https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OFqoK_TSsg

WIRRALS GREEN BELT IS NOT SAFE! DEVELOPERS HAVE ALREADY SURVEYED THE FIELDS AND PUT IN PLANNING APPLICATIONS!! - WE NEED YOUR HELP TO FUND EXPERT LEGAL AND PLANNING REPRESENTATIVES TO CHALLENGE THE DEVELOPERS AT THE LOCAL PLAN EXAMINATION AND LEVERHULME'S PLANNING INQUIRY!

Green Belt Sites across the Wirral are at risk of development, including sites in Bebington, Clatterbridge, Eastham, Bromborough, Greasby, Frankby, Irby, Heswall, Hoylake, Meols, Saughall Massie, Moreton, Pensby, Thingwall, Prenton, Upton, West Kirby, Caldy and Thursaston.

We are now FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS and are raising funds to have expert representation at BOTH THE LOCAL PLAN EXAMINATION AND THE LEVERHULME PUBLIC INQUIRY WE NEED TO RAISE AT LEAST £40,000

There was massive public outcry in 2018/19 when Wirral Council stated that up to 50 Green Belt sites would need to be released. Following, Council elections in 2019, when a number of Councillors lost their seats, the Council listened to the public and worked hard to identify sufficient brownfield sites for 20,000 houses. They now say that they want no Green Belt to be released. The Council have now produced a Brownfield only Local Plan, which has been sent to the Local Plan Inspector. The Local Plan Examination in Public is currently scheduled to start on 18th April 2023.

HOWEVER, Developers are CHALLENGING THE BROWN FIELD ONLY LOCAL PLAN. They have submitted hundreds of documents (representations) to the Local Plan Inspector explaining why they think the Councils Local Plan is "unsound"

13 Local House Builders and Landowners have formed the Wirral Development Consortium and have lined up an expensive team of experts to REPRESENT THEM at the Local Plan Examination Hearings. This includes a Senior Barrister, Rupert Warren, KC, who specialises in obtaining planning permission on Green Belt and often also succeeds in removing the requirement for affordable homes.

Legal Fees are expensive. A Senior Barrister costs £1000s per day and we want to be able to have a good legal team and other experts representing us on as many days as possible at the Local Plan Public Examination.

The Developers in the Consortium made approx. £3,900,000,000 (£3.9 billion) in profit last year building approx. 60,000 houses. Thats a profit of approx. £65,000 per house. They have no problem in paying for their expensive legal teams. They want to build on sites across the Wirral and are hoping to make £millions more from destroying our precious Green Belt. They argue that the Councils Housing Need Figure of 835 Houses per year is too low. They argue that Brownfield sites, identified by the Council are not viable, so Green Belt must be released. We believe that the housing figure is too high and that there are plenty of Brownfield sites to meet the housing need. PLEASE DONATE TO THE WIRRAL GREEN SPACE ALLIANCE LEGAL FIGHTING FUND to allow us to CHALLENGE THESE DEVELOPERS ON YOUR BEHALF at the Local Plan Examination in Public.

The house builders and Landowners in the Wirral Development Consortium want to build on Green Belt Land across the Wirral. They include:

Barratt, Bellway Homes, Bloor Homes, Countryside Properties, Elan Homes, Leverhulme Estates, Stewart Milne Homes, Mill Lane Estates, Miller Homes, Persimmon Homes, Redrow Homes and Russell Homes

In addition, Leverhulme Estates have submitted Planning Applications for over 1000 houses on eight sites in Irby, Pensby, Greasby, Barnston, Heswall and Raby Mere. And this is just Phase 1 of their Vision, with Phase 2 and 3 already planned. The Council have refused the Planning Applications, but Leverhulmes have appealed to the Government Planning Inspector and there will be a Public Inquiry. We are now having to fight these Developers on TWO FRONTS AT THE SAME TIME. The Local Plan Examination Hearings currently start on 18th April. There is also the Leverhulmes Public Inquiry which will be held over 25 days from May to July. However, we are aware that there are on-going discussions in the Council and the Planning Inspectorate about the timings of these hearings with the Local Plan Examination potentially being paused until the Leverhulme Appeal Hearings have been heard!

