HERE we go again —'Mayoral favourite softens stance on controversial housing allocation plan' (Bolton News, November 15).

Andy Burnham, surprise, surprise, 'flip-flopping' once again over protecting our green space.

He now says that he is ''reserving judgment'' and that ''Greater Manchester does need to have a plan for growth'' in his New Labour spin talk — read he doesn't want to 'rock the boat' for his Labour colleagues —Morris, Smith,etc — now that they and their cabinet colleagues have gone ahead and agreed to allocate vast swathes of Bolton/Wigan and elsewhere for houses and industry on our precious green belt'.

For 'Green Belt' we must now read 'Brown Belt' as they are unwilling and incapable of concentrating new developments on to the vast areas of semi-derelict land and buildings across our towns including Bolton, that are in urgent need of regeneration.

There should be a freeze on using our surviving green space with potential developers and councils obliged instead to 'bite the bullet' by complying with the Green Belt policy of checking unrestricted sprawl, preventing neighbouring towns merging, safeguarding the countryside from encroachment and assisting urban regeneration by encouraging the recycling of derelict and urban land-all, of which our Labour leaders/councillors have failed to comply with in their Spatial Framework.

Mr Burnham and his elected Labour Party colleagues, please note, only 'conservation through regeneration' is acceptable -no building on our 'Green Space' is the only acceptable outcome we 'the people' will accept.

Derek Bullock,

Leigh Road

Westhoughton