What’s next for GMSF after consultation closes?

Mayor Andy Burnham

A late surge saw three quarters of all responses to a consultation on Greater Manchester’s 20-year housing and jobs masterplan arrive in the final week.

A rewritten version of the spatial framework – which outlines where homes and businesses will be built to 2037 – was unveiled in January.

An eight-week public consultation closed last month with the combined authority receiving approximately 20,000 replies, around 15,000 in the week before the deadline.

This represents a substantial reduction on the 27,000 a similar exercise attracted in 2016 for a scrapped version of the plans.

The revised draft proposals include 201,000 houses with a quarter rated as affordable.

It halves the amount of green belt earmarked for development after the 2016 version sparked a backlash from campaigners.

This prompted GM mayor Andy Burnham to pledge a ‘radical rewrite’ and the new proposals include a greater focus on developing brownfield land.

Although the net loss of green belt has been halved compared with the 2016 draft – 4 percent rather than 8 percent – a majority of the sites earmarked for development remain, albeit substantially reduced.

However, campaign groups, some of which protested about the previous proposals, have registered their concerns again.

Combined authority bosses say the responses will be analysed ahead of a further draft being published in the summer months and another consultation.

This version would also be subject to approval by the 10 district councils in addition to the GMCA.

The final plan is scheduled to be submitted to central government in early 2020 and could be adopted later that year or in early 2021.

James Illingworth, Local Democracy Reporter