Thousands of houses could be built on open farmland under a draft local plan for new homes in Stockport.
The document outlines plans for at least 25,371 new homes, which are expected to be built before 2042, with an affordable housing target of 50%.
Alan Burke from the Hall Moss Fields community action group in Bramhall said he was “devastated” at plans for 400 homes on “green open space” near the Manchester Airport link road.
Stockport Council said the government had doubled the local authority’s housing target which had “caused real challenges”. The government said revised housing targets had been set in line with the needs of local areas.
The draft local plan includes an allocation of 8,965 new homes on 27 sites outside the existing built-up area of Stockport.
Those green belt sites include allocations of 350 homes on land at Cheadle Hulme School, 1000 homes in High Lane and 500 homes off Cow Lane in Hazel Grove.
Mr Burke, 60, said: “We need to be building on brownfield land, where there is jobs, amenities and public transport options – not in our green open spaces”.
Mark Roberts, the leader of Stockport Council, admitted he was “heartbroken” at having to put forward a report which “isn’t the local plan we would want”.
“The government doubled our housing target which has caused real challenges for us in delivering the homes we need and now we need the infrastructure,” he said.
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We inherited the worst housing crisis in living memory and all areas must play their part to build 1.5 million homes and restore the dream of home ownership.”
They said the revised targets were in line with local area need, adding: “More homes will be built in the right places alongside the necessary infrastructure, and not at the expense of the environment.”
The site at Hall Moss Lane has been earmarked for 400 homes and the developer Jones Homes has carried out a consultation on plans for about 250 houses.
Bhavna Panchal-Taylor, 53, who regularly walks her dog on Hall Moss Fields in Bramhall, said: “This is a recreation area and this land means a lot to me.
“This is the only space for us which is close-by and we don’t need to drive”.
Protests against building on green belt land took place across the region when the controversial Greater Manchester Spatial Framework was launched in 2016.
It was later scrapped and replaced by the Places for Everyone plan.
Stockport Council pulled out of that region-wide scheme in December 2020 and the authority decided to produce its own local plan to build new homes.
The council published its version in 2024, which included no homes on green belt land, but it was withdrawn when the government introduced new housing targets, and the concept of grey belt land.
In recent years, house builders have submitted schemes for new homes in Stockport and the council has been unable to refuse them due to the lack of a local plan.
Bernie Gooch, 56, who lives in Bramhall, said “the traffic is already crazy” there.
“The traffic to get on the A34 is already a log jam and there are plans for more than 2000 homes here, including the nearby Handforth Garden Village,” he added.
The draft Stockport local plan is due for its first stage of consultation from 6 November to 21 December.
