A BOLTON MP has been called out by a fellow politician over his stance on the spatial framework.

Chris Green, Conservative MP for Bolton West provoked the ire of Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett after accusing Manchester leaders of “faffing around” over the region’s housing strategy.

Mr Green also called on Bolton Council to create a housing plan independent of Greater Manchester’s to prevent the town being taken advantage of by developers.

Mr Dennett has written an open letter to Mr Green calling his comments “headline-grabbing and unfounded”, saying Mr Green had demonstrated a “real lack of understanding” about what is involved in creating the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

Mr Dennett suggested Mr Green look to his own government rather than pointing fingers locally about what the reasons for the spatial framework delay were. He said: “May I therefore politely suggest that Greater Manchester Leaders and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) are certainly not “wasting time”, nor are the “faffing around” and our desire to be decisive is being significantly hampered by a lack of clarity from the Government.”

The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework is a 20-year plan to set out the future of Greater Manchester’s housing, employment and environment. It has been hampered by setbacks since a first draft was unveiled in October 2016.

The plan was taken back to the drawing board after more than 27,000 responses came in from the public and has been an ongoing project for Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the GMCA. The latest setback has been put down to the Office for National Statistics population figures which were lower than expected, prompting calls for the amount of housing included in the plan to be reduced.

Bolton councillor Martin Donaghy said that with the lower figures 14,200 homes could be built in the town without using any greenbelt land.

READ MORE: 14,200 homes could be built as part of GMSF

However, the government has launched a consultation into the population figures, prompting speculation that the GMCA will have to use the old figures. Mr Dennett’s letter suggests to Mr Green this is so the Government can keep a 2017 manifesto promise to deliver 300,000 homes a year, which Mr Green campaigned for.

Mr Dennett expressed “surprise” at Mr Green’s recent comments which suggested the Government should revise its expectations for 300,000 homes because of the new figures.

In response to the letter, Mr Green said: “GMSF has been delayed four times already and could now be delayed for a fifth, dragging out the process for years.

"The Greater Manchester mayor and the ten local authorities had an opportunity to create a vision that people could really get behind – laying out the future for our local infrastructure and housebuilding.

"After all, they are meant to understand the improvements local people want to see. Instead, they have spent too much time fighting one another and disagreeing on what the outcome should be which has now caused even more complications.

“I will continue to call for Bolton Council and Wigan Council to create a five year plan whilst we continue to wait for the latest GMSF draft, to ensure that we don’t see the continued undirected development and investment in our towns.”

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