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Ms Flint, on a visit to Equity Housing, in Brinnington last Wednesday.
Ms Flint, on a visit to Equity Housing, in Brinnington last Wednesday.

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Minister: Green belt for council houses


1/10/2008

A GOVERNMENT Minister has told Stockport Council it must build on protected green belt land in order to solve the borough’s housing problems.

Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, said the only way to provide homes for the thousands of people in Stockport on council house waiting lists is to build on the protected land.

With almost half of the borough designated green belt and 9,000 people waiting to be housed, Stockport MP Ann Coffey, is campaigning to free up the undeveloped land.

"We have spoken to the council about the need to build on green belt in Stockport," said Ms Flint, on a visit to Equity Housing, in Brinnington last Wednesday . Lack of suitable family housing is a nationwide problem and local authorities must respond to people’s needs in order to keep communities thriving. Also, the Council need to make people, who are already on housing waiting lists, more aware of affordable schemes like this one in Brinnington. We know that we are a nation of people who aspire to own their own homes. There are probably people in Stockport, who even in times like this, could afford to own their own home but don’t realise it."

Stockport MP Ann Coffey added: "I am not saying that we should get rid of all of our green spaces. But it’s a fact that more than 42 percent of land in Stockport is designated green belt and cannot be built on, while whole families are waiting to be housed."

"We must provide more three and four bedroom properties so that younger families, who want to be in Stockport, can stay in Stockport. To do that, we have to release some of the green belt land."

Councillor Dave Goddard, leader of Stockport Council, said: "We welcome the visit from the minister and the chance to discuss much needed family accommodation for the people of Stockport. Unfortunately, she was unable to tell me how as part of the Government’s drive to build 3 million new homes, that was going to happen without impacting on the use of land.

"Stockport has made great use of its brown field sites and will continue to work with out partners to deliver affordable housing."

He added: "If Ann Coffey MP is so keen to develop green belt for housing perhaps she would inform the Council in which parts of Reddish Vale she wants the development to begin. I will wait with interest for her reply.” 


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Most recent 2 of 9 user comments

   Rick D'alaglio, - exactly! The bonuses come dressed up as positions of authority! Get a Planning Department novice with no qualifications and hey presto! Next minute they’ve got a long winded job title and more money!...it’s a bonus just tarted up. You still end up with the same incompetents, just higher paid ones. The last two published annual monitoring reports do not mention sustainable housing, just concentrating on “regeneration”, the Planning Department do not consider PPS1 supplement on Climate Change as having merit., refusals on private developments are done consistently on the basis of “regeneration benefits”. There is lots of brownfield available, the Planning Department keep quiet about it, they do not want people to build their own homes. it’s all too much work for the Planning Department. Far easier and more lucrative in dealing with big developers, even one from the other side of the planet.! The Council have been misled by the Planning Department, their personal financial gain has ruined many opportunities throughout the borough. Hopefully Stockport will one day be truly Greener and Safer once the imbecilic Planning Department have been exposed for duping not only the Government by receiving dodgy funding but also the people of Stockport for approving plans which are stupid at best, which would turn Stockport into a bigger eyesore.
zarquon, bramhall
7/10/2008 at 13:15
   Zarquon - Bonuses? Planning and Housing Delivery Grant isn't used to pay bonuses its used to fund posts within the planning department which are required to meet statutory responsibilities (for example, in my old authority, Bury, we had a monitoring officer who produced the statutorily required Annual Monitoring Report who's salary was funded by (then) Planning Delivery Grant - my understanding is that it is used similarly in Stockprt). If you think they use it to pay bonuses then I suggest you put in a FoI request to the Council asking that question - I suspect you'll find there wasn't much in the way of bonuses anywhere and that any there were certainly didn't get paid for out of PDG. Eco-Friendly Developments? The Council, like all others, are constrained by what national policy allows them to do and, in my opinion, having been at the forefront previously have begun to slip behind somewhat. However - they do have policies within the UDP (www.stockport.gov.uk/udp) which place sustainable requirements upon all developments and also have an SPD on Sustainable Design and Construction (which was ground-breaking in its time but is now a bit dated). The problem is, and this applies wider than just Stockport, that the easiest way to deliver the necessary housing is to build on greenfield sites - but government policy quite rightly requires that previously developed land be developed first. Stockport is pretty forthright in its approach to that (possibly too much so) but its approach is continuously supported by residents so Councillors would be ill-advised to change their approach without good reason (most recently this has been in the consultation on "Core Strategy Issues and Options" - the outcomes of which are available at http://stockport.limehouse.co.uk/portal/pp/ldfcs/_io_outcomes?pointId=55405#document-55405) Either way, I think we're both agreed that they could do more in terms of eco-friendly development (as you term it) and certainly better in terms of delivering the right sort of housing - but the Government could do an awful lot more to help, not least by clarifying their contradictory planning policy advice relating to Green Belt, open space and to housing delivery.
Rick D'alaglio,
7/10/2008 at 11:47
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