Fears for future of green belt

A COUNCILLOR fears planning chiefs will be further hamstrung by new regulations forcing developers to build on green land to meet demand.

Labour councillor Steven Bashforth, who heads Oldham Council planning committee, fears the proposals, aimed at meeting the Greater Manchester demand for 10,000 new homes a year, could reduce councils’ ability to reject applications.

Deputy chairman of the Local Government Association, Tory councillor Sean Anstee, has suggested that decisions about building on green land may have to made if supply can’t match demand.

Councillor Anstee said local councils may have to take a “sensible approach” because green spaces are available. He said planners are looking at all the evidence before the plan is produced in 2017.

Councillor Bashforth said: “The government is pushing to make it easier to build and the public is refusing to accept it. It could take away our means of refusing things. It’s going to make it more difficult.”