Tameside Council's leader has hit back after her comments in response to Tameside Tories about controversial plans to build more than 2,000 homes on green belt land at Godley Green prompted a furious backlash.

At the council's annual budget meeting on Tuesday evening (22 February), there was a war of words between the Labour and Tory groups. 

Turning her anger on the Tameside Tories, a clearly testy Cllr Warrington stated: "Godley Green, I make no mistake, I will be on that first bulldozer and that is a promise. I will be on that bulldozer that actually starts to dig up, ready to build houses on Godley Green. Believe me, it will be rammed down your throat - it really will, it really will, it really will." 

The quote was in response to a stunt pulled by Stalybridge South Tory Councillor Liam Billington at a meeting last July, when he stripped off his shirt to sport a T-Shirt underneath which stated 'Bulldozer Brenda'.

Cllr Billington tweeted afterwards: "This comment was directed in a response to me. What did you mean by 'rammed down your throat' exactly @tmbc_leader? What are you inferring? Your contempt for the electorate will not go unpunished in May." 

The leader's comments caused widespread condemnation, in particular from Conservative councillors and the Save Tameside Greenbelt group which launched a petition against the garden village signed by 4,400 people. 

Under the plans, up to 2,150 homes would be built to the north of Mottram Old Road, as well as ‘local centres’ which would include up to 1,300 sq m of retail, 1,600 sq m of commercial uses and 1,000 sq m of local community uses.

The Reporter asked Cllr Warrington to respond to the protest her remarks had prompted and reveal the reasons for the comments she made at the meeting.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon (23 January), she said: “Of all the issues we discussed at the meeting from the budget to vulnerable people – the opposition choose to shine a light on this, demonstrating their lack of care about a whole range of issues.

“Their creation of Brenda the Bulldozer shows their disrespect for something which deserves serious debate. 

“After four years of personal abuse and harassment on this matter, I aimed my comments at those councillors who have been personally abusive, disrespectful and disingenuous in this debate. Clearly my comments were never directed at anyone else and any attempt by the opposition to suggest this in the case is a further example of their twisting of the facts.

“The real issue at stake here, is the Opposition’s role in creating the problem, but not supporting the solution. We are having to build houses on the greenbelt at Godley Green because of government imposed housing targets. Their government is forcing us to do it, but they are opposing it locally, that is duplicitous and dishonest.

“To meet that target we could throw up lots of high density, low quality homes, and again here government policy would put other parts of the greenbelt at risk. We will not do that, our plan is to grow the existing community into a new village with high quality homes, school places, GP provision, transport and community facilities. Creating jobs for local people and opening up greenspaces for our community.

“Godley Green is the only way to meet the government imposed target. I commit to making it a genuinely sustainable village community.”

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