WELL hasn’t this been a really good start to the New Year?

News that Bury Council has capitulated in an extraordinary fashion to the behest of the GMSF is now in the public domain.

Our local council has rolled over and allowed the all powerful GMSF to ride roughshod over the requirements of the folk of Bury. Lambs to the slaughter Bury Council with no backbone to stand up and be counted.

Over the next 10 years or so, Bury will become the Trafford Park of north Manchester with more than a million square meters of industrial space created, decimated green belt sites such as that surrounding the beautiful Elton Reservoir and the fields behind and beyond Christ Church at Walshaw plus other areas surrounding Hollins et al.

There are 3,500 houses to be built on the land surrounding Elton reservoir and more than 1,200 behind Christ Church with a new main road being pushed through to take traffic from Bury Bolton Road to an area near Newbank Garden Centre.

I wonder which bright spark thought that one through.

Let’s move some of the traffic from one congested road system to another congested road system instead of it being funnelled to Bury Bridge.

My word, you couldn’t make this up, could you.

Let's then add in the mix of the additional housing in both areas and as the current trend seems to be at least two cars per household it doesn’t require a degree in maths to work out the end result.

From this, of course, comes pollution and as Bury is already near the top of the most polluted towns in the UK we should begin to fear for our health.

Let’s hope that the ingenious minds at Bury Council can create a health care system that is able to manage the end results.

Once all of this asphalt and concrete is laid, then will Bury Council support all of those who live in flood-risk areas because the water fall off will have nowhere to go once the fields disappear.

All of this we were told would be taken into consideration and our council leader stands on his own petard telling us that he will protect our green spaces, that he is going to ensure that the air which we breath is unpolluted and that he wants to ensure that our quality of life is not pushed into second place.

Absolute rubbish, Cllr Shori.

You have allowed this borough to offer up a completely disproportionate amount of our, not your, green spaces.

You want to sign off on the decimation of the wildlife in the areas proposed, you want to commit each and every commuter who currently uses the road infrastructure to absolute misery each morning and each evening, you want to subject all of us to increased levels of pollution and you want to deprive us of our open spaces where we walk, play and relax.

The GMSF document is full of marketing speak and platitudes. Well it’s unacceptable and I for one will do anything that I can to prevent this monstrosity engulfing this borough.

John Edgington

Whitecroft Drive

Bury