Wirral’s council leader has warned a recent delay could “put at risk” the local authority’s new housing policy.
The warning was included in a motion put forward by Cllr Janette Williamson, the local authority’s Labour leader. It was voted through unanimously by all councillors.
It relates to a decision to postpone public hearings of the council's draft Local Plan until September in order to consider the appeals of nine decisions to reject 1,000 controversial homes on the greenbelt proposed by the Leverhulme Estate.
READ MORE: New Look's 'incredible' £36 dress that's 'perfect for a spring wedding'
Cllr Williamson will now write to Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities asking for an intervention to reverse this decision.
The council’s draft Local Plan is currently under scrutiny from the Planning Inspectorate, a government agency and will outline plans to build thousands of houses and improve areas up until 2037.
It is one of Wirral Council’s most significant policies passed in recent years and will replace existing policies dating back to 2000 with one of the key proposals putting brownfield developments in Birkenhead and Bromborough before building on the countryside.
Public hearings over the plan are expected to begin on April 18 and run until May 12 before being suspended until September. This is due to appeals made by the Leverhulme Estate over the local authority’s decision to reject the proposed homes.
A public inquiry over the housing plans, as well as a new greenspace, will begin on May 16 and run until early July despite the objections from thousands, including councillors and election candidates from all parties.
Leverhulme previously said the houses will address a shortage in the Wirral and criticised the council’s decision to reject their “comprehensive solution which will deliver in meeting Wirral’s urgent needs now.”
In the motion, council leader Janette Williamson condemned the decision arguing: “This could potentially put at risk all of the hard work to protect the greenbelt on Wirral and will cause unnecessary worry and distress to residents affected in Irby, Pensby, Barnston & Heswall.”
At the meeting, Cllr Williamson said the Local Plan was ambitious and she was shocked and dismayed by the decision to postpone the hearings and that this undermined “a Labour-led local plan.”
She added: "The planning inspectorate's unprecedented decision to hold a public inquiry during a local plan examination now means that has be paused while opening up our greenbelt to risk. This is unacceptable."
However Conservative councillors criticised Wirral’s Labour group arguing delays to the Local Plan had put the greenbelt at risk from developers and pointed to past support for schemes like the controversial Hoylake Golf Resort which included greenbelt development.
Cllr Andrew Hodson said: "While we will support you, we will not forget the shameful actions of the Labour group on this matter."
Cllr Simon Mountney added: “Please do not campaign like it’s yours. It’s not. It's our fight and the Conservatives led the way” while Cllr Mike Collins accused Labour of being a “flip flop party.”
However Deputy Labour leader Jean Robinson hit back saying it was the work of Labour councillors with the current Unitary Development Plan that created the greenbelt protections and “it was the Labour Party that put the plan forward in 2019 and it was the Wirral Labour Party who said it's a brownfield first policy.”
Chair of Wirral’s planning committee Stuart Kelly has also criticised the delay given previous government requests for the council to develop a Local Plan. He said the position on the Leverhulme application was defensible and there was “sufficient evidence of housing supply (within the plan) to not require greenbelt release.”
A separate motion was also voted through at the meeting put forward by Cllr Daisy Kenny calling for a new policy allowing councillors to take parental leave.
Before the meeting, Cllr Kenny said it would “address a bias which shouldn’t exist in any 21st century organisation. The average age of a councillor in this country is around 60 and the rate of female participation in local and national politics is still shamefully low.”
She said it would help the council better reflect the Wirral, adding: 'We must do better to remove obstacles for parents and particularly women, in order to enable more equity of representation in our councils.”
READ NEXT:
Thomas Cashman murder trial resumes as man accused of shooting schoolgirl Olivia Pratt-Korbel
Police update after Mother's Day brawl breaks out in Baltic Triangle
