Pennycook tells Stockport to get a move on with local plan
The council has been called out by the housing minister for a lack of progress on updating the borough’s spatial strategy.
Using his intervention powers, Matthew Pennycook has ordered Stockport Council to complete initial consultation on an updated local plan by Christmas Eve and submit it to the government for examination no later than 30 November 2026.
These dates, set out in a letter sent to the local authority’s Leader Cllr Mark Roberts, align with the council’s most recent local plan timeline, as reported by Place North West in July.
The letter admonished Stockport for a lack of progress on its local plan since a Lid Dem and Conservative rebellion forced the Labour-run council of 2020 to withdraw from the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework – the joint planning strategy for the city region – amid concerns about Green Belt release.
“Since 2020, the council has not progressed to a formal consultation on a new plan,” Pennycook wrote. “In the same period, the rest of Greater Manchester has adopted a joint local plan which sets out strategic policies, giving those councils the ability to plan effectively for their areas.”
Stockport Council only restarted its local plan process last year after pausing the update as a result of national uncertainty about policy direction.
A council spokesperson said: “It is not the case that Stockport has failed to make progress on its local plan. We remain fully committed to progressing a new plan for the borough. A draft was ready for consultation in spring 2024, but national events outside our control meant this could not proceed. Work is now well underway to deliver the revised timetable we set out in July 2025 at the meeting of our development plan working party.
“Stockport was ready to proceed to consultation on a regulation 18 draft local plan in Spring 2024, this could not proceed because of the General Election taking place in July 2024. We were ready to consult once more after the general election, but the National Planning Policy Framework was called in again, as had happened in the previous year, for review.”
The spokesperson added: “The revised National Planning Policy Framework was then published on 12 December 2024. We moved quickly to assess what changes were needed to the Regulation 18 draft to ensure compliance. Planning Practice Guidance on undertaking Green Belt assessments was published on 27 February 2025, at which point work on the Green Belt Assessment commenced.
“The delay in publication of this guidance, and the consequential impact on the Green Belt Assessment, meant we were not in a position to consult on the Regulation 18 draft in line with the LDS at that stage. The Development Plan Working Party was updated in July with a revised timetable to reflect this.”
While by no means a tongue lashing, Pennycook’s letter adds that Stockport’s sluggishness with regards to a new local plan is undermining the government’s housing mission.
“This government was elected on a manifesto that included a clear commitment to build 1.5m new homes in this Parliament, and all areas are required to play their part,” the letter states.
“In order to deliver the homes and growth the country needs, we expect all local planning authorities to make every effort to get up-to-date local plans in place as soon as possible.”
Pennycook added that not having an up to “piecemeal and speculative development”.
This has come to pass in some areas of Stockport, which have seen a wave of housing applications on the borough’s Green Belt from developers seeking to take advantage of the vacuum created by an out-of-date local plan and the council’s inability to prove a five-year housing supply.
