Stockport’s housing masterplan has been delayed yet again after the government signalled it could make radical changes to planning rules. Town hall bosses have been working on a Local Plan since the borough decided to pull out of the joint Greater Manchester strategy - now dubbed Places for Everyone - in late 2020.
But a planned public consultation has been pulled for a third time after a recent ministerial statement from Michael Gove indicated housing number targets would become ‘advisory’ and communities would have more control over decision making. The government has announced it plans to consult on a new National Planning Policy Framework prospectus before Christmas - and the council says it must now wait to see what the changes could mean for its emerging plan.
The authority has taken legal advice and says its ‘decision to defer is not one that has been taken lightly’.Council leader Mark Hunter says the Lib Dem group has long argued that the government’s approach to Local Plans was wrong - and ‘their top-down housing targets were just a licence to concrete over the green belt’.
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“In late August, because of so many wildly conflicting statements and proposals being made by Conservative leadership candidates at that time, we decided to pause our consultation on the Local Plan and save £200k, the cost of the consultation in the process” he said in a statement. “It was clear that wholesale changes could be made to the planning rules and we wanted to make sure we did not pre-empt a move by the government which might enable us to protect our green belt.”
Stockport had been developing a Local Plan on the basis of a ‘working figure’ of building 18,000 homes over the next 15 years - albeit the Lib Dem administration argued a plan removing all green belt housing could still be approved by the government. A full council meeting in October agreed an eight-week consultation would begin no later than January 28 next year.
The process had already been delayed by the former Labour administration last November after Mr Gove hinted housing targets could be reduced, while the Lib Dems opted for a pause in September - citing ‘uncertainty’ due to the Tory leadership race.’ Coun Colin MacAlister, cabinet member with responsibility for planning matters, said a revised timetable would soon be issued and that the Lib Dems ‘remain committed to having the right Local Plan for Stockport that does as much as it can to protect our vital green belt’.
Labour councillor David Meller - who previously held the economy and regeneration cabinet post - believes the authority’s next steps will be dictated by how ‘sweeping’ the proposed changes are.
“Until we see that, it’s difficult to know,” he said. “But really, I’m still of the view that we need to engage with the residents - certainly on affordable housing and social housing and the level we need in Stockport.
“I believe we should have it as soon as we can, but we need to see the detail in the NPPF before we see if we can go to consultation in January or it needs to be held back - or can be done in a bit of a ‘light touch’ way.”
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