Tories welcome Green Belt U-turn but warn against delaying Local Plan

LOCAL Tory councillors have welcomed Warrington Council’s Green Belt U-turn but are warning the council not to stall the Local Plan.

Lymm South Cllr Kath Buckley has hit out at Warrington Labour Councillors for yet again stalling the local plan after announcing they were pausing it, blaming the delay on COVID-19 and planning reforms.
While warmly welcomed the Council’s u-turn, which could halt plans to build on the greenbelt she said: “I welcome the Council’s u-turn that 4,000 fewer houses will be built than originally planned. I talk to people each day in my local community here in Lymm and they don’t want to see housing on the greenbelt.”
“More generally I don’t think people in Warrington would standby while beautiful areas of greenbelt all over the town are concreted over and new housing built.
“I’m not suggesting that there isn’t a need for new affordable housing but there is a large brownfield site at the recently closed Fiddler’s Ferry which would provide space for new housing without destroying the greenbelt.”
Culcheth & Glazebury and Croft Parish Councillor Cllr Valerie Allen MBE added: “There are real concerns in Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft about the number of houses that will be built on the greenbelt. The current volume of HGV’s on Warrington Road through Culcheth and Glazebury, and through the village of Croft, makes it unsafe for our children to walk to school, we don’t have the infrastructure to cope with this level of building”.
“There was a proposal to build 75 new homes in Croft and even more elsewhere in Warrington. If that were to happen it would cause irreversible damage to the greenbelt. “
A spokesperson for Warrington Conservatives has suggested that the timing is “politically motivated” and that the Council is trying to bury its ill-conceived local plan in advance of the Council elections in May 2021.