Mayoral candidate joins Godley greenbelt row

Greater Manchester Mayoral candidate for the Conservatives, Laura Evans, has thrown her weight behind calls to save greenbelt land in Godley.

Her plea comes as consultations and proposals continue for the creation of a ‘green village’ on the outskirts of Hyde, which would see the building of more than 2,300 homes.

But there has been a growing groundswell of opinion against the plans, with a petition calling for the proposal to be scrapped already having gathered nearly 4,000 signatures.

Filming a promotional video in Godley Green posted at Easter, Laura stated: “The idea that we’re going to build on our greenbelt is absolutely ridiculous.

“We’ve seen so much traffic here - and it’s horses and people walking - it’s beautiful,” stated the candidate.

“This kind of area is absolutely essential and more so than ever post-Covid.”

She added she was determined to make sure greenbelt areas like Godley Green are saved all around Greater Manchester.

“We must look at regenerating our high streets and town centres,” she said.

“This is an opportunity to do that.”

She was joined by prospective Conservative Party Candidate for Hyde Godley in the local elections Andrea Colbourne, who is also opposing the plans for the garden village.

We recently reported how she had written to Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds, claiming he was letting thousands of his constituents down by supporting the plans for building on the greenbelt.

The MP has supported plans for building in the area since the publication of the controversial Greater Manchester Spatial Framework - now rewritten and replaced by the ‘Places for Everyone’ plans.

However, in his response to her letter, he explains why he still supports the proposal for a ‘green village’ - blaming in part Government housing policy whilst also pointing out that such ‘garden villages’ are in fact supported by the Conservative government anyway.

In his letter he states: “It is the policies of the Conservative Government which set the framework under which this proposal will be considered. 

“This means it is the Government who decide how many new houses it expects local areas to provide and local councils are then obliged to allocate sufficient sites in their local plans to meet this... Brownfield sites are central to the plans that have been drawn up for Tameside with a particular focus on town centre development which I strongly support. 

“We have seen substantial brownfield development in Hyde over the last decade and I am pleased to see many  ex-industrial sites in the town be developed into homes for local people... In addition we still have some former employment sites such as ABC Wax in Hyde that are clearly identified as having potential for housing development.”

The Godley Green site in Hyde 

However, he states there are insufficient brownfield sites to meet housing need over the next 20 years across Greater Manchester.

He continues: “I believe that in order to meet the Government’s national housing targets the council is right to try something very different... whilst building completely new towns would not be realistic today I do think the principles of these developments could be applied on a smaller scale with the creation of new villages in existing areas. This is what the proposal for GGGV is based on.., garden villages are a key Government policy to meet our national housing targets. 

“The Housing Minister has previously described garden village projects as having the potential to create ‘vibrant communities where everyone, including neighbouring communities can benefit from new infrastructure - leaving a legacy for future generations to be proud of'." 

Tameside Council has spearheaded the proposal and has held a series of public consultations to gain reaction in recent weeks.

It has also asked for feedback - the deadline for this to be taken into consideration having closed on Tuesday.

You can find out more about the plans at https://www.godleygreen.com/ 

The group ‘Save Tameside Greenbelt’ is actively campaigning against the plans with a petition which you can find at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-greenbelt-in-hyde-godley-green 

More than 3,800 have signed it so far.

• Candidates standing for the GM Mayor election on May 6 named to date are: Present incumbent Andy Burnham (Labour); Laura Evans (Conservative); Simon Lepori (Liberal Democrats); Melanie Horrocks (Green Party); Nick Buckley (Reform UK); Stephen Morris (English Democrats); Michael Elston (Independent); Michael Bond (Independent).

The last day for candidates to be named to take part in the election is today (Thursday).

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