Stockport Council has issued an update over its plans to have 25,000 new homes built in the borough.

The council's draft local plan is currently being prepared, which sets out the future of housing and development up to 2042, with an affordable housing target of 50 per cent for new homes.

A public consultation, known as regulation 18, closed at the end of last year, and staff at the town hall are currently combing through the 3,800 responses received.

These were made in more than 5,700 online comments, 1,300 emails, and nearly 350 letters.

Major concerns were shared by residents about the draft plan, including how the borough will cope with thousands more cars on the roads, the extra pressure on schools and health facilities, and the loss of green belt land.

Some sites allocated for development in Stockport Council's draft local plan are part of the green belt, but could be released from their protected status and built on as part of the proposals.

Stockport council leader Mark Roberts, a Lib Dem councillor, said the town hall had been 'forced' to look at using green belt land by the Labour government's housing targets.

The Lib Dems are in control of Stockport town hall under a minority administration and have a 'brownfield first' housing policy.

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Following the public consultation on the local plan at the end of last year, council officers are considering whether any changes should be made to the proposals as they move ahead.

An updated version of the plan is expected to be shared later this year around summer.

Stockport council said in a report that its officers are also 'in contact with developers and landowners' to 'understand the level of evidence they have in place' for potential housing schemes.

The report added: 'This is required in order to demonstrate that those sites are able to deliver suitable development'.

Stockport council previously said it expects to adopt its local plan in winter 2027/2028.

A group of councillors met at the town hall on March 5 to discuss the local plan and the progress being made.

Green Party Councillor Liz Crix asked if the draft local plan would be changed to 'address some of the concerns of the public?'

Lib Dem Councillor Jake Austin, Stockport council's housing lead, said the draft local plan will not be 'completely different' by the time the next public consultation, known as regulation 19, comes around.

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He explained: "Given the position that we are in with the local plan, we are meeting just over 80 per cent of local housing need, I think it would be premature for me to say that there will be significant changes as a result of the consultation.

"The infrastructure side of things, in terms of identifying what local areas need to help cope with any new developments will be pretty vital, and most of that comes from the work that has happened post regulation 18 consultation, and that will be a significant change to what's happening with the plan.

"But in terms of the overall plan itself, the number of allocations, where those allocations are made, the team are still going through every single comment, so we can't say for certain whether or not the plan will be changed, but I would not expect a completely different local plan from regulation 18 to regulation 19."

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