Land use plan - Manchester Airport

Operational Area and Green Belt
Green Belt
The majority of the Airport lies within the Green Belt, and
has done since 1961. National policy includes a general
presumption against inappropriate development within
Green Belts. The objective is to restrict the sprawl of
urban centres, to prevent the coalescence of
neighbouring towns and to preserve the character of
individual settlements. Green Belts also provide suitable
locations for recreational development and act as a
buffer between rural areas and the pressures of growing
towns. Development within Green Belts is heavily
restricted to a small number of defined uses. For
developments that are not in line with Green Belt policy,
it must be clearly demonstrated that ‘very special
circumstances’ exist.
In 1974, Manchester City Council and the former Greater
Manchester Council, recognised the special
characteristics of the Airport and its importance to the
North West by acknowledging the need to consider
airport development as an exception to normal Green
Belt policy. This approach was set out in the Green Belt
Subject Plan and was continued into the Ringway Local
Plan. With the re-statement of national policy in PPG2
(1995), Government discouraged this approach of
customising Green Belt policy to suit particular or local
circumstances, however the UDP included the special
circumstances that would support airport related
development within the Operational Area. The
Macclesfield Borough Plan also allocated sites within the
Green Belt as Airport Operational Area.
In the review of the UDP, the Operational Area within
Manchester was designated as a Major Developed Site
within the Green Belt. Within Major Developed Sites,
limited infilling and redevelopment are considered to be
appropriate development provided that they meet certain
criteria set out in Annex C. Developments that do not
meet the infill or redevelopment criteria (but conform to
the established list of uses) have to demonstrate that
very special circumstances exist.
Although PPG2 recognises that Green Belts do contain
civil airfields, it is clear that national planning policy and
guidance was not prepared with the particular features of
airports in mind. A Major Developed Site allocation is
more appropriate to former hospital sites or educational
establishments where a central cluster of buildings sits in
open land.
The Air Transport White Paper identified that a number of
major airports, including Manchester, are situated in
Green Belts where there is a general presumption against
inappropriate development and that such development
should not be approved unless there are very special
circumstances. In bringing forward proposals for airport
development, it has generally been accepted that this
test has been met.
The White Paper recognised that there was no clear view
on how the different considerations might be reconciled.
A review of PPG2 was planned for 2004, but it has yet to
take place. Given the importance of capturing the
economic benefits that the growth of the Airport brings,
and to provide clarity and certainty, we consider that
there is now a need to take a different approach to the
planning policy framework.
Airports are huge sites, often with large open areas,
especially the airfield with its runways and taxiways. It is
considered that overall the Airport performs a useful
Green Belt function. However the main developed areas
including the terminal complexes, the World Freight
Terminal, and the aircraft maintenance village are
increasingly built up and do not contribute to the
openness of the Green Belt. This openness is one of the
key functions of Green Belt policy.
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