TO build, or not to build? That is the question for town hall leaders faced with the task of creating a renaissance in Bury.

Council planners are drawing up an urban regeneration strategy to meet the borough's future housing needs.

It is the biggest challenge of its kind the local authority has undertaken, but the debate will go further than defending green belt land and promoting development in built-up areas.

The council is responding to the interim report of of the government-established Urban Task Force, which gives guidance to local authorities on how and where they might build to cater for housing needs.

Council leader Derek Boden said there was a lot more to plan for than just whether to build homes on "brownfield", or urban, sites. "It is quite apparent that bringing about the revitalisation of Bury's urban communities is about an awful lot more than building sites," he said.

"For some people, the question of where new development is to take place will be their primary concern, for others the key problems will be employment, health or community safety.

"Without doubt this is one of the biggest challenges we face. Urban regeneration throws up wide-ranging policy issues and requires co-ordinated action by a range of agencies."

Deciding where to build, if at all, might lead to another legal battle of the kind the council fought and lost over Spen Moor in its attempts to grant it green belt status.

Coun Boden added: "This council has a long-standing commitment to the protection of the green belt and urban renewal. But cases such as Spen Moor make it clear there is only so much that we can do. Such setbacks, though, are no reason to give up trying."

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