TOWN hall bosses have insisted that draft plans to create thousands of new homes across the borough will only go ahead if they are happy that Bolton’s green belt will be protected.

Bolton Council is also looking at new measures to pressurise developers to make good on their plans to build homes on brownfield sites in a bit to protect greener sites.

Last week, The Bolton News reported that developers have submitted proposals to build around 7,000 homes in 70 different projects before 2035 as part of a ‘call for sites’ aimed at addressing Greater Manchester’s increasing need for housing.

The draft plan is being put together by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, under the instruction of the government and will be created and put out for consultation in October.

Some residents were unhappy to see that a number of housing proposals put forward by developers for the Bolton area included building in green belt land or on green field sites.

The largest of these is from Peel Holdings, which has proposed building 1,700 homes on green field land in Westhoughton, much to the dismay of local leaders and residents.

Nearly 7,000 new homes planned in Bolton — including 1700-house Westhoughton estate

But Bolton Council leader Cliff Morris has insisted that while he recognises the urgent need for house building in the borough — he has the right to veto any plan if he believes Bolton is not being treated fairly and too many green spaces have been chosen.

He said each council leader can also veto the entire framework plan if they are unhappy with it.

He said: “If we couldn’t get get some of Bolton’s green belt sites out of the framework then we could veto the whole thing, but I am a realist and I know we have to have enough land to build houses.

He said: “So before it gets to the final process we will look at every single application and we would probably veto the bulk of those suggested for the green belt.

“But we are in a difficult position, the government accepted our housing allocations plan in 2014 but has since moved the goalposts and told us we need to build more.

“So our plan is to work towards using as many brownfield sites as possible and we are looking at ways to make sure developers carry out their plans to build on these spaces.”

The council’s director of place, Stephen Young, explained the difficult position the council has been left in through house builders not fulfilling their plans.

He said: “As of March 2016, there were 4,315 permissions granted where no work had started — that concerns 197 separate applications.

“It is a double edged sword because we cannot build the houses, we need developers to do that but if they have permission on a brownfield site but aren’t building on it, they will then look to develop a green site because it is cheaper and more attractive for them.”

This problem of ‘land banking’ where developers gain permissions for brownfield sites and then fail to build on them is something the authority is looking to address.

Cllr Morris added: “We are looking at ways to deal with this and at making changes that reduce the amount of time developers have to start work once they get permissions. This will mean that the houses we require will be built on those sites and will help us to protect our green belt in the future.”

“The spatial framework is not a foregone conclusion, it is just important that we find the brownfield sites to make it work for us.”

Both men were keen to point out that Bolton needs signigicantly more houses, especially with major developments under way in and around the borough.

Mr Young added: “If you look at Logistics North for example, if the houses aren’t there for people working at that site, then people will move to Manchester and will spend their money there, rather than in Bolton, so we do need housing on the right sites.

He added: “It is a delicate balancing act and it is a big challenge.”

The Bolton News will be continuing to analysis the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework housing project next week.