Places for Everyone: masterplan for 165,000 homes across Greater Manchester put forward to government

The latest plans setting out where 165,000 homes will be built across Greater Manchester over the next 15 years have been submitted to the government.

Places for Everyone – a strategy for housing, jobs and the environment which has been repeatedly revised – is now in the hands of the Secretary of State.

The document was submitted yesterday (14 February) and independent inspectors will now be appointed by the government to examine it in full.

It comes after a public consultation into the plans received 15,868 comments.

What’s the background?

The major masterplan which has been in the making for many years now only involves nine boroughs due to Stockport’s decision to pull out of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) at the eleventh hour in late 2020.

Almost 165,000 new homes are proposed in the latest plans – which cover Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan – down from the 180,000 in the 2020 version of the GMSF, and the 227,000 suggested in the first draft which was published in 2016.

In total, 50,000 homes will be affordable with 30,000 available for social rent.

The revised housing numbers means some proposed developments in the plans have been scaled down while others have been removed altogether.

The latest Places For Everyone plan features a 60 % reduction in green belt development compared to the first version of the GMSF published in 2016.

More than 55m sq ft of office, industrial and warehousing space is also proposed across the nine boroughs – including some on green belt land.

What have people said?

A consultation on the latest plan took place from last August to October.

There were 3,882 submissions made as part of the public consultation, with a total of 15,868 comments on all the policies proposed within the masterplan.

The highest number of comments related to two proposals in Wigan.

There were 565 comments relating to the plans for Pocket Nook in Lowton and a further 612 on a proposal to develop land north of Mosley Common.

Proposals in Salford also received a high number of comments with 494 relating to the east of Boothstown plans and 451 relating to Chat Moss.

All valid representations are sent to the government along with the plan.

The secretary of state will now appoint inspectors to carry out an independent examination, looking at national policy alongside the representations to decide whether the plan is sound and making recommendations on any amendments.

The nine local authorities will consider the independent inspectors’ report and any recommendations before deciding whether to formally adopt the plan.