ANDY Burnham has vowed to stick to his campaign pledge of a ‘radical’ rewrite of the controversial Greater Manchester Spatial Framework plan.

The newly-elected Labour mayor of Greater Manchester said that his changes will result in a significant reduction in the amount of green belt land due to be lost.

Mr Burnham announced last week that Paul Dennett, current mayor of Salford, will lead his rewrite of the spatial framework blueprint as the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s portfolio lead for housing, planning and homelessness.

The document drew up plans for where thousands of new homes — including 12,000 in Bury — and industrial land would be located up to 2035.

Mr Burnham said: “It will result in a substantial reduction in the loss of green space across Greater Manchester. It will see a shift from more development on main roads, towards town centres.

“I want to set a new goal of revitalising our town centres with higher density development and I today issue a call to developers to help us in that work.”

Mr Burnham did not set any timescale for the re-drawing of the framework, saying that the most important thing was to get the plans right.

Under the current proposals, he claimed, Greater Manchester risked becoming a collection of “decaying” town centres surrounded by urban sprawl.

The former Leigh MP emphasised that it would not be possible to protect every piece of green belt land in the area, but vowed to listen to campaign groups who have fought hard against the spatial framework.

He added that outlying towns need ambitious development that will revitalise the area, and cited the regeneration of Bury town centre as an example to be followed.

Chris Russell, chairman of the Friends of Bury Folk campaign group, said: “I welcome any change to the Spatial Framework.

“We still believe there are vast swathes of green belt that are going to be attempted to be built on unless a local plan with our local thoughts is created. It’s welcome in a way but until we see some kind of result or consideration of our plight, we can’t really comment.

“We would welcome looking at it again. The level of dissatisfaction has been enormous.”

Mr Dennett said: “The whole concept of neighbourhoods and communities needs to be re-shaped.”

James Mason, who founded the Friends of Bury Folk group and is now running as a Tory candidate in the Radcliffe East by-election, said he was “emotional” after the announcement.

He added: “We hoped he would stay true to his word and it looks like he is doing which is wonderful.

“When I started this, I wanted to save one field, not a particular one, but it sounds like he’s going to try his best to do as much as he can.

“We are waiting to see something definite and we will keep the pressure on and make sure they keep their word.”

On plans for more affordable homes, Mr Burnham added: “What I would like to see is more focus on truly affordable housing in all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester. Building more council housing, building more social housing so that we deal with the housing crisis.

“In recent times there has been a focus on flagship, high-end development, on commuter homes. Those schemes will be important in driving Greater Manchester forward and we want to see them come to fruition. The focus does have to change now.”