NEWS: Fears for Green Belt in Wirral

GB land release

Conservatives in Wirral are warning against giving Labour a blank cheque to concrete over the Borough's Green Belt. 

In a briefing to The Sunday Times, Labour have announced that from ‘day one’ they would begin an all-out assault on the Green Belt. 
 
Today the Conservatives have released new analysis which shows the area most at risk from Labour’s plans to concrete over the green belt. 

In Wirral, 17,322 acres of land are currently protected from development. It was hoped the Council's Local Plan would maintain that commitment.
  
However, Labour has pledged to publish a draft national planning policy framework; this would likely involve imposing ‘top down’ targets to ensure that councils are required to build a certain number of homes, irrespective of local support for them. Labour’s briefing also confirmed they would ‘review the green belt’. 

Five years ago, Wirral's Labour-run Council met in secret to agree which parts of the Borough's Green Belt should be built on. This led to a furious response from the public and campaigners - eventually costing Labour their majority.

Sarah Payne, Conservative Candidate for Birkenhead and Bebington, said:

It's only five years since Labour in Wirral wanted to build on the Borough's Green Belt. And it's only since they lost control of the Council that we have seen progress to adopt a long awaited, legally required Local Plan.

I'm worried that if Labour wins by a landslide on Thursday, Wirral Council will be told to rip it up and start again, and allow building on land in Bebington and elsewhere.

The Conservatives have delivered 2.5 million homes since 2010 and are committed to building another 1.6 million over the next Parliament. These homes will be built in the right places, unlocking brownfield sites instead of Green Belt.  

Robbie Lammas, candidate for Wallasey, added:

"As we get closer to Thursday, attention is turning to happen what happens from Friday, if Labour wins by a landslide.

"There are acres around Saughall Massie which could be the first to be lost under Labour's plans. Three developers even objected to the Council's draft Local Plan as they sought to build more than 1,000 houses on the land around the village.

“If Labour are given a blank cheque, Keir Starmer has made clear his assault on the Green Belt will happen within days of their election – stripping local people in Wirral their say over where houses are built in our area."

 

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