Council forced to pause Local Plan consultation
Following the announcement by the Deputy Prime Minister of a new approach to planning and Local Plan-making, accompanied by the imposition of compulsory, nationally set housebuilding targets, Stockport Council have been forced to pause the consultation on their draft Local Plan which had been scheduled for this September and October.
Cllr Mark Roberts, Cabinet Member with responsibility for delivering the Local Plan, said: “We are of course frustrated that we have had to pause the consultation on our draft Local Plan. We knew that a new Labour government was likely to mean changes to planning and housebuilding would be coming down the track, but we faced a deadline of June 2025 to have submitted a Local Plan for inspection by the Planning Inspectorate and therefore had to press on immediately after the General Election.
“The plan we had ready was a Local Plan for Stockport that would have delivered the right homes in the right places and the right planning policies to protect our environment and the local character of our borough whilst delivering sustainable growth. It took account of local residents’ concerns about developing on our precious Green Belt, damaging our local environment and the very things that makes Stockport such a lovely place to live. Seven of the nine other authorities in Greater Manchester who continued with the GM Spatial Framework/Places for Everyone face a similar increase in housing targets despite claims made by Labour locally.
“It is now clear that, both locally and nationally, Labour doesn’t care about these concerns or the impact the colossal increase in mandatory housing targets will have.
“Nationally, Labour are saying “we know what’s best for you”, whilst locally they are saying “don’t build in our back yard”, creating nonsensical scare stories about filling the town centre with skyscrapers. It is really disappointing to see their local leadership turning their backs on the collaborative, cross party approach to the much-needed regeneration and investment in our town and district centres and which brought a Mayoral Development Corporation to Stockport.”
Councillor Mark Hunter, Leader of the Council and of the Lib Dems at Stockport Town Hall added: “We absolutely accept the urgent need for the right mix of homes, including affordable and social housing, but there is no easy solution to this. Labour seem to be making the same mistake as their Conservative predecessors in giving the power and profits to developers ahead of allowing local people to shape the place we live in. Their plans to ignore residents’ wishes and concrete over the green spaces that they hold dear was not mentioned in any of the leaflets they delivered across the borough in the recent local or national elections.
“We will continue to work towards delivering a Local Plan which protects the character of the borough and which delivers the right homes in the right places, taking a ‘brownfield first’ approach, using previously developed land, but it seems clear the Government will force us to build on the Green Belt to meet their centrally-imposed housing target. I firmly believe that central government targets, however well intended, should never trump local decision making.”