Under-fire leader reminded he ‘works for’ residents during heated discussion

The leader’s forum – which gives residents the chance to press the man in charge at the Town Hall on key issues – came to Grappenhall Cricket Club on Tuesday evening.

Serious concerns were raised during the 90-minute event, particularly around the local plan, green belt release and infrastructure.

Cllr Bowden (LAB – Birchwood) was met with criticism a number of times as emotions ran high.

Save Warrington campaign group member Julie Kueres made her views clear to the leader.

She said: “Other authorities involve the public in the very early stages of the local plan preparation process but you decided on the core of the plan, and then you decided what would be the preferred development option (PDO), before you even asked the people anything.

“It’s not the Government who are forcing this upon us, it’s you who have decided on mass growth, but we don’t want any more than the Government minimum.

“A local plan is supposed to be a community-led plan. You can’t have a community-led plan when the community has not been involved.

“We have a right to be involved. It is our plan and our town – you work for us.

“The local plan PDO public consultation was a farce. We don’t want this mass growth.”

Ms Kueres was met with applause by those in attendance after airing her views.

But Cllr Bowden says he refutes the idea the local plan is purely a ‘push for growth’ and told residents ‘retaining local control’ for development is essential for the future of the borough.

Town Hall

“In terms of process, delivering a local plan is highly complex and highly technical and it involves a lot of professional planning input and guidance,” he said.

“I recognise people question what the council is proposing but I can absolutely guarantee that if the Government takes control of the process we will not have any local direction over consent on planning applications.

“If you look at the rate of house-building in Warrington, currently it is around 300 to 400 a year.

“In real terms, do we think that Warrington will deliver 900 homes a year? Quite possibly not.

“There are lots of technical reasons why the plan could fall over, particularly around the issue of green belt.

“No plan will ever pass that examination in public if it is asking for green belt release before all other options have been exhausted.”

The draft aims to deliver 18,900 new homes – or 945 a year – up until 2037.

Green belt land has been earmarked for up to 7,064 homes and 213 hectares of employment land.

Cllr Ryan Bate (LD – Grappenhall) asked if the housing number could be reassessed in order to bring down the figures.

READ MORE > Concerns over 'overstating' of Local Plan options

However, Cllr Bowden told him that he understands the Labour-run council has already held discussions with the Government over trying to ‘push back’ housing numbers.

He added: “If I was being honest, the Government has got a vested interest in this plan, if you look at the amount of land Homes England owns in Warrington, for example.

“What the Government wants to do is realise some of that asset value, so inevitably they are not going to be too supportive of the council trying to wriggle out of its obligations.”