Should the Local Plan Inspector agree with Leverhulmes Appeal and allow them to build on the Green Belt then there will be no stopping them and the Councils Brownfield Only Local Plan will be in tatters. Leverhulmes phase 2 and 3 would see 7754 house built on 416 Ha of Green Belt across Wirral.

Some may say that the timing of the planning applications, by Leverhulmes is deliberate. Have they sat on their Vision since 2020 but have chosen to put the planning applications in when they knew the Local Plan Examination was imminent? Perhaps, it is designed to overwhelm Council Officers, the public and groups who are opposed to Green Belt development, as they are also dealing with the upcoming Local Plan Examination. You may be forgiven for thinking that the timing by Leverhulmes is intended to hit the opposition with a DOUBLE WHAMMY of dealing with two Public Examinations/ Inquiries at once designed to DELIBERATELY DRAIN THE OPPOSITION of time, energy, resources and (crucially) money. Such deliberate tactics are common with Developers.

It is interesting to note that Leverhulmes Planning Advisor is also a Planning Inspector and will be very familiar with the timings of local plans and planning inquiries. His website states that he has been the Governments Planning Inspector in over 1000 Planning Inquiries.

We are working hard to challenge these Developers ON YOUR BEHALF, but WE CANT DO IT WITHOUT YOUR HELP. We have ALREADY ENGAGED a Legal and Planning team and other experts, but costs are expensive. We estimate we will need to raise AT LEAST £40,000 in order to have these experts representing us at the most important hearing days for the Local Plan Examination AND the Public Inquiry. We have raised significant sums already but much of these generous donations have already been spent on expert advice. WE NEED MUCH MUCH MORE! THE NUMBER OF DAYS THAT WE CAN HAVE EXPERTS CHALLENGING THESE DEVELOPERS WILL DEPEND ENTIRELY ON THE GENEROSITY OF THE PUBLIC.

Our Green Belt is so important, it provides our food, it helps prevent flooding, it provides refuges for wildlife, it helps cool our local environment (last year we hit 40 degrees), it helps reduce air pollution, it improves our health and wellbeing and it provides an essential part of the Wirrals special character. We are in a climate emergency and food production will become more difficult and expensive. Recent international geo-political crises (Ukraine etc) have also proved that it is more important than ever to save our farmland for food production.

The Council has identified it has enough space for 20,000 houses on Brownfield on the Wirral more than enough to meet the Local Plan Housing Targets and to help satisfy its Regeneration Strategy. There is no need to destroy our precious Green Belt.

The Wirral Green Space Alliance is a not for profit, non-political organisation. It is an Alliance of a number of Local Environmental and Green Belt Groups who are working hard to SAVE OUR PRECIOUS GREEN BELT. The Lead Group of The Alliance is the Wirral Society (CPRE, Wirral), a registered charity. The Alliance also includes:

Conservation Areas Wirral (CAW), Wirral Footpaths and Open Spaces Preservation Society, Wirral Barn Owl Trust, Irby Thursaston and Pensby Amenity Society (ITPAS), Frankby Conservation Society, The Heswall Society, The Mountwood Society, Barnston Conservation Society, Wirral Ramblers, Greasby Green Belt Action Group, The Caldy Society, Thornton Hough Community Trust, DEFEND Wirrals Green and Open Spaces, Barnston Conservation Society, Storeton Residents Association, Wirral Wildlife (Cheshire Wildlife Trust).

Further information can be found on The Wirral Societys web site: https://wirralsociety.net/

Please donate as little or as much as you can afford. Whether you can afford £1 or £100 every donation will help us to fight these Developers and protect our Beautiful Wirral for Future Generations.

Expert fees are incredibly expensive and we anticipate all donations will be used to cover fees. However, in the unlikely event that donations may be left over, once the Public Inquiry and Local Plan has concluded, donations will be used by the WGSA (and its associate organisations) to continue fighting to protect Wirrals Green Spaces.

Thank you for your support. SAVE THE GREEN BELT ONCE ITS GONE, ITS GONE FOREVER!