The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework is the wrong plan, at the wrong time, say Liberal Democrats across Greater Manchester.

Liberal Democrats in Bury and across Greater Manchester are calling for a halt to the Greater Manchester Strategic Framework, due to be published on 5 October 2020.

In Bury, there will be a full meeting of the Council to discuss these on Wednesday 21 October.

Wrong Plan 
Bury’s Liberal Democrat Councillors recognise that we will need more homes in the Borough, and we want to build the high quality, affordable and energy efficient homes that people need, but not at the expense of losing our precious green spaces. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, residents have been using our great outdoors for exercise and solace.  This experience this year tells us, we need our open spaces more than ever.

Our precious Green Belt land must be protected with development restricted to existing sites and brownfield land. 

GMSF’s housing need numbers are based on 2014 data.  The numbers are now off.  We are now in the middle of a Covid-19 pandemic and soon we will face an uncertain future after Brexit; both will have a massive impact on our future economy and our housing need.  GMSF is out of date before it even written never mind published.

Wrong Time
Greater Manchester Councils are proposing to consult with the public over a seven-week period, which includes Christmas and is in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a democracy, people need to be able to meet, to discuss, and to campaign around the issues that affect them in their local areas.  Bury Liberal Democrats believe that this is the wrong time to conduct any consultation if it is to be meaningful and inclusive.  At a time when people are rightly focussed on Covid-19 and its massive impact on our lives, it is a disgrace to even call this a consultation.

GMSF is also already based on an outdated process.  The Government’s White Paper ‘Planning for the Future’ sets out the new way that local plans will be drawn up and new ways that housing numbers will be calculated.

Councillor Michael Powell, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, said:  “I believe that this is the wrong plan presented at the wrong time.”  

“Building on Green Belt cannot be justified, especially when, with the economic downturn forecast on the coat tails of Covid-19 and Brexit, we will have more empty shops and offices and undeveloped sites in the town centre that could serve for housing.  The housing numbers are also off as later projections for housing need have been lower than those first published in 2014, and in any case less people will be able to afford to settle in a new home.” 

“Furthermore, people will just not be engaged with this final stage of consultation as they focus on keeping themselves and their families safe from disease and unemployment.  The Conservative Government’s Planning for the Future proposals will in any case make GMSF redundant as they require every Greater Manchester Council to produce an entirely new local plan within 30 months of the legislation being passed.  It is crazy to proceed with GMSF when the rules are so clearly about to change.”

Liberal Democrat Councillors will oppose the latest GMSF proposals when they are presented to the special meeting of Bury Council, to be held on Wednesday 21 October.

Sir Ed Davey MP has been chosen by Liberal Democrat Party members in an election where more than 67,000 people voted.

On his election, Ed said:
“Our country is going through one of the most extraordinary and difficult periods for generations. The challenge of Covid will affect our country and the world for decades to come. Millions of people are suffering.

As Leader of the Liberal Democrats, I want to reach out to help you and your community get through this. Whether your concerns are your families’ health, your children’s education or your livelihood.”

He has made clear the Party must listen hard to voters and show them we’re on their side. He’s launching a National Listening Programme to do that. Here are some of the key things he said in his acceptance speech.

• I am launching a National Listening Program from today so that voters can tell us what matters most to them. I will be travelling around to meet people. I want to spend time with all sorts of people and figure out where they are in their lives.
• I want to understand how we can deliver more of what small business owners, nurses, teachers, parents, carers and communities really need. I want to get beyond Westminster.
• I want to rebuild our connection to people so that we can help get through this terrible time together. That’s what the Listening Program is about.
• Our job as a party is to represent people. My job as our leader is to move us forward. That means being able to speak for more people in this country and being able to make their concerns our own.
• Our party has a great history of being a powerful, modern, principled and distinctive voice in British politics. We have to find a way to get back to that again.

Responding to Office of National Statistics published last week on the impact of homeschooling during the coronavirus pandemic, Liberal Democrats are calling for urgent action to tackle the health and education impact of lockdown on children.

Education Spokesperson Layla Moran MP said: “Coronavirus has clearly impacted every aspect of life, including the wellbeing of parents and children, and the quality of education the majority of children receive. We must ensure no one is left behind.

“If it wasn’t for years of cuts to our schools and government failing to consult adequately with teachers and school leaders, it wouldn’t be this way. Ministers must now increase the necessary provision of laptops and introduce a Summer Learning Fund that supports the most disadvantaged children.

“Moreover, the Government must address the mental health impact of the pandemic by signposting the appropriate support services to every household, and properly funding the charities that provide those services.”

Coronavirus and homeschooling in Great Britain: April to June 2020 can be found here.
 
Between 7 May and 7 June 2020, 87% of parents said a child in their household had been homeschooled because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with the percentage decreasing as the age of the only or eldest child increased.
 
Over half (52%) of parents with school-aged children said a child in their household was struggling to continue their education while at home, with just over three in four of these parents (77%) giving lack of motivation as one of the reasons.
 
While under 1 in 10 (9%) parents with a child who was struggling gave a lack of devices as a reason for struggling, this was significantly higher for households with one adult (21%) than households with two or more adults (7%).
 
Between 3 April and 10 May 2020, of parents who were homeschooling, one in three women (34%) agreed that it was negatively affecting their well-being compared with one in five men (20%), while 43% of homeschooling parents agreed that it was negatively affecting the well-being of their children.
 
See below for full details of the Liberal Democrats’ five-point plan for reopening schools to more pupils in England.  

• Increase capacity for physical learning, by combining local spare space registers, so that local councils and school leaders can find suitable empty buildings in the community to use as learning spaces.
• Recruit an army of extra teachers to cope with demand. The Government should launch a Teach for Britain recruitment campaign to bring out-of-work supply teachers and recently-retired teachers into schools so more pupils can return. This builds on the success of the Social Work Together campaign, developed with the Local Government Association. Ministers should work with unions to get more teachers into learning spaces in any one school day.
• End the online learning void for thousands of children. Ministers should develop a bold strategy to leave no child behind by partnering with the private sector to get laptops and internet access to any disadvantaged child currently unable to learn online. The Government’s current target to provide 230,000 laptops has left out too many children. Councils are neither receiving the equipment they have asked for, nor seeing high uptake rates for the kit they’re given. The Government should launch a major advertising campaign to encourage families and children to ask for equipment, backed up by working with schools to get more physical resources including textbooks to children lacking internet or computer access.
• Design a flexible, phased reopening that follows the science and has the trust of parents and the profession by being developed with them, following the lead of Kirsty Williams in Wales. Schools should aim to begin the next academic year on time in September, but double the autumn half-term break to two weeks. We must recognise that many schools are doing a fantastic job at phased reopening, and ensure local authorities, academy trusts and government are learning from their successes.
• Halt the widening of the disadvantage gap. The Government should combine the summer provision of free school meals with an emergency uplift in child benefit of £150 per child per month, with £100 for every subsequent child, during this crisis. The catch-up premium should be worth at least £700 for every disadvantaged child eligible for the pupil premium, to enable schools and charities to give them a much-needed boost in the next academic year. Ministers should create a Summer Learning Fund so that councils can run summer learning camps for children, focused on local authorities in the most deprived areas. This will prepare children for September and give many children a positive environment in which to learn and re-acclimatise to an educational environment. The Government should fund places on these courses for children on free school meals.