Star date: 21st April 2021

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR COUNCIL CANDIDATES: NO 3 GREEN BELT

As the local elections on 6th May draw nearer, the Salford Star is not going to grill candidates. There are so many candidates for the sixty seats up for grabs that we wouldn't be able to do them all justice.

So, this year we're asking the electorate to Do It Yourselves and we have compiled a handy series of questions to ask candidates to help voters on their way. The third set of questions in the series are about the destruction of Green Belt land, particularly in Irlam.

Full details here...

QUESTIONS TO ASK COUNCIL CANDIDATES ON SALFORD GREEN BELT...

For well over a decade, Salford people have known that the Green Belt around Irlam and Barton Moss has been under threat – from industrial warehouses to fracking to peat destruction – with politicians from all parties denouncing attacks on Salford's green lung...er, when it suited them.

So now we have reached a situation where proposals are outlined in the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework to build up to 1,400 houses on Green Belt land north of Irlam Station, plus the plonking of warehouses for Peel Holdings Port Salford on 320,000square metres of land north and west of Barton Aerodrome.

In the original draft of the Framework, there were 1,600 properties proposed but this was subsequently revised down to 1,100 initially, rising to 1,400 if the infrastructure is in place. Of the final 1,400 properties built, only 25% will be 'affordable', and only 37.5% of that 25% will be truly affordable as social rent – 131 properties (see here).

It's a huge issue in the new wards of Cadishead and Lower Irlam, and Higher Irlam and Peel Green, where four Core Independents are taking on Labour and Conservatives focusing on this issue. It's also a massive issue in the Salford City Mayor election, and probably the Greater Manchester Mayor election.

So, questions to ask council candidates and Mayor candidates about the Green Belt...

Are you in favour of the proposals, given the Green Belt destruction? Can you truly say you are 'green' if you support these proposals?

Back in 2010, the then Eccles MP, Ian Stewart, led a demo against Green Belt destruction by Peel Holdings which aimed to plonk industrial warehousing on the land near Barton Aerodrome. At the time he said that Peel "must understand also that local people have the right to say how they want their local area to develop and the council and the other authorities should listen to that." Do you agree with this statement, particularly when applied to Peel Holdings and Salford City Council?

Would you say that the whole issue around building all these houses in Irlam is similar to what happened in Little Hulton in the 1950s and 1960s, when people from inner Salford were exiled there? Could this be about getting people out of the now 'in-demand' (ie near Manchester) areas of Salford to make way for luxury apartments and posh townhouses?

And, you could also throw in another little question that isn't particularly about the Green Belt but might be fun to ask...Is Port Salford ever going to actually happen, and if it does, how many real jobs will it actually create?

The Salford Star will be publishing more questions to ask candidates as the 6th May election draws near.

See Previous Questions For Candidates...

No 1: On Buile Hill Mansion – click here
No 2: On the AJ Bell Stadium – click here

No 4: On the Crescent Police Station  - click here

For a full background on the Council Election – click here

The Salford City Mayor Election – click here

And the Greater Manchester Mayor Election – click here