Plea to “prioritise building on brownfield sites” rejected by Labour

Milnrow and Newhey 'Save our Greenbelt' campaigners

Councillor Jane Howard, Conservative member for Bamford, called on Labour Council Leader Richard Farnell to commit to protect greenbelt land in the borough and prioritise building on brownfield sites at the Budget Fixing Council on Wednesday (1 March), but her motion was rejected.

Referring to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) plans, she called on Council Leader Richard Farnell to commit to protect greenbelt land with the following motion: “That this Council takes on board the concerns of local communities regarding the draft Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and the identification of green belt land across the Borough for future development. This Council further requests that the Leader of the Council gives his commitment to protecting green belt land and raises the Council’s concerns with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority as a priority.

“Mr Mayor, before I begin, I think I already know the controlling group’s response to our motion ‘This is a consultation, nothing has been decided yet.’ People throughout the borough have heard this, but they are still mistrustful of the process. ‘It’s a done deal’, they say and they believe that the threat to the green belt is too great a risk to wait until the consultation is over.

“They want their representatives on Council to debate this issue in public and in front of the media. And if it’s not a done deal, then let’s do just that now. Lesser issues have been put before us and have been discussed at length so let’s take this opportunity to discuss this very important, and indeed, controversial issue of possibly losing our precious green belt.

“It seems the allocation of housing across Greater Manchester has been carried out in an arbitrary manner: on closer inspection of the plans, some of the sites omitted to reference housing already there, or ownership of the land, for example.

“Residents have not been involved and feel strongly that the plan as currently drafted is unfair and disproportionate. Our local group in Bamford felt so aggrieved they worked hard to fund a barrister to help prepare a counter report to respond to the consultation, setting out very clearly why it simply would not work.

“I know similar groups are working hard in Newhey and Milnrow, and indeed across the whole of Greater Manchester. Local people need to be in the driving seat of determining the future shape of their communities and I think we would all agree that. With the GMSF, they feel they have been driven roughshod over and need assurances that this Council is on their side.

“We all accept that there is a housing shortage, but whether the statistics given to support this actually stack up is debatable. Given that the spatial framework document was written prior to the Brexit decision for example, isn’t it likely that the numbers of people coming and settling in the Greater Manchester area will be impacted and be fewer than projected?

“On top of this, what I don’t accept is that we must lose our precious green spaces, the ‘green lungs’ of Rochdale to counter that housing shortage. It will diminish the quality of life in many communities and restrict our residents access to good air and green spaces. People choose to live and work here purely for that very reason: by destroying the green belt for good, the very thing that makes Rochdale so attractive to potential residents will be lost. And when I say green belt, let me make it clear that I am referring to the existing sites designated as such within the borough of Rochdale, and from which we all benefit.

“It seems the housing minister Gavin Barwell agrees with me, only two days ago, reiterating the Government’s commitment to the Green Belt, which should only be removed in ‘exceptional circumstances’. Surely our first port of call here in Rochdale must be to brownfield sites to support the regeneration of our town, economic growth and limit the pressure on the countryside.

“As a product of the industrial revolution, we have plenty of derelict buildings and eyesore sites prime for redevelopment. With a suitable package of measures and supportive planning permission, these could provide the homes our residents want and need. Rochdale has already received £10,000 to be part of the Government pilot to set up brownfield registers to speed up the process and make it much more attractive to house builders with ‘permission in principle’ being granted to land identified on these registers. The National Planning Policy framework now puts greater weight on the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements for homes.

“There’s also all the surplus Council land and assets, of which I understand, from the various reports I see, we are not short of, densification of existing urban residential areas and consideration of whether our neighbouring authorities can help support our housing need.

“Indeed, what about the thousands of empty homes we have across the borough. By applying stronger enforcement on absentee landlords, we can bring these back into use, filling a huge gap and tidying up the street scene at the same time. I’m sure neighbouring residents would be very thankful for that.

“I strongly believe that we need to send a clear signal to all our borough residents that we are listening to their views and will do everything we can to protect our irreplaceable Green Belt.”

Her speech was met with a massive round of applause from the public gallery, and her motion was seconded by Councillor Michael Holly, Conservative member for Norden.

In response, Councillor Farnell said: “The spatial strategy is only a draft copy, no decision has been made. Nothing has been decided, nothing is set in stone. We have just completed the biggest ever consultation. 20k residents across Greater Manchester submitted comments. They will all be carefully considered and the plans will change as a result.

