‘Villages’ fight goes on say group

CAMPAIGNERS continue to oppose the creation of two new ‘garden villages’ in Tameside under the borough’s revised 20-year plan for homes and jobs despite welcoming the reduction in the loss of the green belt.

Under bosses’ new strategic allocation, around 2,790 homes and 175,000 sqm of employment space would be built on land designated as green belt.

Members of a local protest group, Save Tameside Green Belt, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they were still ‘deeply concerned’ about the controversial garden villages.

Under the new draft, there would be less building on green belt land - a 50pc reduction across the region.

A slice of green belt that had been under threat in 2016, Sidebottom Fold in Stalybridge, has been removed from the framework, scrapping plans for 650 homes on the site.

However the Godley Green garden village proposal, which has been backed by MP Jonathan Reynolds, remains unaltered with 2,350 dwellings.

Charlotte Castro, speaking on behalf of the group that campaigned against the Tameside allocations in the 2016 draft plan, said: “Whilst Save Tameside wholeheartedly welcomes the removal of some green belt allocations in the new GMSF 2019 consultation and the new allocation of additional areas as designated green belt, we are deeply concerned about the two proposed garden villages to be positioned within Hyde on large areas of protected green belt.

“Infrastructure should be in place for schools, doctors and alleviation of traffic”.