A pledge by the new Chancellor to build on Green Belt has raised concerns in Wirral as the borough's long-overdue 'Local Plan' enters the final stages.

On Monday, in her first speech since being appointed, The Rt Hon Rachel Reeves announced that councils, including Wirral, will be instructed to review Green Belt boundaries, while also changing the National Planning Policy Framework to favour development and reintroducing mandatory housing targets.

The leader of Wirral's Conservative Group, councillor Jeff Green, said he will urge council leader, Cllr Paul Stuart, to stick to the Local Plan that has been agreed. 

In response, Cllr Stuart said: "Our Green Belt is not up for sale!"

Cllr Green said: "While I congratulate the Chancellor on her historic appointment, her directives do not sit well with the promises made during the campaign to enable more decision making to made at a local level.

"All parties in Wirral joined with us to make a commitment to protect Wirral’s Green Belt although in the case of the Labour Councillors, this was 15 years after the Blair Government instructed them to do so.

"Wirral’s draft Local Plan will deliver new homes, but instead of using Green Belt as a previous Council Leader wanted, it will see the run down urban areas of the Borough redeveloped instead.

"My concern now is that, following the Chancellor’s directive, speculators and developers will once again try their luck at building on our Green Belt. Or, worse, that the new Government will rip up our draft Local Plan and instruct us to start again.

"We have 17,322 acres of Green Belt in Wirral. In view of the new Government’s policy I will be asking the Leader of the Council to assure us that he will stick to the Local Plan we’ve agreed and not be pressured by his Party to water down Wirral’s commitment to protect, preserve and enhance our precious Green Belt.

“Labour Councillors have agreed with us, until today, on this policy. I hope they will maintain their support now.

“Arbitrary, national housing targets using fancy formulas, are not the solution to Wirral’s housing needs.

"I doubt if many of the 5,691 families on the housing waiting list will benefit from this change of policy."

In response, the Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Paul Stuart, said: "Wirral's Local Plan is exceptional, as it presents a pro-growth, brownfield-only strategy. The Plan boldly confronts social inequality by pledging to provide our borough with much-needed homes, jobs, and infrastructure.

"A Labour-led council in Wirral has created the only Brownfield Local Plan in the UK, clearly demonstrating that there is no requirement to encroach on the Green Belt to meet our housing needs.

"Councillor Green's recent scaremongering and dissemination of misinformation fails to acknowledge his neglect of the Local Plan when he was the council leader."

He continued: "Cllr Green is the single source of speculative statements, insinuating to developers that our green belt is available for development.

"As the Leader of Wirral Council, I want to make it clear that despite Cllr Green's assertions to "speculators and developers," our Green Belt is not up for sale!

"With the Tories in power for 14 years, the country faces a chronic shortage of homes. In Wirral, there are nearly 600 households assessed as homeless, with over 400 more households at risk of being assessed as homeless.

"Our 'brownfield only' Plan will address these challenges by delivering much-needed housing and regeneration in Seacombe, Liscard, and Birkenhead. Our Local Plan, supported by our local communities with full cross-party support, aims to provide 14,400 new homes between now and 2040, all of which will be developed on existing brownfield sites.

"Wirral is poised to have its Local Plan, being one of the first to be adopted under our new Labour Government."