Stockport aiming to adopt new local plan by early 2028
The council has provided an update on the creation of its long-awaited boroughwide development framework.
Stockport Council restarted its local plan process last year after pausing plans to update it as a result of national uncertainty about policy direction.
The Lib Dem-led authority said it wanted to wait until the outcome of the consultation on the NPPF before publishing a draft local plan but began to examine the work that will need to be undertaken to comply with emerging policy tweaks.
A draft plan is expected to be ready for consultation by mid-October, according to a council report published this week.
The plan is for the council to submit its local plan for examination by the end of 2026. Failure to meet this deadline could further delay the process.
The hope is that the 15-year local plan will be adopted by winter 2027/28.
While Stockport had previously expressed a desire to produce a brownfield-only local plan, the council seems to have conceded that some Green Belt release will be required to meet housing targets.
The authority is currently in a difficult position with regards to decision-making on applications for homes in the Green Belt; the council cannot prove a five-year housing supply position prompting developers to mobilise to take advantage.
In recent weeks and months, plans for hundreds of homes in Stockport’s Green Belt have been submitted.
Stockport has also had its annual housing target increased by the government from 1,000 to 1,900 – adding to the pressure to release protected land for development.
Stockport’s current quandary has prompted criticism from observers who claim the council should never have pulled out of the joint spatial plan for Greater Manchester in 2020.
Surely the Council realises that by early 2028 all the Green Belt sites that the housebuilders deem developable will have been consented and the Local Plan will be a waste of time as far as protecting the Green Belt is concerned. Farcial
By Anonymous
That’s a long time to be a sitting duck.
It’ll be interesting to watch how many developments on green belt get through between now and 2028.
By Anonymous
Car crash politics and planning
By Anonymous
Stockport pulled out of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework in 2020 and will not have a local plan in place until 2028. What a joke! Car crash politics indeed. Oldham Councillors should take note.
By Anonymous
I live in Stockport. If the Town Hall dares to build in any parks or areas of Natural Beauty without consulting the Residents of the Borough then, there’ll be a fight on His han̈ds. Message is, look at Brown before Green field & re design existing before building new. If You damage the Green Belt, you will get no Council Tax.
By Evie
This is another in a long list of reasons why we need to move away from councillor politics and pass power up to GMCA. Councillors are way too myopic, small-minded, and think only of themselves and not the greater good of the entire region. Give the GM Mayor more power to make these over-arching decisions, leave small-time councillors arguing over bins instead of important things
By Anonymous
Imagine voting for this and then threatening to take revenge on the council by not paying council tax
By Anonymous
Looks like the net-net of Stockport leaving PfE is that they’ll have consented more greenbelt than had they stayed in. The politics of that are absolutely rubbish, but it feels quite a good outcome GM itself. I suspect we’ll find PfE was too cautious in it’s greenbelt release given GM’s economy continues to outpace the UK. Hard to work out whether the Lib Dems will get punished for that in the 2016 election cycle.
By Rich X
What so the government want an extra 900 homes built in Stockport by what ever year and as for parks not many people go to them and other areas that can be built on should be built on but a three year wait wow that’s definitely a long wait to see what actually happens.
By Classified
Typical politics and bureaucracy one wants one thing the other wants different and 2028 is a long time to wait especially since things could change or get cancelled or scrapped altogether.
By Classified Anonymous
What a shambles the current (LibDem) administration at Stockport Town Hall is. By burying their head in the sands and pretending they didn’t have to build on the Green Belt but without having any sort of plan (unlike Wirral, who have actually pulled this off by putting the hard work in), they are losing every appeal on the Green Belt, and will do until at least 2028. Evie (comments) may have some fighting talk, but unless a Council actually has a plan, her words are just meaningless. Some nice bits of open land are going to be built on as a direct result of the politicians failure to confront reality.
By Peter Black
@ Classified (July 03, 2025 at 1:32 pm)
It’s not an extra 900 homes by whatever year – it’s an extra 900 homes every year for the length of the plan (which, assuming it’s 15 years from adoption, would be 2042/3). That [*does basic maths in head*] means around 31000 homes, compared to the something like 15000 they had in the no greenbelt release plan they pulled last sommer.
By Anonymous
All those saying “How long?” – that’s how long it takes to prepare a plan that is robust and based on sound evidence, having regard to the consultation responses they’ll undoubtedly get. The last year of the process, once they submit the plan to the planning inspectorate is largely outside the council’s hands in any case.
By Anonymous
@Evie (July 03, 2025 at 9:55 am)
Fortunately I’m sure they’ll be following the sound process required by national policy and using evidence to determine which land gets released for development. Otherwise it’d be a complete waste of time because once they submit it to the planning inspectorate they’d just be told they had to go back and do it again in accordance with national policy and supported by robust evidence. National policy, amongst other things, requires them to make sure there are enough things like parks and other open space and I’m pretty sure that across most of the borough that isn’t the case currently, let alone when you add in thousands of new households who’s needs also need meeting.
By Anonymous
I live in Stockport too Evie, not that that trumps a rudimentary knowledge of planning law.
It’s nothing to do with ‘the Town Hall’ daring to do anything; there’s not a credible 5 year land supply, so there’s a presumption in favour of development – Stockport Council’s position is ultimately irrelevant in the face of national legislation.
The ‘message’ from Stockport residents at the ballot box was to ignore officer advice and leave Places for Everyone. This is the result.
Wholly agree with anon. regarding the allocation of power and responsibility. 37% turnout in the last local elections, with members making planning decisions with no training or grounding in planning. Even from an anti-development perspective, elected members have caused a real mess. The whole political economy of local gov. needs rethinking.
By Anonymous
Time Stockport Council stopped wasting money by constantly digging up the shopping centre. The only reason they are obsessed with building more houses, is to bring in more council tax
By Anonymous
Given the length of time it takes SMBC to validate and deal with current residential applications there is no way they will meet their own deadlines!
By Anonymous
Are any of the proposed houses including council houses.
By J Knowles
2028!!! Stockport council couldn’t run a bath
By Anonymous
Anonymous 2.23 – yes developing a local plan does take many years, however Stockport have dragged their feet since pulling out of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework in 2020. The reality is that Stockport should already have a plan in place in order to protect unfettered development on the Greenbelt.
By Anonymous
No to using green belt
By Valerie Concar