A PROTEST walk to raise awareness of the potential development in south Warrington takes place tomorrow, Sunday.

The South Warrington Walk will give residents the chance to see green spaces in the area that will disappear, if the local plan preferred development option (PDO) proposals go ahead.

The woodland route passes sites in the area that could be built on.

It starts at Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden at 2pm and goes through Grappenhall Heys, Wrights Green and the Dingle.

Stretton resident John Appleton took the Warrington Guardian on the three-mile route on Thursday.

He said: “The main reasons for the South Warrington Walk are to give people an awareness of what is happening in the future, with the potential PDO through the council’s local plan, and also to raise awareness for the immediate plans for development at Grappenhall Heys and Appleton Cross.

“Those two areas have been earmarked for a long, long time.

“The PDO pushed out last year had a tsunami of objections from the populous of south Warrington.

“It was based on the fact the PDO wanted to build on green belt land – and that is exactly what the people of south Warrington don’t want to do.

“They don’t want the beautiful countryside taken up by housing.

“We don’t believe they will be accommodating the older people of the population and people who truly need affordable homes.

“And there are also issues with the infrastructure.

“I hope the council’s planning department have taken cognisance of the 4,000 plus objections they had to the original consultation – these people must listen to the voice of the population.

“If they still have their sights set on a garden city suburb, I think they will have a bit of a battle in the future.

“It has been very nice to see people unite – the voice of the general public really has started to bite on this particular occasion.

“It is very heartening to see individuals get up and do something.

“Also, we have managed to get individual parish councils in south Warrington talking to each other and working with each other to challenge and moderate what is happening with the PDO.”

There was widespread public anger over the local plan PDO, which proposed 24,000 new homes in the borough over the next two decades, including 9,000 on the green belt.

The council targeted getting the draft out in autumn at the earliest – but it is now anticipated to be published just before the turn of the year, prior to a further public consultation in early 2019.