The Consultation on the Greater Manchester Spacial Framework set back the Greater Manchester Combined Authority £91,856
The figure, revealed from an FOI by the Liberal Democrats, is said to be the ‘tip of the ice-berg’ according to Councillor Jane Brophy.
Jane Brophy, the Liberal Democrat Mayoral Candidate, has withdrawn her support for the Greater Manchester Spacial Framework process saying it should be scrapped.
Jane said, “The consultation over the biggest planning issue since the Second World War has been an unmitigated disaster. Now we find out that it has been a costly disaster.
The £90,000, spent mostly on outside PR consultants, is just the tip of the ice-berg. The figures we have do not include individual Council’s spending. When you factor in individual council’s spend – this figure could be in the hundreds of thousands.”
The cost of the consultation included nearly £5,000 on spin doctors, £15,000 on press adverts and £30,000 on staff. Over 25,000 angry people responded to the consultation – one of the biggest ever response rates for a consultation of this type.
Labour Leader of Rochdale Council, Councillor Richard Farnell pocketed £5,000 for his role leading the consultation.
Jane said, “This was a Labour-led consultation, supported by the Conservatives, that was doomed from the start. The greenbelt sites proposed for development were handpicked by developers. This top-down style of consultation has brought communities together from across Greater Manchester. Communities are saying a firm ‘no’ to building on their green spaces. Like me, tens of thousands of local people believe that this flawed, botched consultation should be chucked out. The Liberal Democrats are the only major political party to be united against this. Andy Burnham is feigning concern. I am afraid his fair weather, indecisive style of politics doesn’t exactly inspire campaigners that building on our green belt won’t happen. The only way to protect our green belt is to vote Liberal Democrat next month.”
