What was claimed
A planning notice shows an application has been submitted for a four-storey temporary structure, which would provide accommodation for up to 800 asylum seekers, to be built at St Thomas' Recreation Ground on 147 Hempshaw Lane, Offerton in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
Our verdict
False. This isn’t a real planning notice. Stockport Council has said the notices are not legitimate and no such planning application has been submitted to it.
An image of a fake planning notice falsely claiming a planning application has been lodged for a new development that would accommodate up to 800 asylum seekers in Stockport has been shared online.
The photo of the notice seemingly attached to a post has been shared with captions saying: “800 asylum seekers (men no doubt) planned for STOCKPORT.”
Stockport Council confirmed to Full Fact the notice is “not legitimate” and no such planning application has been submitted.
The notice could, at first glance, appear genuine—it says “Town and Country Planning Act 1990” at the top and its structure resembles that of a real planning notice, which are often physically put up to inform the public about new applications in the area.
According to the fake notice, the supposed development is proposed at St. Thomas’ Recreation Ground on Hempshaw Lane in Stockport. It claims the development involves the “Erection of a four-storey temporary structure to provide accommodation for up to 800 asylum seekers”.
We could find no evidence of any planning application matching that described, and searches for the application reference number included in the notice bring up no results.
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A spokesperson for Stockport Council told Full Fact: “The notices circulating locally and online are not legitimate and are factually incorrect. These are in the process of being removed.
“No planning application for temporary asylum accommodation has been submitted or approved. All genuine applications are published on the council’s website.”
The fake notices have also been debunked by local media in Greater Manchester, which reported the fake notice had been seen in the area too.
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This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because this isn’t a real planning notice, and no such planning application has been lodged in Stockport.
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