Stockport local plan to progress after delay 

An eight-week consultation on an overarching strategy aimed at guiding the delivery of homes in the borough over the next 15 years will begin on 23 January. 

As well as the local plan webpage, a drop-in event will be held in each of Stockport’s committee areas. 

The aim of the consultation is to educate the public about the local plan and provide an opportunity for residents to feed back their thoughts on the strategy, according to Stockport Council. 

Stockport postponed a public consultation on its draft local plan earlier this year “in the face of turbulence at a national government level”.   

The consultation had been due to begin at the end of September and run for 10 weeks. 

Speaking at the time, leader Cllr Mark Hunter said the council was concerned that the £200,000 public consultation “could be rendered void by any changes to planning policy”.   

Once adopted, Stockport Council’s local plan will set out where will be built between 2023 and 2038 can be built.  

The pressure on Stockport to adopt a fresh local plan was ratcheted up when the authority pulled out of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework – the joint plan for all 10 GM boroughs now known as Places for Everyone – in 2020 due to concerns about Green Belt release.  

The council has warned that the failure to form a local plan would put the council under “significant pressure to allow the development of greenfield sites in sub-optimal locations and the potential situation of ‘planning by appeal’”. 

At present, Stockport’s housing delivery target is around 18,600 during the plan period. 

However, potential amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill could see housing targets scrapped, taking the pressure off the council somewhat. 

This could be good news for Stockport’s leader who has previously spoken of his unwillingness to release land from the Green Belt for redevelopment.