In February 2018 the then Leader of Wirral Council, Councillor Phil Davies stated “I am not prepared to allow our Green Belt land to be built on. I am resolute about that commitment. It is the Jewel in Wirral’s Crown and greatly valued by our residents”

In March 2018 the Minister for Housing, Sajid Javid MP, informed Wirral Council that the Government was considering intervening in the Council’s Local Plan. A Local Plan is a Statutory Requirement of all Councils. They set the framework for planning decisions and, when produced properly, protect Boroughs like Wirral from untapped urban sprawl and unwarranted approaches from developers. It is the policy which determines and guides how Wirral can be developed in the coming years.

In July 2018, writing in the Wirral Globe, Councillor Phil Davies stated that “some level of Green Belt release is inevitable”. The following week a “leaked “document showed the extent of Green Belt land being considered for release across Wirral.  Nearly 50 sites are being considered in all areas of the Borough.

The Council has a target of building 12000 new homes by 2035. There is space for 20000 homes on Brownfield sites on the Wirral. Wirral Waters alone already has planning permission for 13000 homes.

There are also 6000 empty properties on the Wirral, it is scandalous that releasing precious Green Belt Land is being considered while these properties lie empty.

Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Combined Authority, Steve Rotheram, has pledged a “Brownfield First” approach to new housing developments across the City Region (which includes Wirral).

We urged Wirral Council and Steve Rotheram to significantly increase their efforts to work with Developers such as Peel Holdings (who own Wirral Waters) and to use all the powers that they have at their disposal to ensure that such Brownfield sites are brought forward for development - this is thankfully, now happening.

We continue to urge Wirral Council and Steve Rotheram to challenge Wirral’s “unrealisitic” housing targets and to work ensure that housing targets for Wirral are realistic, represent Wirral’s housing needs and do not require the release of precious Green Belt Land.

Following the 2019 Council Elections when several Councillors lost their seats, due to Green Belt issues, the Council are now indicating that they will adopt a Brownfield only approach in the Local Plan. The Council voted unanimously to submit a "Brownfield ONLY" Local Plan to the Planning Inspector.

However, the Task is made harder by the fact that the Council are insisting on sticking to the now widely discredited “Target” of 12000 new homes. This is despite all the evidence of numerous experts which indicates that the true target should be significantly lower, nearer 4000. 

Unfortunately, Developers are ready and waiting to convince the Local Plan Inspector that Green Belt Land must be released. They have legal representatives already lined up, to present their evidence at the Local Plan examination hearings, ready to try to destroy the Council’s Brownfield only argument. Indeed, they already argue that the target of 12000 houses should be even higher.  A "Wirral Development Consortium" of local landowners and Developers have submitted plans to the Local Plan Inspector for building 1000s of homes on Green Belt. Indeed Leverhulmes have already submitted planning applications to build 100s of houses on 7 sites in Pensby, Irby, Greasby, Heswall, Barnston and Raby Mere. The Public Inquiry into their planning appeal is commencing in May 2023.

We continue to urge the Council to abandon their completely unrealistic and widely discredited, pre-Brexit, pre-Covid target of 12000 new homes.

Save Wirral’s  Green Belt – Once its Gone, its’ Gone Forever!