Controversial Greater Manchester housing plan rejected by council bosses in Oldham

Oldham councillors voted to reject a controversial housing plan designed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority just months after agreeing to the scheme.

The ‘Places for Everyone’ (PfE) framework sets house building targets and conditions in nine of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs.

At a council meeting on November 6, officers set out a report advising the council against withdrawing from the scheme at this late stage.

But in a narrow vote of 30 to 29, Lib Dems, Conservative and Independent councillors rejected the report. 

Leader of the opposition, Howard Sykes, who requested the report in July told the council: “This report tries to present to members that there is only one option – to remain in Places for Everyone or the sky will fall in, and lose precious green spaces in pursuit of unaffordable housing that will price out local people.”

Coun Sykes suggested that by rejecting the report, opposition leaders have forced the hand of senior leadership, who will need to write to the Secretary State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, asking to have the borough removed from the plan. 

However, the LDRS understands that because of the double negative in the report, the council is ‘not mandated to do anything’ as the vote has ‘only rejected the suggestion not to write to the secretary of state’.

A separate motion requesting the letter to be written will have to be voted on in full council, according to a council spokesperson. 

Drawn up over almost a decade of negotiations, the PfE framework requires the borough to build 11,500 new homes by 2037.

Oldham, along with the rest of the country, is locked in a housing crisis. 

Rents are rising more rapidly in the district than anywhere else in Greater Manchester, with house prices beyond the reach of most residents and more than 6,000 people on a waiting list for social housing that doesn’t currently exist.

But half of councillors claim the PfE scheme is the ‘wrong way’ to tackle the crisis in the borough, raising concerns about the inclusion of greenfield sites for development.

Land in Beal Valley, Bottom Field Farm, Broadbent Moss, south of Coal Pit Lane, and south of Rosary Road, are all earmarked for building works under the plans. 

A council spokesperson argued that by limiting building to a total of 2.5 percent of the greenbelt, the borough has protected the remaining greenbelt from uncontrolled development.

Leaving the scheme would be ‘incredibly risky’ according to officers. 

Speaking at the council meeting, housing lead Elaine Taylor said: “Sacrificing a little bit to protect the rest may be unpalatable to some members, but [doing away with that condition] is actually putting the whole greenbelt at risk. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Council leader Arooj Shah added: “For those thinking that removing Oldham from this Greater Manchester approach will help stop all building in Oldham - you’re wrong.

"All that will happen is more building in places we don’t want.” 

The report suggested withdrawing from the scheme would be ‘considered legally perverse and unreasonable’ as there were no ‘legal grounds’ on which to oppose the plan, potentially opening the council to a lengthy and costly judicial review. 

But Coun Sykes rejected the basis of the report, and said: ‘This is a decision for Oldham Councillors and Oldham Councillors alone’. 

The next full council when a motion to reject the PfE scheme could be put forward will be on December 18.

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