Stockport Council has been labelled 'the worst' local authority in the north of England for delivering new homes, according to newly released government figures.
Data published by the UK Government shows the borough delivered 1,457 homes against the 3,408 homes the government said were needed between 2022 and 2025. This represents a drop of 11% compared to the previous assessment of housing delivery between 2020 and 2023, and just 43% of the homes needed.
Stockport bottom of housing delivery league table
The latest figures place Stockport at the bottom of the government's league table for housing delivery in the North West of England. Stockport Labour said the figures were worse than those for the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber as well. The southern parcel is expected to deliver around 800 homes, with 550 in the north and 200 in the east.
By contrast, Manchester delivered 75% of the housing required, while Trafford achieved 83% and Bolton 87%. Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Tameside and Wigan all delivered more than 100% of the homes needed.
Council told to add 20% buffer on housing land
As a result, Stockport Council has been told it needs to add a 20% buffer on land given over to housing, likely increasing pressure for greenbelt development. Residential applications must now also be decided with a presumption in favour of approval, which will make it easier for developers.
However, Greater Manchester Mayor Bev Craig recently praised Stockport alongside Salford for building more social rent homes than the number being lost. She said the borough was 'helping turn the tide on the housing crisis' when announcing a new generation of 50,000 council, social and genuinely affordable homes by 2039.
Political clash over housing record
Councillor Rachel Wise, leader of Stockport's Labour group, slammed the council for being 'the worst-performing council in the North of England', adding: 'This administration cannot blame the market or blame Westminster, because councils facing the same conditions built the homes and Stockport did not.'
She added: 'There are over 9,500 households in housing need in Stockport and a wait of up to twelve years for a home. Families in this borough are being placed in temporary accommodation, and some are being moved out of Stockport altogether.'
Wise continued: 'Stockport Labour called these figures damning eighteen months ago and warned exactly what would follow if nothing changed. Nothing changed. The numbers are worse now than they were then, and the borough has gone backwards while every other council in the North moved forward.'
Liberal Democrat council leader Mark Roberts hit back, criticising Labour for not delivering a plan for development when it led the local authority between 2016 and 2022. A Local Plan is currently being developed by the current administration, though its delivery has been pushed back.
Coun Roberts said their work to do this had been 'drastically delayed' by Labour and Conservative governments changing the rules to help developers, adding: 'We, as Liberal Democrats, are focused on delivering where they have not. The local plan is being built in the face of extraordinary pressure from developers and the Labour government to allow mass development at any cost and without the infrastructure needed to be sustainable.'
He added: 'We have shown with our draft local plan in 2024, that there is a route forward to delivering sustainable housing on our brownfield sites within our town and district centres. Labour have chosen to ignore that plan and ignore local people. Stockport is buzzing, with new homes being delivered for all to see, our town centre regeneration is being hailed as a blueprint for towns across the country by the new PM. It's disappointing that Labour locally only seem interested in talking down our town as they carp from the sidelines in a desperate bid to seem relevant.'
