A political row has broken out after local Tories failed in a bid to get the borough council to agree a motion avoiding the use of Green Belt land for development at all cost.
It was rejected by the Labour-controlled council supported by local Lib Dems who accused the Tories on the Council of failing to come up with any serious policy proposals on the Green Belt or affordable housing in their motion to the Council last Monday (June 21).
The motion put by Cllr Critchley said: “This motion proposes that this Council agrees to focus its efforts on addressing the shortage of affordable housing for local residents, through renewed efforts to utilise brownfield sites and a
dedicated focus on the regeneration of our town centre, whilst avoiding the use of greenbelt at all costs. We hope that all councillors will support this motion.”
Cllr Ryan Bate
Cllr Ryan Bate (LD) said, “Liberal Democrats have a strong record on protecting the Green Belt. The Tories cannot have their cake and eat it. They blame the Council for considering Green Belt development while having a national housing methodology which makes it difficult to avoid. Higher densities in the Town Centre may reduce the pressure on Green Belt, but good planning requires more balance. We want to regenerate the town with desirable places to live and social and green infrastructure.
“We need new models to make housing genuinely affordable. Housing classed as ‘affordable’ under government schemes remains incredibly expensive and out of reach to many. It is naive to suggest that brownfield sites will automatically make housing more affordable. Bold and fresh thinking is needed with a far greater investment in social housing stock.”
Cllr Ian Marks (LD) added, “Our Parish Councillors have taken an active role on the South Warrington Parish Councils Working Group which produced reports and a video stressing the need for the Local Plan to prioritise brownfield over Green Belt with genuinely affordable housing for young people and others. Large detached houses just make more money for developers rather than meet community needs.
“It is hypocritical for the Conservatives to put forward this motion when it is their Government that is proposing planning reforms that are undemocratic and ill-thought-out. There is widespread alarm amongst traditional Tory voters about these reforms as was evidenced at Chesham and Amersham. The reforms would remove requirements on affordable homes, take power from local communities and hand it to wealthy property developers instead.”
In response to the Lib Dems comments, Cllr Critchley (Con) said: “The Liberal Democrats had ample opportunity to support a motion that could have sent a clear signal to the Labour administration, that any further destruction of the green belt was not acceptable. Instead, they preferred to play political games.
“The motion on Monday night was about Warrington and the next version of the local plan, it gave clear strategic direction, more affordable housing in the right locations, the use of Brownfield sites to support the regeneration of the town centre and an end to building on the Greenbelt. The Conservative group are mystified as to why the Liberal Democrats did not support the motion.
“The only hypocrites in the council chamber on Monday night were those people who profess to support the Greenbelt but failed to support our motion.”
