TAMESIDE: Next steps taken for huge 2,000 home plan for green belt land

By George Lythgoe – Local Democracy Reporter

PLANS to build a village on green belt band between Hyde and Hattersley have taken a step forward with a £150,000 grant from Homes England.

The money, given to the project via Greater Manchester Combined Authority is intended to help the council with the process to secure all the plots of land necessary. Meanwhile Tameside Council has committed an additional £75,000 to the scheme.

The proposed Godley Green Garden Village development, which will see 2,150 homes built on green belt countryside and pastureland over a 15 year period, was given outline planning approval by the council back in November 2023. But residents nearby say the loss of green belt will ‘ruin’ the area – and are raising funds for a Judicial Review.

Protesters outside Tameside’s meeting of Full council

The proposal would see a new ‘village’ split by Godley Brook into an east half and a west half, each with its own local centre including up to 1,300 sqm of retail space, 1,600 sqm of commercial and 1,000 sqm of local community uses. Godley Green was first included in the draft Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) masterplan in 2016, expected to take 15 years to complete.

The GMSF – since renamed Places for Everyone – is a Greater Manchester-wide plan to build thousands of houses across the region up to 2050. It’s been controversial because it has allocated some green belt land for housing. It’s been officially adopted by all of Greater Manchester’s councils except Stockport.

Following the most recent developments with the Godley Garden Village project in Tameside, Cllr Jack Naylor, executive member for inclusive growth, business & employment, said: “The Godley Green Garden Village is a really exciting and large-scale project that will deliver up to 2,150 homes over the next 15 years, which means it’s critical to the Borough’s housing need and growth requirements.

Plans for Godley Green Garden Village

“The development, which will embrace the Garden Village principles with people at the heart of it, will provide much needed homes in a sustainable community which will make the most of its surrounding green spaces and accessibility. The plans are progressing well and on schedule since Outline Planning Application was approved in November 2023.”

The decision to build on pastureland north of Mottram Old Road has been met with resistance since the scheme was first mooted back in 2016. A GoFundMe page set up by campaigners to challenge the development with a Judicial Review has raised £2,000 of a £10,000 target, in the hope that campaigners can get the High Court to stop it going ahead.

Before planning approval was given, the project saw over 4,000 objections and 4,500 signatures disregarding the plans to build on the green belt – compared to 33 letters of support.

Founder of the Save Tameside Greenbelt Facebook group, Claire Elliot, 46, from Stalybridge says she isn’t against affordable housing, but feels that is the wrong development in the wrong place.

She said of the green belt land earmarked for the ‘Garden Village’ project: “I think it will be a big loss, once it’s gone. It’s gone.

“Greenbelt is supposed to be highly protected, and prevent urban sprawl.”

“We feel ignored as a community,” she added. “(Green belt) is supposed to give people in urban areas a place to go and exercise. It will be a big loss to wildlife, people’s enjoyment, it will be a travesty. When I was younger my grandad used to take me up to the fields and let me enjoy it.”

At the planning panel meeting on November 1, 2023, principal planning officer Steven Kirkham told members it was ‘not disputed’ that the development would ‘permanently transform the current landscape from a rural to an urban setting’, adding that ‘very substantial weight’ should be attached to the harm to the green belt.

But Mr Kirkham said overall the garden village would deliver ‘significant social, health and economic benefits’ and deliver a ‘substantial number of new homes’ – and therefore ‘very special circumstances’ existed to grant permission.

Alder Community High School would be expanded under the proposals, and a bridge created for pedestrian and wheeling access across the railway line to connect to Hattersley station. A ‘subsidised bus service’ would also be provided during the early stage of the development to help support people to travel without using cars, the council promises.

This argument that the benefits of this development outweigh the negatives of the loss of green belt land falls short in the eyes of objectors. Describing the significance to the community of the land, Claire said: “I see everyone walking their dogs there, bike riding, taking their family out and just enjoying their open countryside.

“It is on the doorstep, it just helps people’s physical and mental health. I have worked there for 30 years and I have seen the benefit it brings the community.”

Anne Tym, 66, whose husband’s family owns farmland earmarked for the development, said: “It is not a good idea. The green belt is there for a purpose, it would ruin this area, completely ruin it.

“(The land) has been in the family all that time, so why should we get someone to turn around and say ‘we want to do this with it.”

She thinks that all the focus should be on nearby Hyde.

“The town centre is absolutely atrocious now. I think if they are to invest, and want to build houses they’ll want to build them in the town centre where people are.” She continued: “It really makes me so angry, everybody in Godley does not want this scheme to go ahead.”

Tameside Council does have a masterplan for Hyde which would see the town hall become a focal point of a pedestrianised centre alongside a revamped shopping centre and more housing coming to the town.

Meanwhile, Anne claims Tameside’s attitude towards green belt is hypocritical, adding: “We converted one of the barns. It took us nine years to get planning because it was on a green belt.”

It’s a frustration shared by another landowner, Alan French, 73, who said: “When I applied for planning permission by Tameside Council, I was told I would never get planning permission because it is green belt.

“So I wonder why that’s been changed, and we can suddenly build all over it.”

Speaking on the next steps for the project, Cllr Naylor added: “We will be seeking an appropriate partner to help deliver the Garden Village, to construct new infrastructure (highways, footpaths, drainage etc) and the new homes at the site.

“Further planning approvals are also required before a start on site can be made. All this work takes time to complete but we are progressing with the plans.”

The land at Godley Green is largely under the control of the council, third party land promoters/developers with a small amount owned by private landowners.

The council says that parties are working together to agree how the site will be built out and ensure the new development embraces Garden Village principles as contained within the Outline Planning Application.

Meanwhile, a section 106 agreement needs to be in place before works start at the site in order to deliver the affordable housing, education, public open space, and highways requirements outlined.

3 Replies to “TAMESIDE: Next steps taken for huge 2,000 home plan for green belt land”

  1. You, Tameside Correspondent, have written that a section 106, agreement, needs to be in place before work starts in order to deliver the Affordable housing etc ., the affordable housing I believe is only 15% of the total housing development, which means 85% is not

  2. Wrong place, wrong time, no infrastructure no dentists, doctors no schools
    Tameside councillors are a disgrace.

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