ST HELENS Council has agreed to open a public consultation on proposals to release green belt land at sites across the borough after hearing "there are insufficient suitable brownfield sites to accommodate the housing and employment need".

Councillors agreed at a cabinet meeting in St Helens Town Hall that a consultation was necessary on the plans which propose to use areas of green belt land to build more than 4,000 houses in the next 15 years and bring more employment development into outlying areas.

According to the report, St Helens currently has 8,844 hectares of green belt, which makes up 65 per cent of the borough - the revised green belt would cover 56 per cent of the borough.

The cabinet discussed how St Helens has more green belt land than nearby boroughs in the Liverpool City Region such as Sefton with 51.4 per cent, Knowsley with 48.7 per cent, Wirral with 46.6 per cent and Liverpool with 4.7 per cent.

Councillor John Fulham, cabinet member for growth, discussed how there are insufficient suitable brownfield sites to accommodate the housing and employment needs and that the use of greenfield sites

He said: “The patches of land outside the green belt are too small and disconnected and distant from transport network to be attractive to employers.

“We have the largest green belt in the region and we propose to use a small portion of our substantial green belt to advance it and make it accessible to our young people and transform their prospects.

“Much of the proposed land is farmland and a small reduction in that greenbelt will still leave us with the largest in the region.”

All of the councillors agreed that the decision should be put to a public consultation and encouraged residents to come forward with their views.

The largest proposed sites for land release would be the two at Parkside as well as Finches Plantation, Florida Farm and land north east of Junction 23 M6.

It is proposed the plans go out to public consultation early in December for an eight-week period until January 30, 2017.