BURY Council's finance leader is calling for the Government to urgently clarify the way it intends to assess housing need.

Recently published population figures and household projections from the Office for National Statistics have created new assumptions for housing growth.

However, the Government has decided to apply a new formula to the figures to assess the number of new homes which will be need to be built.

Until then leaders in Greater Manchester say they are unable to finalise the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, with mayor, Andy Burnham complaining that the Government is "moving the goalposts" and making the process more difficult.

Bury Council leaders have united with Mr Burnham to demand the Government acts quickly and publishes its revised methodology to determine the number of homes that the city-region would be required to build.

Cllr Eamonn O'Brien, Bury's cabinet member for finance and housing urged the government for clarity on housing figures.

He said: “The spatial framework is a crucial document in ensuring that we have the right number and type of homes, but also the jobs we need for generations to come.

"This will be especially true if we are to meet the challenges of a post-Brexit Britain.

"This is why it’s vital that the Government settle as quickly as possible what figures the plan is based on.

"Whilst independent population and housing need forecasts have decreased, it’s clear that the Government want their original housing targets to remain as high as they were.

"This is why they now want to revise the methodology to get back up to their original figures.

"Whatever the government decides upon, we will continue with our ‘brownfield first’ policy of prioritising building on land which has previously been developed, such as our latest plans for the former East Lancashire Paper Mill site in Radcliffe.”

In a joint statement, Mr Burnham and the Greater Manchester council leaders said: “Right now the Government is moving the goalposts and making this process more difficult.

"We have made real progress towards agreeing a rewritten Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, but this uncertainty around the housing figures is delaying our final decisions.

“The Government methodology that could give us the clarity we need is due to be published but, even then, the revised methodology will only be a consultation rather than the finalised formula."

Greater Manchester’s ten Local Authority leaders have also confirmed that the draft plan must be approved by each and every local council before the formal consultation in summer 2019.