Labour-led Bury Council should withdraw from the Places for Everyone strategic housing plan immediately. Failure to do so will cost local taxpayers a small fortune and solidify my belief that Labour’s agenda is a deliberate policy choice that wants to concrete over large areas of our precious green belt.
Local Labour politicians have long argued that the projected housing number required for Bury over the next decades is based on a mandatory government formula, i.e., the government is forcing us to do this.
That argument was blown out of the water by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s own King’s Counsel, Christopher Katkowski, at the Planning Inspectorate hearings that are currently ongoing, where he confirmed publicly that the housing numbers provided by the standard methodology have not and have never been mandatory.
The position has not changed following a statement made by the Government on the 6th December. It was reconfirmed that the method for calculating local housing need figures would be an advisory starting point and not mandatory. It further stated, “It will be up to local authorities, working with their communities, to determine how many homes can actually be built, taking into account what should be protected in each area – be that our precious green belt or national parks, the character or an area, or heritage assets.” This approach is fundamentally at odds with how Bury Labour have approached the development of Places for Everyone and will provide the legal basis for producing a separate Local Plan that Bury Council will be required to produce in the future.
Currently, Places for Everyone is being examined by the Planning Inspectorate. However, the government has given areas like Bury two years to revise their plans against the proposed changes and adopt it. There is a short consultation period of 6 weeks, but Bury Council must act now to protect our green belt and reflect the concerns of thousands of our fellow local residents.
However, can we rely on Bury labour to do this? In a recent magazine article, a senior council figure in Bury is quoted as, “It removes the cover we had. At the moment, you’ve got the benefit of saying: ‘if we don’t do it, they [central] government will do it to us anyway.” This policy of smoke and mirrors must stop, and Bury Council must be straight with local taxpayers.
We are left with the bizarre situation where Labour councillors in Elton ward are campaigning to remove the site at Walshaw from the plan, even though they voted for its inclusion at full Council in Bury.
Bury Council need to do the right thing. Withdraw from Places for Everyone and produce a housing masterplan that protects our green belt and does not waste any more taxpayers' money needlessly.
