‘Our green belt is not safe in mayor’s hands’
THE green belt is ‘not safe in Andy Burnham’s hands,’ a Salford Conservative councillor has said, after plans for the future of the region included 300 homes east of Boothstown.
The homes will be developed on land between the canal and Leigh Road, near RHS Bridgewater.
They were announced as part of the refreshed ‘spatial framework’ that was unveiled by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham on Monday.
But Coun Robin Garrido, who represents nearby Boothstown and Ellenbrook said he opposed the plans - and that many of the city’s Conservative councillors feel the same.
“We’ll be opposing this development as we oppose development on any green belt land,” he said.
“We don’t believe we should have erosion of any more greenbelt area,” he said, adding that local residents feel ‘let down’ by Mr Burnham’s plans. “The green belt is not safe in his hands,” he said.
The Greater Manchester mayor ripped up the previous spatial framework after protests about development on protected land.
The new vision halves the amount of green belt proposed for development across the city-region, with more green spaces across Greater Manchester gaining new protections - such as nearby Worsley Green. Community groups in Irlam have also objected to plans to build 1,600 homes on greenbelt north of Irlam Station. The 300 homes between the existing community of Boothstown and RHS Bridgewater are some of the only ones under the plans ‘primarily targeting the top end of the housing market,’ although documents say that the project will provide an affordable housing scheme equivalent to at least 50pc of the dwellings on the site, ‘with some of this directed towards off-site provision.’
But Coun Garrido said he feared the impact of these plans on the local area.
“We all know [the developers] Peel,” he said. “We’ll have four-bedroom houses with at least two cars each. Over 600 cars on a daily basis. Untenable,” he said.
“We suffer from horrific congestion every day.
“There’s already a severe shortage of places at local schools, and local doctor surgery lists are full. They can’t take any more patients”.
Mr Burnham said on Monday that the revised framework starts from the ‘right place’ and urged people to ‘get behind it’ - ‘if you like the package as a whole.’