Wigan backs joint development plan with eight other Greater Manchester boroughs
The successor to the spatial framework will be known as ‘Places for Everyone’.
Wigan has formally agreed to prepare a new development plan with most Greater Manchester councils following the failure of the spatial framework.
Together with eight other Greater Manchester boroughs, Wigan council will create a long-term vision for housing, jobs and the environment in the region.
It comes after Stockport pulled out of previous plans under the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) at the eleventh hour in December.
The successor to the spatial framework will be known as ‘Places for Everyone’.
Marie Bintley, assistant director for growth and housing, told the cabinet on Thursday (March 18) that the eight councils are creating a joint committee.
She said: “This will build on the work that’s already been done for the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and the substantial evidence base that was prepared for that purpose.”
Like the GMSF, this joint development plan, dubbed the ‘plan of the nine’, will set out where new homes, warehouses and transport links should be built.
The last draft of the document, which faced years of delays after disputes over the loss of green belt land, did not include plans to build homes on a site south of Pennington, along the East Lancs Road, which featured in previous versions.
However, an expansion of industrial land, at Junction 25 of the M6 remained with around 140,000 sqm of ‘high quality’ floorspace proposed in the plan.
The number of homes proposed for land north of Mosley Common was cut from 1,200 to 1,100 in the most recent version of the spatial framework.
And land west of Gibfield near Atherton, was earmarked for 500 homes, down from 700 previously proposed, with commercial space staying the same.
But plans for 600 new homes and 15,000 sq m of industrial space at Pocket Nook also remained, with 75 homes to the west of the proposed HS2 route.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service in January, Wigan council leader David Molyneux said the borough has its own development plan which gives the local planning authority some certainty until 2023 when it expires.
When asked why the council is considering using a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to develop farmland at Pocket Nook in Lowton which the owner refuses to sell, the leader said it an ‘important site’ for development.
He said: “It is an important development site. It’s as simple as that. There are other sites in the borough that will be looked at.
“It’s not something that’s burning a hole in my desk in terms of delivery at this moment in time, but it’s certainly in the long-term plans for the borough.”
Coun Molyneux encouraged residents to explain why they oppose the proposals by engaging in a consultation when the plans are published.
The cabinet agreed to create the joint committee for the ‘Places for Everyone’ plan, nominating Labour councillor Paul Prescott as Wigan’s representative.
Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Coun Prescott said: “I think the best way to achieve the aims that are outlined in the report is to have a plan that clearly shows where new homes and jobs can be created and will assist in reaching our carbon neutral target and that we build on the work already undertaken and that we’ll use the evidence based already amassed and thereby reduce costs and saving time in creating a new document thereby ensuring that Wigan and the other authorities will have an up-to-date development plan.”