Two more Godley Green consultation sessions announced

There will be two more opportunities for people to have their say on controversial plans to create the Godley Green Garden Village in Hyde. 

Tameside Council has arranged two further consultation sessions on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 March for people to give their views on the proposed new development. 

For more information and to book onto the engagement sessions, visit www.godleygreen.com.

The scheme would involve building up to 2,350 homes of all types and is one of the largest and most ambitious regeneration programmes in the North West. 

It would stretch from Mottram Old Road across to Hattersley and Hattersley Station, towards Godley Station and to Alder Community High School.

The council say it has been designed to meet demand for homes, jobs and associated facilities in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way. 

However, a petition against the plans has received more than 2,500 signatures, while a Facebook group called 'Save Tameside Greenbelt' has amassed more than 3,300 members as concern grows about the size and scale of the new green zone development.

The group, originally set up in 2016 to protect greenbelts across Tameside from the impact of the then proposed Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, has raised concerns about transport and travel, as well as GPs, dentists and high schools locally already being oversubscribed. 

Greater Manchester Combined Authority recognised the development as having the potential to satisfy as much as a quarter of Tameside’s housing requirements over the next 10-15 years, but opponents believe this comes at too high a cost. 

Godley Green project lead Cllr Ged Cooney said: “Like all UK councils, Tameside is constantly planning for the future to make sure social and economic needs are properly met.

"There simply isn’t enough former industrial or “brownfield” land in the borough to meet our housing needs, so we want to develop Godley Green as a garden village neighbourhood linked to the surrounding communities, served by Hattersley Station, and offering new jobs, apprenticeships, and facilities." 

Cllr Oliver Ryan, Tameside Council’s executive member for finance and economic growth, added: “As we’ve said all along, we want the project to be community-led, not developer-led, so I would encourage people to get involved in the consultation sessions we’re arranging. The scheme represents a break from the old piecemeal methods and an integral feature of that break is the involvement of the public at every stage.”

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