Greater Manchester: Places for Everyone under spotlight after Bury site move

Places for Everyone, the successor of the ill-fated spatial framework which Stockport pulled out of in late 2020, sets out a vision for the next 15 years.

Around 90 per cent of the 164,880 net additional homes envisaged in the plan will be built in existing urban areas, most of which is classed as brownfield land.

Controversial plans at Elton Reservoir and Simister and Bowlee have remained – but in September the council proposed withdrawing plans for 1,250 homes in Walshaw, saying it would build more housing on urban brownfield sites instead.

Critics of the masterplan say it is the equivalent of creating two new boroughs.

They disagree with the data used to calculate the number of new homes needed in the city-region, claiming the estimates are "massively excessive".

Despite the amount of development proposed being dramatically scaled back, they maintain that no green belt land needs to be released to build new homes.

And they claim that implementing the policies in the plan would see Greater Manchester blow its carbon budget by exceeding its fair share of emissions.

Hundreds of campaigners will have the opportunity to make their case over the next few months as the plan is examined by in an independent inspection.

Public hearings begin today, Tuesday, lasting until the end of March.

The final stage of public consultation, which took place last year before the masterplan was submitted to the government, elicited 15,868 comments.

Greater Manchester wants 30,000 to be "zero-carbon" homes for social rent and for all new development to be of that standard from 2028 onwards.

But critics say this is not enough to counteract the impact on the environment.

Of the 38 sites earmarked for development in Places for Everyone, 34 are on protected green belt land while others have green fields but are not protected.

Under the plan, some sites would gain new protections, limiting the net green belt reduction across Greater Manchester to around 3.3 per cent – 1,754 ha in total.

But campaigners have criticised the way sites have been selected and claim that there is no need for any green belt land to be released for new housing.

Based on the 2011 census average household size of 2.38 people per home, campaigner Marj Powner says, this means the 164,880 new homes planned would house 392,000 people – more than double the population of the borough of Bury in 2021.

Despite this "exponential" population increase, no land has been allocated for new hospitals with "insufficient" provision of schools, doctors and dentists.

Campaigners claim that, without any growth, Greater Manchester would have an additional population of 158,000 people, requiring just 69,000 new homes.

But even with these "overstated" estimates, the Places for Everyone document itself recognises that there is no need to release any green belt, critics claim.

According to the document, the estimated amount of land available for development would be enough to accommodate 190,752 homes by 2037.

Removing the 20,367 homes earmarked on the mostly green belt allocations in the plan, still leaves enough land for more than 170,000 homes to be built.

Campaigners also claim that this scale of development would lead to Greater Manchester blowing its carbon budget – the science-based calculation of its fair share of emissions – which it is already on track to do within two years.

But the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) says the carbon emissions that would be created from the proposal have been considered.

In a statement, deputy mayor Paul Dennett, who is the GMCA’s lead for Places for Everyone, said: “Throughout every stage of this process, teams across our local councils and at the GMCA have worked hard to ensure that we could put forward a plan that delivers the best results for our communities, our economy, and our environment, without compromising in any of those areas.

“This included considering how the plan can reflect local climate emergency declarations and support Greater Manchester’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2038.

“The plan we’ve developed identifies our most important natural assets and opportunities to protect and enhance them for the benefit of all, while improving access to green spaces and maximising development in urban areas.

“Our green spaces are some of the defining features of our city-region, and they also have a fundamental role to play in offering environmental solutions to questions of managing flood risk and supporting the recovery of natural habitats and local wildlife.

“Green belt development in this plan has been reduced by 60 per cent compared to the previous plan, and 90 per cent of the new homes that will be built will be located in urban areas across our towns and cities.

“We have a responsibility to address the urgent crisis of housing and homelessness facing our city-region and the country as a whole, and are committed to delivering 50,000 affordable homes throughout the period of the plan.

“We also have to ensure that this development does not run counter to our decarbonisation ambitions, and that we avoid a situation where new homes being delivered now need costly retrofitting later down the line.

“By 2028 all new homes built in our city-region will be net zero carbon, and we’ve also reiterated a commitment to build 30,000 net zero carbon homes for social rent, providing affordable and environmentally responsible housing for our residents.

“Our focus is squarely on creating the conditions for growth that is both environmentally and economically sustainable, and which puts Greater Manchester on the best possible footing to face the challenges of the future.

“However, it remains the case that we need our ambition to be matched by the government in Westminster.

“That means more control over the kinds of skills and training we need in retrofitting and green energy development, and funding to address viability challenges so we can continue delivering on our brownfield preference approach and build the types and tenures of homes that our communities so desperately need.”

William Fieldhouse, Louise Gibbons and Steven Lee have been appointed by the secretary of state to hold an independent examination of the masterplan.

Almost 200 requests have been made to participate in the public examination hearings and around 25 participants have been invited to attend each session.

The public hearings are expected to run until Thursday March 30, 2023.