Two Stockport MPs are campaigning to protect local green belt land from housing developments proposed by the Combined Manchester Authority, and are calling on local residents for support.
Cheadle MP, Mary Robinson and William Wragg, MP for neighbouring Hazel Grove, have raised concerns that their constituencies are in danger of losing a substantial amount of green belt to future housing development if the plans proposed in the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework are given the go ahead.
The plan will determine where housing development can take place across Greater Manchester over the next twenty years, and if agreed will include the release of previously protected green belt land for large scale housing development.
Locally, this would see over 8,000 homes built on green belt in Cheadle, whilst in neighboring Hazel Grove, permission would be given to build a further 4,000 on green belt around the village of High Lane.
Both MPs have launched online petitions and held meetings with concerned residents whose communities would be affected should the plan be approved. Representatives from both Save Heald Green Green Belt and Woodford Neighbourhood Forum spoke to Mary in depth about their concerns over the impact additional homes would have on their communities.
Mary said: “Last week I had sight of the latest plans, and I am shocked and angry that this draft plan proposes over 8,000 houses to be built on precious green belt land in Woodford, Heald Green and Cheadle Hulme. I believe if this scale of development goes ahead, it will not only devastate our countryside, but it will also place unprecedented pressure on our local infrastructure and undermine our local communities.
“I urge local residents to join me in fighting to protect our green belt and instead to call for the development of brownfield sites where communities would benefit from the additional investment from regeneration projects, not the destruction of our natural landscape.”
William added:
“The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework has the potential to threaten large areas of the Greenbelt surrounding my local communities. I am very concerned by this real prospect of thousands of properties being built on previously protected land. There are also significant doubts as to whether local infrastructure of roads and amenities, which already struggle with existing demands, can support such large scale building programmes.
“The fact is we need more housing. However, the areas which should be developed first are those 'brownfield sites'. These are sites that have previously been used for commercial or industrial purposes, but are now vacant. Stockport has many of these sites which have not yet been developed for housing, and across the country it is estimated there is enough brownfield land for to build some 650,000 homes – making significant contribution to the Government’s target of 1million new homes built between 2015 and 2020.”
Save Heald Green Green Belt, a Facebook group with almost 500 followers, has previously campaigned against the proposed development of green belt land which forms part of the Seashell Trust.
Phil Carter of Save Heald Green Green Belt, met with Mary to discuss the group’s concerns over the proposals. He said: “So far, we have focussed on the Seashell Trust’s application for 325 houses. However, the new Spatial Framework suggests it might end up more than double that number. The local infrastructure simply will not support a development of this size and we are grateful to Mary for her support.”
A link to Mary’s e-petition can be found on her website, www.mary-robinson.org.uk as well as details of areas which will be affected by these proposals.
Residents across Hazel Grove constituency are able to sign the petition, which already has over 650 signatures, at the following link - www.williamwragg.org.uk/protect-our-greenbelt