Salford’s new City Mayor has joined the campaign to save a meadow from a huge housing development.
Peel want to build 600 homes on land at Broadoak, between Monton and Worsley .
The council rejected the proposal and the decision was upheld by the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, last year, after a public inquiry in 2014.
But a recent High Court judgement relating to a similar case in Cheshire has thrown that decision into doubt and weakened national protection on green space.
A second public inquiry is now expected to take place.
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But City Mayor Paul Dennett has written to the government urging them to help local councils protect valuable green spaces by urgently revising national planning policy.
Mayor Dennett said: “The court judgement means that policies to protect local green spaces – the policies Salford City Council relied on in rejecting this inappropriate development – now do not have the force they should under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
“This has implications for every council in the country and risks much of our green and pleasant land disappearing under building projects.
“I’ve written to Greg Clark, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government urging him to review the NPPF urgently to make sure local councils have the power they need to protect valuable green spaces. Our main reason for refusing these 600 homes was to preserve much valued open space between Monton and Worsley but that has been undermined by this court ruling. However Salford council will defend its position when the Broadoak inquiry is re-run.”
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Coun Derek Antrobus, the council’s lead member for planning and sustainable development added: “The Worsley Greenway policy protects the land because of its views and the way it offers a green corridor between old industrial towns.
“It is outrageous that the Secretary of State has now caved in to a legal challenge which effectively says it is potential housing land. The whole point of this policy - produced through localism and community backing - is that this land should not be up for grabs.
“Salford is not against development. We have been proactive in securing a housing boom. But this land is too valuable for the community to lose. We will fight our corner. But as long as current policy is in place, the land is under threat.”
