Liberal Democrats in Bury have secured all-party support for a motion at Bury’s Full Council outlining the support of councillors to the principle of ‘Green Belt’.

Green Belt, introduced in various areas of Britain from 1955, as a planning policy to protect countryside around the countries largest urban areas.
· To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas
· To prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another
· To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment
· To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns
· To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land

For Bury this is very significant – 60% of Bury MBC has been designated as Green Belt land.

However we are concerned that this Green Belt land is under threat from the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework being developed by the ten Greater Manchester Councils to identify land for homes and jobs to 2035 – ultimately to provide land for another 225,000 homes in Greater Manchester over the next 25 years.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Tim Pickstone said:
“Green Belt as an important Planning Policy which should be retained around our major urban areas going forwards.”
“In Bury we are very lucky, of not only having six great towns and many smaller communities, but also very lucky to have great green spaces between our built up areas. We do need more houses, but we believe that we should be looking first to the use of brownfield land for housing and jobs as a first priority.”

The motion proposed by the Liberal Democrat councillors received the support of Conservative and Labour councillors and is now the Council’s policy. Although the motion states the support of councillors to the principle of green belt, there is much more campaigning to be done on the issue when the proposals from Greater Manchester Council are published in the Autumn.