Concerns have been raised about people in Stockport living in 'insecure' and 'overcrowded' homes.

The town's MP, Navendu Mishra, said there are 'too many families' in the borough living in difficult conditions.

He raised the issues in parliament during prime minister's questions last week, and criticised the councillors in Stockport who in 2020 voted down the chance to join a Greater Manchester-wide housing plan.

"In Stockport, approximately 20 per cent of families live in social housing," the Labour MP said in the House of Commons.

"After Stockport Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors blocked the Greater Manchester spatial framework (GMSF) proposal in 2020, the need for social housing is even more critical.

"Far too many families are living in insecure, overcrowded accommodation and waiting years for a suitable family home."

Last year, it was revealed that there were around 8,000 people on the borough's social housing register, with some facing a wait of up to 12 years.

Stockport MP Navendu Mishra (Image - Declan Carey LDRS)

During PMQs last week, Sir Keir Starmer said the government will help to create more homes around the country.

"Our £39bn investment will deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes, with at least 60pc of homes delivered for social rent," he said.

"While we do not intend to remove the right to buy, which helps social tenants to get on the property ladder, we are reforming the scheme to protect social housing stock and encourage councils to deliver more new homes."

Stockport council is led by the Lib Dems under the leadership of Mark Roberts.

It is currently progressing its local plan for housing, which will help guide decisions about new development up until 2041.

The council also has a 'brownfield-first' policy to housebuilding, which includes massive regeneration work across the town centre.

Cllr Jake Austin, the town hall's cabinet member for housing, said the Labour government has forced planning changes onto Stockport since winning the general election last year.

New housebuilding targets – shared by the government in December – nearly doubled the number of homes needed to be built in Stockport each year, increasing the figure up to 1,906.

Cllr Austin said: "We have been working extremely hard to develop a local plan that is right for the people of Stockport, balancing the housing we need with the right policies and protections our communities rightly demand from us – but government keep changing the game.

"We delivered on this last year, producing a draft local plan to deliver almost 16,000 homes, over 14,000 of them entirely on brownfield sites. We then had the rug pulled from under our feet when the Labour government suddenly doubled our housing target, taking us back to the drawing board."

He added that the council 'remains cautious' as it waits for more details about changes to social housing and the right-to-buy scheme, and pointed out that Stockport was one of the only areas of the country to miss out on the government's £600m recovery fund.

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