The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework has the potential to threaten large areas of the Greenbelt surrounding many 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.
Community engagement is vital so that while we can build the homes and infrastructure we need, and to ensure it is done in a way that is sympathetic and sensitive to the wishes of local communities.
To SIGN my petition against the proposal to build 4,000 houses on Greenbelt in the High Lane area simply follow this link: http://williamwraggmp.wixsite.com/protectourgreenbelt
If you have a question about William's stance, or about the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, please email william@williamwragg.org.uk