Independent Councillor Adrian Owens says support for the new proposed local plan is crumbling even before the public consultation starts with the local MP, Rosie Cooper now opposing the plans put forward by her Labour council colleagues.

Cllr Owens said, “Our West Lancashire has been advising local residents to write to Rosie Cooper as the local MP.

"Initially, responses from the MP were non-committal and we advised residents further. Now however, clearly taken aback by the level of public anger at the proposals, Rosie Cooper has said that she does ‘not believe that West Lancashire Borough Council should build houses for Merseyside’”.

“Yet the Labour council’s plan proposes just that - building more than 6000 houses for Merseyside in West Lancashire’s green belt on prime farming land. So, this puts the MP in direct opposition to her own Labour council!”

Cllr Owens continued, “This particular proposal on Merseyside housing, along with idea to have a plan for 30 years, was why I said this draft local plan was based on entirely the wrong premise. I am delighted that the MP has reached the same conclusion.”

The Derby ward councillor who chairs the Our West Lancashire Council Group concluded by saying that Our West Lancashire would be holding further resident meetings in coming weeks and distributing leaflets to help inform people before making their representations during the public consultation which runs until 13th December.

It’s not like Cllr Owen to cause a s**t storm is it !!!

I have got a letter from the MP and she says that she does not want West Lancs to build houses for Merseyside. Well done the MP and a contrast to those councillors who don't seem to want to listen.

Some of us are old enough to remember the exaggerated promises made when Skem was to be developed, housing, the good life, lots of work investing much money directly into the local economy! None of this happened.

It’s a sad fact of life that this type of development becomes a burden to the the local economy, just how is the local government going to fund this extra cost like Welfare benefits, Housing support cost etc. We already suffer from lack of income because students/Landlords not paying tax! It would seem to me that the only way this can be funded is by massive increases in local tax, which of course won’t effect those who don’t pay any!

How and where are all these people going to fined employment and just how will these proposed development attract employers? And if it is as they say, why is this strategy not already implemented to indeed attract all this work.

It will not be the Labour Party’s magic money tree that ends up paying for all this, it will be the hard working local residents who do pay tax that has to foot the this bill. We tax paying residents already massively support student landlords the the tune of millions of pounds over many years! Now their asking us to support the Labour Parties pipe dreams of utopia! The last thing this area needs is another overspill town for Liverpool! With pie in the sky promises of village life and lots of employment, new schools, shops etc. We can’t fill the shops we’ve got never mind build more.

Development should be the other way round. Provide the work then build as required.

You gets what you vote for!