory housing targets only advisory. As this change would enable us follow through on our ambition to protect our precious Green Belt, the new Cabinet under my leadership took the decision to pause work, avoiding an expensive consultation on a Local Plan that might be out of date before the consultation was complete. This saved our hard-pressed Council Tax payers around £0.25m according to an official estimate. The Conservative government confirmed at the end of 2022 that this would happen, and a new NPPF was expected to be published in the Spring of 2023.

Sadly, Michael Gove as Secretary of State chose instead to take a year to issue a revised NPPF, and it was late December 2023 before this was published. We re-commenced work immediately under this new guidance and, despite being forced to pause announcements due to the pre-election periods for the Local Elections and then General Election in 2024, we did publish a draft Local Plan back in July 2024.

It can be found here:

Agenda for Cabinet on Friday, 19th July, 2024, 12.00 pm – Stockport Council

This focussed on Brownfield first development, protecting our Green Belt as we have always aimed.

Shortly after publishing that draft Local Plan, the new Labour government announced the planning rules would be altered again, entirely changing the game with their 10 million homes housing ambition and strictly enforced, compulsory housing targets. We were forced to wait for yet another update to the NPPF by central government.

Our Local Development Scheme was published within days of Labour finally issuing the updated National Planning Policy Framework, showing how we would deliver a Local Plan to the government’s deadline. A key matter remained unresolved, however – what did the compulsory targets mean in places like Stockport where such huge housing numbers could only be delivered through the release of Green Belt. This would apparently involving a new classification of land called “Grey Belt”. All Local Plans under the previous rules not yet at Regulation 19 Consultation were to be abandoned and the new rules used instead.

Sadly, but unsurprisingly given our experience to date, the government then delayed issuing the clarity and guidance on Grey Belt/Green Belt for months. When it eventually came, the guidance was completely out of line with what the planning community had expected. Our consultants are currently working through what this means for Stockport. This government delay will have a knock on to all councils and their preparation of Local Plans.

We continue to urgently progress our Local Plan but it will now be even more difficult protect the Green Belt our residents rightly cherish. Overnight, Angela Rayner’s compulsory housing target removed our ability to defend such land from the clutches of developers who are intent on concreting over it, in the pursuit of profit.

Labour’s new rules will make it much easier for them to build there. Unlike the draft Local Plan the Lib Dems published last summer, which would have built the right homes in the right places, but which we were blocked from progressing.

I hope this clarifies the fact that the Liberal Democrats have not been dragging our heels, on the contrary we have been keen to make progress and have been repeatedly frustrated by changes in government policy.

We hope you will join our calls to government to overturn the approach taken by both the current Labour government and its Conservative predecessors, who have given all of the power to developers whilst tying councils’ hands behind their backs at the expense of our valuable Green Belt.

Following Cllr Mark Hunter’s decision to step aside as Leader of Stockport Council at the Annual Meeting on 20th May, the Liberal Democrat Group have elected a new leadership team who will become the Group’s nominees to be Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council from that meeting.

Cllr Mark Roberts, currently Deputy Leader of the Council and of the Lib Dem Group, has been elected as Group Leader.

He lives in Romiley with his wife Cllr Frankie Singleton, who he met while they were both on the campaign trail, and they married at Stockport Town Hall in 2023. He grew up in the Peak District and like many others chose to make Stockport his home. He has recently taken up beekeeping and loves working outside in the local countryside.

First elected in 2019 after seeing the inspirational work of his then councillors Lisa Smart and Angie Clark, Mark rose quickly through the ranks of the Group, taking on more responsibility and positions of leadership. He has been instrumental in pushing the council to be more sustainable, building in climate resilience, and has been leading on the work to deliver a Local Plan in the aftermath of the Labour government’s recent doubling of Stockport’s house building requirements.

Cllr Jilly Julian, currently Cabinet Member with responsibilities including finance and governance, has led on delivering a balanced budget and on the council’s overarching priority of tackling inequalities.

First elected as a councillor in 2021, Jilly lives with her husband, Chris, and their two children in Cheadle.

Not born here but “drawn” here, she saw the light and moved to the borough from Yorkshire almost 20 years ago. Outside of politics, Jilly is a self-employed coach and facilitator, and is a trustee of the local charity, Signpost Stockport for Carers. She loves weight training, heavy metal music, and crochet, when there’s a calm moment.

Speaking after his election as Group Leader, Cllr Roberts said: “It an honour and a privilege to serve my community and I am humbled to be able to build on that. I have been chosen to lead an inspirational bunch of local champions as leader of the Liberal Democrats across Stockport and will make our case to continue the administration of the council moving forward, building on the legacy of Cllr Hunter.

“Stockport is a great place to live, work and play but we have to do more to ensure that positive impact is felt across Stockport in all our communities. I am clear that comes from getting more Liberal Democrats who stand up for their residents elected and showing that when you vote Lib Dem you get local action.

“I couldn’t be happier that in my Deputy Leader I will be supported by my inspirational friend and colleague, Cllr Jilly Julian, who has guided the borough through the catastrophic lack of government funding. She has demonstrated herself to be a rational, safe pair of hands in a political landscape with considerable challenge.”

Having been elected as Group Deputy Leader, Cllr Julian added: “I became politically active a decade ago, because I felt that humanity and common sense had vanished from government. Now, ten years later, we need compassion and reason more than ever at every level of politics. So I’m incredibly proud to have been chosen for this role by the group. I know that Cllr Roberts will be a fantastic Group Leader, and am really happy to be supporting him and working together towards a thriving, fair, and ambitious future for Stockport!

“From housing to healthcare and beyond, we face huge challenges. But ‘do summat’ has become our family motto, and as Deputy Leader, I’m excited and proud to be able to make a difference.”

Cllr Mark Hunter, retiring Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, said: “I am delighted that two such capable colleagues have taken over the mantle of leadership from me. I know the Group is in good hands with them and that they will always put our borough first.

“I look forward to giving them both my full support from the backbenches once I am replaced as Leader of the Council on 20th May.”