Whose Plan is it anyway?
Places for Everyone – the apocalyptic 17-year plan that will have an extremely damaging impact on communities across Greater Manchester (both human & wildlife) is still being challenged!
Please click here to download a hard copy of this press release.
As the Greater Manchester Spatial Plan, Places for Everyone, enters its final consultation phase, the Save Greater Manchester’s Green Belt Group (an umbrella body for over 40 community organisations across Greater Manchester), is honing the expertise it has developed since it was founded back in 2016, when 27,000 Greater Manchester residents objected to the release of Green Belt in the spatial plan.
The group, known as SGMGB for short, continues to campaign against the proposed release of Green Belt and is petitioning the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about the Plan. The group believes the Plan will betray future generations by destroying ecologically-rich community assets, which play a huge role in mitigating against climate change, supporting food security and improving health and wellbeing.
Zoe Sherlock, Chair of the Save Greater Manchester’s Green Belt Group said “we are asking the Secretary of State to intervene in the Plan because, among many other issues, over 2,000 hectares of Green Belt will be released on the day the Plan is approved, yet Greater Manchester has sufficient brownfield land supply to exceed the government’s housing target and can to build enough homes to create the equivalent of two new boroughs in Greater Manchester WITHOUT releasing any Green Belt land. And the government has provided GM with over £150million of public money to regenerate those brownfield sites!”
The group is also raising funds so they can commission legal and expert advice and, if necessary, request a Judicial Review of the Plan.
Treasurer, Gordon Tilstone, said “we know the cost-of-living crisis has impacted many people but a small donation would really help us in our fundraising efforts. Supporters can make an online payment directly into our bank account (Save GM GreenBelt 08-92-99, Account Number 65826410), or they can use Paypal (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SaveGMGreenBelt) if they find that easier. We can also arrange for one of our local group leads to collect cash donations”.
The next step in the Places for Everyone Plan process is the Modifications Consultation, which will run from 11th October until 6th December. SGMGB is arranging a public meeting to provide hints and tips for responders. Once the consultation ends, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority will collate the responses on behalf of the Planning Inspectors, who will review each one. The Planning Inspectors’ final report is expected in Spring 2024 and will be sent to each of the 9 participating Councils for approval before adoption.
We will be holding an online public meeting on 24th October at 6:30pm to provide hints and tips for those people who plan to (or are considering) responding to the consultation.
The link to the meeting is here.
The SGMGB petition can be found here (Ask the Secretary of State (DLUHC) to intervene in the PfE Greater Manchester spatial framework. | 38 Degrees).
More information about the Save Greater Manchester’s Green Belt Group (including how to support our fundraising initiative) can be found here (http://savegmgreenbelt.org.uk/triple-challenge-for-sgmgb/).
Information about GM’s Deeper Devolution Deal can be found here (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greater-manchester-combined-authority-trailblazer-deeper-devolution-deal).
