Where can I see the plans in detail?

The plans are currently available on Stockport Council’s website, under the minutes of the scrutiny meeting where it was first published. 

Download the local plan here.

Download the housing allocation outlines here.

What can I do about it?

First of all, the plans are expected to go out to formal consultation between 6 November and 21 December 2025. Your responses will help the Council to adjust the local plan – but bear in mind that there are legal guidelines about what Stockport Council can do.

You can also sign the Liberal Democrats’ petition, at www.lisasmart.org.uk/campaigns/save-our-green-belt

The Liberal Democrats worked incredibly hard to put together a Local Plan in 2024 which had no houses on these “grey belt” sites. While the Council has been forced into accepting that the Labour Government’s Local Plan has to go to the next stage, the Liberal Democrats are all fighting to ensure that the right houses are built in the right places – and that means social housing for people who need it, not luxury houses on green belt sites. Please support your local councillors in opposing Labour’s green belt grab.

Even if this plan is passed, each site will be subject to planning approval, as and when someone puts forward plans, your local councillors will be fighting to ensure that any development is right for that area. You will have the chance to comment on any application that comes forward.

When will all these houses be built?

At the moment, all of these are just allocations – places where houses could be built. They still need to have plans brought forward for any development, and these will be subject to planning approval. 

What is “grey belt”?

Grey belt is a new sub-category of green belt, which will have fewer protections. It was introduced by the Government in 2024, and Government-funded analysts have carried out an assessment in Stockport, which has reclassified around one third of our green belt as grey belt.

Some of the criteria for reassessing sites as grey belt are: 

• Land that’s previously developed (e.g. old service stations, warehouses)
• Sites close to existing settlements
• Land that is not environmentally protected (e.g. outside National Parks, AONBs, SSSIs)
• Land that does not cause settlement merging

While the Liberal Democrats do not argue with the first of those criteria, the other three massively contribute to the one-third of green belt that has been reclassified, and these are a substantial change to the whole purpose of the green belt.

You can find the full description of how green belt has been reassessed to identify “grey belt” at www.gov.uk/guidance/green-belt.

How are we using the brownfield sites that we have?

The Council is given an overall target for the number of houses that they have to provide sites for. It used only brownfield sites to meet that target in the plan it brought forward in 2024. 

However, after the Government doubled the housing target, this can no longer be achieved. All the brownfield sites that the Council can allocate are still in the new plan.

While Stockport Council is still putting as much of the housing allocations as it can on brownfield sites – in particular through the extremely successful Mayoral Development Corporation – there is no legal means for the Council to force developers to build on the brownfield sites first.

Are there brownfield sites that are not in the local plan?

Stockport Council can only allocate sites if the owners have said they can be developed. This does mean that some sites which residents would like to see developed may not have been included.

In some cases, the owners may decide to bring these sites forward during the lifetime of the local plan, and if houses are built there, they will be counted against our targets. However, until that happens, Stockport Council are legally blocked from using these sites to reduce the number of allocations on the green belt.

Why aren’t there more GPs, schools and services included in the local plan?

There should be. But there are no longer national requirements that these services must be provided at certain levels – for example, it is no longer a planning requirement that extra GP services must be provided if a housing development would push the numbers of patients at a practice over a certain level. 

The Liberal Democrats will be fighting to ensure that any development that does come forward – wherever it is in the borough – brings with it additional GP places, schools and transport links. Even if they aren’t shown on the allocations, it doesn’t mean that the Liberal Democratts can’t fight for them – they will . 

Any development over 10 houses qualifies for “section 106” provisions, which include creating affordable houses, and can require provision of or provide funding for health, education and transport needs. The Liberal Democrats will be fighting hard to maximise these.

Is the same thing going to happen to the other authorities in Greater Manchester, who remained in their development plan (Places for Everyone)?

Yes. The new housing targets and the reclassification of grey belt will happen to every one of the authorities – it is just happening slightly earlier in Stockport. 

Stockport did produce a local plan which met its required housing targets all on brownfield sites in 2024, but was forced to withdraw it when the Labour Government changed the housing rules. 

It is these changes, introduced by the Labour Government in 2024, which have resulted in housing allocations on the green belt, not the decision to leave the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.