Residents to set up neighbourhood forum for Thornham St John

Local residents are in the process of setting up a Thornham St John Neighborhood Forum.

The move comes due to the loss of greenbelt land in the parish, if the current form of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) is adopted, which could see significant amounts of greenbelt land released for development.

Resident Elaine Whittaker said: “The parish will lose some 450 acres if the plan in its current form is adopted. The only greenbelt land left will be a strip either side of the canal from Slattocks roundabout to Trubs.

“We are in the process of setting up a Thornham St John Neighbourhood Forum. This will not only help this parish, but surrounding parishes as any planning applications that can be made more acceptable or even stopped will benefit everybody where the applications pass over parish boundaries.

“The Castleton ward is set to lose 64% of greenbelt under the plans, rising to 73% when you take the 1970s greenbelt grab into account for Stakehill Industrial Estate.”

She continued: “The area of the ward is 1900 acres: 700 of these acres are greenbelt under the GMSF plan and 450 acres will vanish. The remaining 250 acres are to the west of Trubs and a narrow strip from Slattocks to Castleton that sits in between the canal and railway line.

“If you add the 450-acre loss to the 230-acre loss in the 70s for Stakehill, then the small ward of Castleton will have sacrificed 680 acres of greenbelt land.

“GMSF argues that the net greenbelt loss is around 4% across Greater Manchester. We have already sacrificed 230 acres to Stakehill Industrial Estate and this should be considered to be enough.”

Ms Whittaker added: “The argument they put forward for the 4% being an average for Greater Manchester is not credible; somebody else could come along and say, ‘develop all of Greater Manchester as it's only 4% of Lancashire.’

“We are an area with our own identity and they are asking for too much.”

The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework initially proposed more than 15,000 houses to be developed across the Rochdale borough, covering greenbelt land in: Bamford and Norden, Roch Valley in Smallbridge, Trows Farm in Castleton, land to the north east of Smithy Bridge, land at Lane End to the east of Heywood, plus 120 houses in Milnrow and Newhey, and a further 1,400 houses across the River Beal in Shaw.

The second draft of the spatial framework will aim to make the most of Greater Manchester’s brownfield sites and reduce the impact on greenbelt after more than 27,000 people responded to the original draft consultation.

It is expected to be published in June 2018.