I ATTENDED the council presentation about the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF), and Trafford’s response, announcing plans to build houses at Carrington and on green belt in Flixton and Timperley.

Credit to Councillor Sean Anstee and his team for having a public meeting, but he was mistaken if he thought he would be in for an easy evening.

The majority of those present were very much opposed to the building of houses in Flixton and had serious concerns about the supporting infrastructure given the state of how things are now, before the addition of hundreds of new homes. Equally concerns were expressed about the plans for Carrington where thousands of new houses are planned.

The council should reassess its plans given the majority of the public are strongly opposed to the building of houses on any green belt in Trafford and should only approve the building on brownfield sites, such as Carrington, with strict criteria adhered to.

They should ensure all infrastructure, such as improved roads, to be in place before the first new home-owners move in, adequate compensation settled with the current residents of Carrington who will have to endure the brunt of the development work and its disruption and the agreement on a significant proportion of the build made available to those earning the minimum wage (such as shared ownership schemes).

Trafford is taking a larger percentage of the quota planned under the GMSF than many of the other boroughs, so the numbers we reject from being built on our green belt could be picked up elsewhere (though we appreciate the borough of Manchester is bearing the largest share by far).

As I’ve said things won’t get any easier and we will face further challenges like this in the future, especially if the Government fails to deliver on controlling our borders.

While we have unrestricted free movement of people entering the UK we will not be able to meet the housing needs and have no idea of how many further homes are required. With controlled access to the UK we will be better placed to plan for the future knowing exactly how many people are in need of housing.

Mike Bayley-Sanderson, via e-mail