Progress on the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) has stalled as constituent local authorities have withdrawn their support for the plan owing to the question of green belt release. Stockport Council voted before Christmas to withdraw its support for the GMSF owing to the proposal to de-allocate land from the Stockport green belt for housing development. The Association of Greater Manchester Councils has now decided to proceed with a ‘plan of nine’ involving the remaining local authorities. At the time of writing, it is unclear what the new timetable for the revised plan will be. The departure of Stockport from the fold will involve substantial additional work by the Combined Authority relating to the re-distribution of housing requirements and the planning of strategic infrastructure. On the plus side, Stockport was a beneficiary of its involvement in the GMSF as the plan was to divert housing need from Stockport to Manchester City and Salford (who would build lots of flats). Stockport will now be faced with the need to plan for a larger housing requirement on its own – 1,079 homes a year under the New Standard Method compared to a target of 480 homes a year in its current local plan.
The need for the Mayor to secure the unanimous support of the local authorities is a significant obstacle to progress. Separately, HBF has advised Government that the planning powers of the metro-mayors need to be increased in line with those of the Mayor of London to avoid a repetition of this situation.