Green belt village plan gets £225k boost

Plans to build a village on green belt land in Greater Manchester have been given a £225,000 funding boost.

Homes England has given £150,000 towards the project via Greater Manchester Combined Authority to help secure the plots of land. Tameside Council has also committed an additional £75,000 to the scheme.

The authority said the Godley Green Garden Village development, which will see 2,150 homes built on green belt countryside between Hyde and Hattersley over a 15-year period, would "provide much needed homes in a sustainable community".

But residents said the loss of green belt land - which is normally protected from development - would "ruin" the area and have been raising funds for a Judicial Review.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to challenge the development and campaigners hope they can take their case to the High Court.

Before plans were approved in November, the project saw more than 4,000 objections and 4,500 signatures against it, compared to 33 letters of support.

However, Jack Naylor, the council's executive member for inclusive growth, business and employment at the council, said the project was critical to the borough’s housing need and growth requirements, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

“The development will provide much needed homes in a sustainable community, which will make the most of its surrounding green spaces and accessibility."

At a planning meeting in November, members heard the village would deliver "significant social, health and economic benefits" and deliver a "substantial number of new homes" – and therefore "very special circumstances" existed to grant it permission.

The proposal would see a new "village" split by Godley Brook into east and west, each with its own centre with retail space.

Alder Community High School would be expanded and a bridge created for access across the railway line to connect to Hattersley station.

But objectors disagreed that the benefits of the development outweighed the loss of green belt land.

Anne Tym, 66, whose husband’s family owns farmland earmarked for the development, said: “It is not a good idea. The green belt is there for a purpose, it would ruin this area, completely ruin it.

“[The land] has been in the family all that time, so why should we get someone to turn around and say ‘we want to do this with it'.”

She claimed the council's attitude towards building on green belt land was hypocritical, adding: “We converted one of the barns [and] it took us nine years to get planning because it was on a green belt.”

The council said parties were working together to agree how the site, which is largely controlled by the council, third party land promoters/developers, and some private landowners, would be built.

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