New town plan for 20,000 homes is 'reckless'

'SOMEONE IN WESTMINSTER THROWING A DART AT A MAP' SAYS COUNCIL CHIEF

- By DECLAN CAREY

THE leader of Stockport council has criticised huge plans for a new 20,000-home town on Greater Manchester's border describing it as 'someone in Westminster throwing a dart at a map'.

The New Towns Taskforce was set up by the government to find areas suitable for building new homes at scale, aimed at making a 'significant contribution to meeting housing demand in England'.

One of the sites earmarked for huge expansion is the village of Adlington in Cheshire East, located just a few miles away from the boundary with Stockport.

The proposal was submitted by landowners Belport Adlington Limited, to create a standalone new town of between 14,000 to 20,000 homes on around 970 hectares of greenfield land.

But concerns are growing that thousands of future residents in the new Cheshire town could end up commuting through Stockport to the town centre or towards Manchester city centre, and using local services in the borough.

Mark Roberts, leader of Stockport council and of the Liberal Democrats at Stockport town hall, said the impact the new town could have on existing communities has been ignored by the government.

"This seems like another example of the Labour government recklessly bulldozing over the green belt to meet its unrealistic housing targets," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"Their targets aren't feasible, they are frantically announcing building as much as they can, wherever they can, and are ignoring local people's wishes in the process.

"Someone in a boardroom in Westminster throwing a dart at a map to see which bit of Cheshire green belt it lands on isn't good governance and will be deeply unpopular with local residents.