Stockport Labour Leader and Leader of Stockport Council, Cllr Alex Ganotis has welcomed the announcement that councillors from all 10 GM Councils will get a say on the final GMSF plans. Greater Manchester’s 10 Local Authority Leaders confirmed this week that the draft Greater Manchester Spatial Framework would need to be approved by each and every local council next summer, before the third round of formal consultation.
The agreement, fully supported by the Mayor Andy Burnham, comes after Leaders agreed in principle to a Spatial Development Strategy, which comes with a number of advantages but does not legally require each local council to approve the plan. This has led to accusations the GMSF plan will be pushed through without Councillors getting a vote on the final plans.
Leader Alex Ganotis has repeatedly confirmed Stockport will have a final vote in Stockport Council Chamber on the plans, and most recently articulated this here. However this week, the Mayor and GM Council Leaders have made clear that regardless of the requirements, they are committed to ensuring that the formal draft Plan is put before each Council to ensure real democratic engagement, debate and scrutiny.
Commenting, Cllr Alex Ganotis said:
“I welcome this announcement. My view has always been that the final plans should be put before every Council chamber, as I have already confirmed will be the case in Stockport.
“This confirmation also shows that accusations of stitch-up which have been levelled are baseless. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is not afraid of scrutiny in this process, precisely because everyone realises the importance of getting these plans right.
“The GMSF is incredibly important for the future of the city region and its residents, and it is right there is public involvement both through their Councillors having a final say, and the successive consultations planned.”
The GMSF provides an outline of how city region will plan for jobs, homes and infrastructure up to 2032. Working across all ten Greater Manchester Authorities, this seeks to maximise brownfield development and plan properly for the overall needs of the population. This will enable Stockport to protect green belt land more effectively than working in isolation.
This will be built upon at Local Authority level to site the right homes and infrastructure in the right places for residents. In Stockport this links into the refreshed South East Manchester Multi-Modal Strategy and the Stockport Local Plan. Stockport Councillors will now have a final say over how the GMSF plans sit with these.