THIS is a personal response to the letter which you printed on March 9 under the heading “Not put off by Greenbelt bullies” and while I am a member of one of the groups loosely referred to in the letter, I am not being bullied into writing this response.

The un-named writer seems to have a deep insight into the supposed facts behind the GMSF.

However, the writer is giving a very naive opinion to what is actually happening under these proposals.

Were he or she to look closer at the numbers quoted in the GMSF, particularly in relation to population growth, numbers per capita per household, etc, then he or she would realise that there has been a large amount of creative thinking going on by those who wish to concrete over our greenbelt.

Firstly, let’s deal with the bullying. In one group alone, there were more than 6,000 very vocal local people who were aghast when faced with “plans, what plans, consultation, what consultation, GMSF, what is that, maps, what maps, deadline to object, what deadline”.

Just exactly who is the bully here? Well I will put it to you the un-named writer of the letter that the bullying is coming from our local council and the bureaucrats who are running the Greater Manchester Council and surrounding councils who choose not to listen to the voices of those who they are supposed to represent.

Had local people not been made aware of the proposals then the first deadline would have passed and we would now be watching the next phase of the plan being kicked into action.

Bury Council is just a pawn in the move to create a Northern Power House and while this is happening, the good folk of this town will be swept along as debris with decisions being made that are irreversible and which will have a devastating effect upon the quality of life of folk who have chosen to live in this borough.

These decisions will affect generations way beyond my lifetime, but not that of my children and grandchildren.

You are naive if you believe that the proposals which have been put forward will not have a direct effect upon almost every family who lives along or near any of the main access routes into the town.

Traffic and its subsequent pollution has been identified as being a significant cause of a variety of illnesses, admittedly some of which are not as serious as others, but if you are the sufferer, then I am sure that you would dispute the lack of seriousness.

Secondly, let’s discuss the claim that we are suffering from nimbyism at its worst.

That actually is a direct insult to all of the people who are going to be affected by the proposals under the GMSF to develop our greenbelt.

Not in my back yard is the description of this word, but in one group alone, that number was more than 6,000 and that does not include other groups around Bury.

In reality, most of us accept that there will be some building on greenbelt, but only after all of the brownbelt sites have been built on and that space could and probably will increase over years to come.

Greenbelt when developed, however, is gone forever. Add to this the loss of open space in which thousands of residents currently walk, play and exercise. The irreversible loss of wildlife and habitats will also be a consequence of the amount of greenbelt destruction that was listed in the proposal.

If the current proposals go ahead, how long do you think it will before the areas to which you refer as outside of the proposal will then be targeted by developers who incidentally have had a significant input into the choice and location of land to be developed?

These are concerns for all of us, not just those who suffer from nimbyism because these proposals will affect almost every family living in this borough and the areas surrounding it.

Our hospitals are full, our roads are congested and cannot cope, our doctors surgeries are overrun and our schools are full and so far we have not seen one single suggestion as to how any of these bottlenecks can be relieved.

If we add to that the significant increase in the risk of flooding then the area of those suffering from nimbyism increases yet again.

John Edgington

Bury