“It is important we listen clearly to what our residents have to say. As a council, we have to consider the interests of the whole borough too.

“We must listen to those whose voice is often not heard, the disabled, who urgently need specialist care housing accommodation, the homeless, desperate for somewhere to live, young people unable to get on the property ladder because the housing shortage pushes up house prices, thousands of people unemployed and in need of a job; there are hundreds of young people in our area who have never had a job.

For decades, the Rochdale economy has stagnated and in fact reduced. We are the only borough in Greater Manchester with a falling population. We have to break that cycle.

“The spatial strategy sets out how Greater Manchester is to grow and prosper over the next 20 years. Over the past 20, there’s been phenomenal growth throughout Greater Manchester, but it’s not been Rochdale or Oldham or Bury. It’s been in Manchester city centre, the airport, Stockport, Trafford. We’ve missed out and we have an opportunity to put that right.

“We need to plan to find the space. This Greater Manchester plan is said to be a once in a generation opportunity. For Rochdale, and I do not exaggerate, this is an opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity to reverse decades of decline, bring and create the Northern Gateway.

“It will provide 19,000 new jobs in the next 20 years. We need spaces to build 700 homes a year, every year for the next 20 years, that is 15,000 new homes. The hard fact is, we cannot provide for the jobs we need in the future with the brownfield area.

“70 percent of all new homes will be built on brownfield sites in the borough, but that won’t be enough.”

He concluded: “In 20 years’ time, probably when I’m dead and buried, over 60 percent of Rochdale will still be on green and pleasant land.”

Councillor Linda Robinson, Labour member for Hopwood Hall, backed her party leader, she said: “Eventually, the brownfield sites will run out, and I know for a fact where I live there have been properties built on the greenbelt land in the past.

“They have protested before that, and about that, and now they’re protesting about these ones, and as far as I’m concerned, shame on you.”

Councillor Pat Sullivan, Conservative member for Bamford, said: “We don’t know what will happen, we always seem to get it wrong. Young people can’t afford to get houses, that’s what needs changing.

“We do want to see Rochdale move on. We can’t talk about making people healthy and well and cover huge amounts of the greenbelt, and it is huge amounts. I don’t know who drew the line, but they certainly went mad in Bamford.

“I understand people want houses, there’s plenty in Rochdale. Please don’t even think about building on the greenbelt.”

Councillor Peter Winkler, Conservative member for Norden, said: “The leader talks about phased developments over a period being brought in. He also talks about not being here in 20 years’ time to see the [developments]. I will be here, I hope, my children will be here to see that.

“They will need a job and somewhere to live. I hope my children can afford a house with five-bedrooms in excess of a quarter of million pounds that they’re proposing to build in Bamford, I really hope they can.

“These houses are not being built for the people of Rochdale, they are being built for the people of Greater Manchester who want to live here. This is not serving the needs that Rochdale people need.

“We are being told this in protests, marches on the street, emails, we want no fancy green belt houses. They want reasonable three-bed homes.

“What they don’t need, Councillor Farnell, is a legacy of congestion, oversubscribed doctors, oversubscribed schools, infrastructure that can’t cope, a nightmare for their future.

“It is a misconceived plan; building on the greenbelt is not in the best interests of this borough and the people have spoken on that. We urge you to listen to them, 20,000 people will have told you so.”

Councillor Irene Davidson, Liberal Democrat member for Milnrow and Newhey, said: “We understand Councillor Farnell has a lot of pressure on his shoulders, he’s only one man of ten. We have to trust our leader will take our point over to AGMA. The problem we’ve got that, is our identity - Rochdale, Heywood, Middleton, Pennines and Milnrow and Newhey - is going to disappear, and it’s going to disappear because there will be no green spaces between our towns. That’s what the greenbelt is about.

“It needs to be open and open to members of the public. We have to find some way of protecting some of our greenbelt, and we have to make sure our brownfield sites is used before we even think about greenfield.”

Councillor Holly added: “Once that greenbelt has gone, it can’t be replaced. Greenbelt and brownfield sites should be looked at separately. This is driven by economics at the end of the day. Once the land is gone, it’s gone forever. The greenbelt is important for quality of life.”

The motion was defeated by the majority vote of Labour councillors because, as Councillor Farnell explained: "Labour's priority is to build on brownfield first but we recognise we will have to build on some greenbelt to build the homes and jobs Rochdale needs in the next 20 years."