THE government has been told to scrap its original house building projections for Wirral or else show itself to be part of a “political scam”.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) earlier this year revealed only 500 homes were needed annually until 2035, rather than the 800 proposed in the original consultation.

At the meeting of Wirral council’s cabinet on Monday, they agreed to continue lobbying government to use housing estimates from the ONS as it finalises preparations for the Local Plan.

Cllr Phil Brightmore told the committee: “We care deeply about our green belt in Wirral. We won’t see it taken off us.

“If the government does not allow us to follow the ONS figures then it will show this entire thing to be the political scam that it actually is.

“I just want to say right now they have to follow ONS figures – if they don’t, then shame to them. If they don’t, the people of Wirral will know who to report to.”

With the consultation finishing earlier this year, the outcome will be announced in January.

3,000 responses were received during the consultation, and Cllr Brightmore said there had been a “groundswell” of support from his ward, Pensby, Irby and Thingwall.

He added: “I’m working hard with local residents to fight for every blade of grass in my ward. If the government order goes ahead, it is an act of civic vandalism and once our beautiful green spaces are gone, we can never get them back.

“The signatures I have collected demonstrate that people share my anger at orders to release our Green Belt to meet top-down Tory housing targets. These plans would see historic towns like Irby and Pensby merge and already congested roads become impassable. This cannot be permitted to happen.”

It was also revealed at the meeting that the council has brought in support of a legal QC to assist the green belt plans, and council leader Phil Davies said: “We are committed to sticking to timetable we have agreed for the local plan, which is why we have secured additional staffing resources to ensure we deliver on that timetable.”