In your proposed plan you highlight the definitions set out by the government for what green belt is and how it should be protected. The definitions for what constitutes acceptable in using it and which parts of it should not be used. These points are listed below with the reasons why this proposed plan breaks these legl obligations thus making the plan neither legal, sound or falling in line with duty to cooperate.
a) to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; If the proposed plan in south Warrington goes ahead it will create a very large built up area of housing in comparison to the level of housing that already exists in the south of Warrington. It might only be a small percentage of greenbelt over Warrington overall but this is concentrated in one area and the sheer volume of housing would create a large built up area that would destroy the aesthetic of the local area not to mention the impact on carbon emissions for the local community.
b) to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another; If the proposed plan was to go ahead this would make the boundaries between the local communities namely, Stretton, Appleton, Appleton Thorn, Grappenhall less clear and impact these historic areas of warrington.
c) to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment; The south of Warrington became a lifeline for people during the pandemic with many people using the area to get out in the open air with plenty of space to avoid contact with others and really utilise the countryside. The propsed plans would greatly reduce the amount of countryside in the south of Warrington that is easily accessed by the public.
d) to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; If the proposed plan were to go ahead these beautiful historic areas of Warrington that are little communities would need to be expanded to have services to support the local communities that would move to the area expanding these areas and removing the special character of these places.
e) to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.?
The new plans in the south of Warrington do not utilise urban regeneration of derelict and other urban land instead they would use the Green belt that is there to protect from all the points raised by the government in this section of the report.
Paragraph 140 states that Green Belt boundaries should only be altered where exceptional circumstances are fully evidenced and justified. Paragraph 142 adds that: ?Where it has been concluded that it is necessary to release Green Belt land for development, plans should give first consideration to land which has been previously-developed and/or is well-served by public transport. They should also set out ways in which the impact of removing land from the Green Belt can be offset through compensatory improvements to the environmental quality and accessibility of remaining Green Belt land.?
When defining Green Belt boundaries, paragraph 143 requires plans to:
?e) be able to demonstrate that Green Belt boundaries will not need to be altered at the end of the plan period.
However these boundaries are already being changed from the last part of the councils plan to add more housing which saw housing estates by Barrat homes (Kings Quater, Saviours Place and Orchard Meadows) These homes have been and are in the process of being built on green belt and now the council is moving the boundaries to create more homes on expanded boundaries of these.