Councils across Greater Manchester are set to create a joint land supply plan to support jobs and housing growth over the next 20 years.
The region’s 10 councils are consulting on the proposal - believed to be the first of its kind in the country - with a view to producing a draft joint development plan document next year.
It would link with individual authorities’ own local plans and help them ‘identify and make available land to deliver ambitious strategic priorities’.
Eamonn Boylan, Greater Manchester lead chief executive on planning and housing, said: ‘We need to use this evidence to underpin a strategic discussion in Greater Manchester on how we manage our land supply to meet our aspirations for housing and employment growth.
‘We need to go beyond the numbers game to discuss the sort of housing we need, and how that housing will help Greater Manchester keep and attract the skilled people we will need and the businesses which will provide future jobs.
‘This is a radical step and reflects our ambition for Greater Manchester to manage the challenge of growth across all 10 authorities in a coherent way. Our work is underpinned by a shared ambition to increase the prosperity of the people of Greater Manchester.
‘Our regional centre provides employment for those living far beyond our boundaries, and the challenge and opportunity is to achieve the benefits of a larger market that greater connectivity can bring.’
Leaders of the 10 councils recently agreed to set up a housing delivery agency to deal with the management of public sector land and negotiation with Government over future funding.
