A major plan that could shape Stockport's future over the next two decades has been published, including an additional 24,253 homes.

However the council boss responsible for delivering the scheme described it was 'a bitter pill to swallow'.

Stockport Council has published the latest version of its Local Plan, a key draft document that would set out development across the borough until 2042 and form a guide for developers and planners if approved. This would include thousands of new homes as well as new employment opportunities with a mix of brownfield and greenbelt development.

Between 2026 and 2031, the borough said it has found land on which to build 1,347 homes a year. This will increase to 2,137 homes a year between 2031 and 2036 before dropping to 1,139 homes a year for the final five years.

The plan is due to come before a scrutiny committee next week on September 14 as well as a meeting by the local authority's Liberal Democrat cabinet on September 15. If approved, the plan will go out for public feedback another time before an updated version is submitted to the government for consideration with hopes for final approval by the end of 2027.

Local plans have to be put in place by councils and in line with UK Government planning rules and housing targets. The council had initially prepared a plan in 2024 but this was scrapped after the UK Government increased housing targets.

If the local authority does not deliver a plan in a timely manner, Matthew Pennycook MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning has threatened to take over Stockport's planning department. The council is now also expected to approve more planning applications after Stockport was deemed to be one of the worst performing councils in the country over housing delivery.

Following requests for public feedback at the end of 2025, the local authority received around 7,500 responses which has prompted a number of changes in the plan. 441 homes have been removed as the schemes were deemed to be undeliverable while 427 homes have been added.

The plan includes around 8,000 homes in Stockport town centre and there has been much praise of the local authority's regeneration programme, widely lauded as a blueprint for growth and town centre revival across the UK. However this does not come close to meeting government targets setting out nearly 32,000 homes are needed by 2042.

Councillor Jake Austin, the cabinet member overseeing the plan's development, explained the gap between government targets and the number of homes in the council's draft plan. He said this was down to site availability and the evidence the council had to hand but would be 'without catastrophic damage to what the area of Stockport is going to look like."

Cllr Austin said the Liberal Democrats would have stuck to their original plans protecting large areas of greenbelt but this was not possible under current planning rules. He said the government was also 'breathing down their neck' over possible intervention leaving them with no choice.

The council's leadership and Stockport's two Liberal Democrat MPs Tom Morrison and Lisa Smart have written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham over the issue. They have pointed to comments made during the Makerfield by-election campaign over greenbelt development.

Cllr Austin also called for the government to fund major infrastructure projects which he said would combat the impact of new housing. This included a possible bypass from the A6 to the M60 easing congestion as well as an extension of Metrolink across the borough improving public transport connections.

Despite this being a significant stage in the development of the council's plan, he said: "Our worry is that the government will think that is not enough but I am confident in our Local Plan and the evidence we have gathered.

"We know the direction that the government is going here and as Liberal Democrats in Stockport, that worries us. There's a significant amount of evidence in the Local Plan.

"Our officers have done everything they can to try and match the housing targets [the government] have set us. We can't go any further. The evidence is quite clear is that it is impossible for Stockport to go further without even more damage inflicted on what Stockport looks like."

Cllr Austin added: "To have this change to the planning system from the government that does not allow us to restrict the blanket building of housing development and maintain the character of Stockport as we would like to do is a bitter pill to swallow."