A leader’s promise to ‘ram’ a green belt scheme ‘down the throat’ of opposition members and a councillor stripping mid-meeting… few planning applications have ever been the source of such political pantomime.

But the Godley Green Garden Village proposal is no ordinary planning application. Since it was first included in the ill-fated Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) masterplan all the way back in 2016, green belt campaigners have been rallying against the proposals to create a new ‘garden village’ in the Hyde countryside.

Under the long-running plans, which are finally due to be voted on by Tameside councillors next week, up to 2,150 homes along with ‘local centres’ which would include up to 1,300 sq m of retail, 1,600 sq m of commercial uses and 1,000 sq m of local community uses, would be built on land to the north of Mottram Old Road.

Images produced in support of the application show new residents strolling among cobbled streets filled with timber-clad modernist houses, and gardens overflowing with attractively overgrown wildflowers, surrounded by trees and meadowland.

The garden village, which would neighbour Hyde and Hattersley; areas which have long struggled with deprivation, would have its own shops, restaurants and cafés, indoor sport and recreation facilities, medical and health services, nurseries, offices and pubs.

But the idyllic picture envisioned for Godley Green is at odds with the fierce battle that has been waging between supporters of the new village and its many detractors. After three rounds of consultation the number of objections officially recorded by the authority stands at 4,205, with an additional petition of 4,459 signatures lodged against the development – compared to just 33 letters of support.

Passions both out of the council chamber, and within it, have been running high for years. During a meeting in the summer of 2021, Conservative councillor Liam Billington stripped off his shirt in protest over the development.

“I honestly don’t think casino style spending with taxpayers’ money is right when our constituents expect their money to be spent on frontline services,” he said as he unbuttoned.

Coun Billington revealed he was wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan ‘Brenda the Bulldozer’ in a dig at Tameside’s then-council leader Brenda Warrington, while another Tory member waved an identical item of clothing. They were condemned by Labour for making ‘disparaging comments’.

Former councillor and Labour cabinet member for growth, Oliver Ryan responded: “I think you’ve got to ask yourself whether you really want to be at the council or whether you just want to be a Twitter troll in real life?”

The t-shirt’s design of a red bulldozer with blonde hair and face came from a series of cartoons drawn over the garden village issue by the late Private Eye cartoonist Tony Husband, who lived in Hyde and was a member of the Save Tameside Greenbelt group.

At that July meeting, Coun Warrington described the protest and comments as ‘water off a duck’s back as far as I’m concerned’. But the row intensified to fever pitch seven months later in February 2022 at a further full council meeting at Dukinfield Town Hall.

After the Tories once again referenced her ‘bulldozer’ nickname over her support for the new garden village, Coun Warrington hit back saying: “Godley Green, I make no mistake, I will be on that first bulldozer and that is a promise.

“I will be on that bulldozer that actually starts to dig up ready to build houses on Godley Green and believe me it will be rammed down your throat. It really will,” she told the assembled room of mostly Labour councillors, who banged tables and cheered in support.

Her comments prompted 29 written complaints from residents but the council’s legal chief said there was no breach of the council’s code of conduct in the language used at the meeting.

The borough solicitor – and now chief executive – Sandra Stewart ruled there was no case to answer as the comments fell within ‘legitimate freedom of expression and needed to be heard and understood in the context of the whole meeting’, adding that councillors should be able to express their opinions in ‘forceful terms’.

Coun Warrington said her comments were aimed at councillors who had been ‘personally abusive, disrespectful and disingenuous in this debate’, adding they were having to build houses on the green belt in Godley Green because of ‘government imposed housing targets’.

The proposed site of fields and pasture land is technically still in the green belt – and will remain so until the GMSF’s new iteration, Places for Everyone (which covers nine boroughs except Stockport) is approved by the Secretary of State, which is not expected until next year – and may be further delayed if challenged by judicial review.

But despite a lack of official sign off on the long-delayed housebuilding framework, Tameside council pressed on and submitted a planning application in October 2021. The cash-strapped authority had said that the development of a brand new village would generate up to £9m a year for its coffers.

And it was under further pressure to forge ahead due to time-frames set by Homes England, which had allocated £10m of funding to the scheme. But as of this summer, just £720k had been spent – and the remainder of the money is subject to what officers describe as ‘challenging milestones’, which require delivery by March 31 next year.

It is anticipated that the total build would take 15 years, with around 143 homes being built each year. The decisive planning meeting will take place at 10am at Guardsman Tony Downes House in Droylsden on November 1.