Dear Supporters,
Have you registered for your (free) tickets for the Council's formal Local Plan / Green Belt review meetings?
You can register on the Council website by following the link below.
The Council website also allows you to submit initial comments.
We would suggest comments could be submitted on the following issues. (feel free to edit or add your own):
a) the Councils delay in producing a Local Plan has meant there is now a rush to satisfy unrealistic targets and to release Green Belt unnecessarily.
b) the Council should be challenging the unrealistic targets. The target figures stem from the Councils own inflated population and economic growth projections
c) the Council should be compelling Developers to build on Brownfield sites using powers such as Compulsory Purchase Orders.
d)there are more than enough Brownfield sites to meet the targets without releasing Green Belt. (especially if the targets are reduced to a more realistic level)
e)the Council should be compelling Peel Holdings to build the 13500 homes at Wirral Waters for which it has planning permission since 2012, using Compulsory Purchase Orders if necessary - as per the new National Planning Policy Framework sect 119:" Local planning authorities, and other plan-making bodies, should take a proactive role in identifying and helping to bring forward land that may be suitable for meeting development needs, including suitable sites on brownfield registers or held in public ownership, using the full range of powers available to them. This should include identifying opportunities to facilitate land assembly, supported where necessary by compulsory purchase powers, where this can help to bring more land forward for meeting development needs and/or secure better development outcomes."
f) Wirral Waters has Housing Zone Status which means that it is eligible for £millions of government grants.
g) why are the Council prepared to borrow £26 million ( at a reduced rate) to lend to a Developer to build luxury houses for a Golf Resort on Green Belt in Hoylake, but will not borrow money to develop housing on Brownfield sites? Why are the Council prepared to spend £17million on roads for the Golf Resort yet they say they have no money to purchase or redevelop Brownfield sites?
h) we need affordable housing not executive housing on green belt
i) Rather than using all their power and resources to develop offices and retail in Birkenhead they should be building homes and communities in deprived areas.
j) the Council should be following a "Brownfield first" policy and should not release any Green belt land until all the Brownfield has been exhausted and the 6000 empty properties on the Wirral have been brought back in to use.
k) The Council have recently appointed a new Corporate Director for Housing and Economic Growth whose wife is the Development and Planning Manager for the Peel Group - is this not a "Conflict of Interest" and how can we be sure that the new Corporate Director is representing the Council's interests when undertaking negotiations with the Peel Group about housing plans for Wirral Waters?
j) New studies show that 78% of houses built on Green Belt are not affordable. Developers used Legal Loopholes (viability assessments) to avoid building affordable homes on premium Green Belt sites.We need affordable homes not executive homes.
Please ensure you register for the tickets as soon as possible and send in your comments. We need to ensure that the Council know that the people of Wirral will not tolerate Green Belt Development when there are sufficient Brownfield sites available.
Save the Green Belt, Once its gone, its gone forever!
Thank you for your support.