Conservative councilors have urged Salford to follow in Stockport’s footsteps and abandon a joint development plan for Greater Manchester.
Nine of the ten districts in the region have agreed to create a new joint master plan for housing, employment and the environment for the coming decades.
It follows the Stockport Council’s decision to withdraw from the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) at the eleventh hour of December 2020 – a decision a senior Salford councilor described as “lacking common sense”.
Salford City Council has formally agreed to join a committee of the nine remaining local authorities to create the Places For All plan, which will identify where new homes, warehouses and transport links will be built.
However, Conservative Councilor Karen Garrido criticized the decision at a council meeting on Wednesday March 18, saying she was “sad” that Salford did not act “bravely” as Stockport did and withdrew from the joint plan.
Conservative councilor Karen Garrido protests against plans to build houses in Worlsey in 2013
(Picture: shift)
She said: “We should want the best deal – not for Greater Manchester, but for Salford.
“I accept that we are in Greater Manchester – I am not happy about it but we are here. But I think our main point and focus should be on the best offer for Salford that we think this plan is not enough. ” .
“We are perfectly capable and qualified to put together our own development plan. We have done it in the past, we have proven that we can do it in the past.”
Worsley City Council also said the failed GMSF would have meant 28,560 new homes for Salford – 6,000 more than the city needs.
She added, “Where are they going to be built? That is the question. Where are they going to be built when we need to find space for another 6,000 houses.
“I do not trust this development plan and I am sorry to say I do not trust Greater Manchester. We are the only ones who can best decide what is best for this great city of Salford.”
The independent councilor Darren Goulden, elected as part of an anti-spatial campaign in Irlam, agreed with Coun Garrido.
But councilor Derek Antrobus, one of the original architects of the Greater Manchester plan, stated that the reason Salford had more apartments in the previous plan was because of its high-rise apartment capacity.
He said reducing the number of new homes planned in the city would make no difference to the amount of land required to build new family homes.
Deputy Mayor John Merry, who recently took over planning and development responsibilities from retired Coun Antrobus, defended the decision.
He said: “We are here to discuss one particular proposal which I believe is about protecting the people of Greater Manchester.
“Protecting you from developers who can just come along without referring to any framework.
“Protecting the people of this city from people just driving the carriage and horse through all sorts of local plans.
“And I believe that this is the right way to move these issues forward and have an appropriate debate.
“And to make the decisions we are talking about democratically accountable instead of being made by central government.”
The Salford Council Cabinet agreed to join the Development Plans Committee earlier this month, but the Conservatives and an independent council refused to approve the decision at a meeting on Wednesday March 18.
Labor councilors Lewis Nelson and Ronnie Wilson abstained.
