
Stockport Council has paused progress on its Local Plan that will set out the borough’s housing and development strategy through to 2038.
A consultation on the Local Plan was due to start at the end of September, however, in light of national uncertainty over the policies of a new incoming Prime Minister and the economic impact of the cost-of-living crisis, the Council has chosen to delay the start of the 10-week statutory consultation.
In a post on the decision on the Stockport Liberal Democrats website, Stockport Council Leader, Cllr Mark Hunter explained:
“It had been our intention to go out to public consultation in late September on a Local Plan for Stockport. Unfortunately, with a new Prime Minister due to be announced next week followed by the formation of a new government and no clarity about their intentions around planning matters, we have taken the difficult decision that this is not the time to launch such a consultation.
“We are advised that the consultation will cost in the region of £200k and could be rendered void by any changes to planning policy, forcing the council to reconsider the draft Local Plan and potentially have to repeat the exercise on a revised version. The same decision has been taken by other councils across the country and the political spectrum.
“At this time of great financial constraint, we feel the uncertainties are too great for this to be a sensible use of public funds and we are instead pausing this process whilst awaiting clarity from the new government. We will review the process in due course.”
While the consultation will be delayed until greater clarity over the direction of national planning policy, work on Local Plan will continue to progress behind the scenes, according to a statement on the Stockport Council website.
Stockport’s Local Plan is a statutory document prepared by local authorities in England to set out development needs, such as new homes, transport, infrastructure and land suitable for commercial development. The plan will set out where in the borough developers can build the 18,600 new homes needed by 2038 to meet local housing targets – unlike the other nine boroughs of Greater Manchester, Stockport has its own housing target after withdrawing from the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework which would have seen all ten boroughs share a single plan for developments.