Greater Manchester Spatial Framework
Debate between Yvonne Fovargue and Lord Brady of AltrinchamWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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Yvonne Fovargue
I agree about the gridlock. Some of the developments that I am talking about involve heavy goods vehicles, so there will be thousands more movements of HGVs on our already gridlocked roads. That adds to the air quality problem.
Mr Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West) (Con)
The hon. Lady makes an important point. Does she accept that there are those of us whose constituencies already have to accommodate considerable additional development adjacent to them? There are many new developments going on at Airport City, which is very close to my boundary. That is a continuing process.
Yvonne Fovargue
I accept that. We need to look not just within but outside Greater Manchester. Many hon. Members have mentioned the removal of the green belt. In my constituency, green belt status has been removed around junctions 25 and 26 of the M6. As we have heard, removing green belt status requires exceptional circumstances. In 2013, the independent inspector deemed that the local authority’s request to remove half the area it is now proposing to remove around junction 25 was not exceptional, so it was refused, yet a mere three years later, the M6 South of Wigan Action Group, which did sterling work with me in opposing the plan, is in exactly the same position as it was. We are again opposing the plan together.