Town will stay within framework

Howard Sykes

OLDHAM will stay in the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, but the council will look to keep the impact on green belt land to a minimum.

Councillor Howard Sykes proposed a motion at last night's council meeting to withdraw from the GMSF and instead develop a 15-year local plan for housing and commercial development in the borough.

It was argued that development should first take place on brownfield or derelict sites, on sites with existing planning permission and long-term empty mills, shops and offices should be turned into homes as well as bringing long-term empty homes back into use before considering using green belt land.

Cllr Sykes said: "This motion calls on the council to recognise the Liberal Democratic view that the GMSF plans are unsatisfactory and unsuitable for Oldham, and that the price we shall pay in letting the wholesale development of green belt take place is simply too late.

"For once the green belt is lost, it is lost forever."

It is a similar motion to those submitted by Liberal Democrat councillors in Bury and Stockport.

However, Cllr Barbara Brownridge suggested an amendment that would see Oldham stay in the GMSF, which Cllr Steven Bashforth seconded.

He said: "To tell people that it will [save green belt land] is just plain wrong. We will protect the local green belt as much as we can."

Cllr Garth Harkness argued the amendment effectively destroyed the motion and described it as a "face-saving exercise" by people who did not want to be seen voting against it.

He urged councillors not to accept the amendment, but Cllr Abdul Jabbar said to leave would be devastating.

Cllr Brownridge said they would, of course, look to use brownfield sites first, but to say no green belt would be used would not be truthful.

A recorded vote saw 12 against the amendment, with the rest for.

While the amendment will see Oldham stay in the GMSF, alternative sites to green belt land would be looked at first.

The GMSF plan requires 13,700 new homes to be built and 700,000 square metres of land to be made available for new factories and warehouses in Oldham.

Nearly 3,000 of those new homes are to be located in Shaw and Crompton in addition to other vast tracts of land that are designated for industrial development.

Within the GMSF, it is proposed new properties will be built at Cowlishaw, in the Beal Valley, at Rushcroft, on the Whitfield Farm site across to Newhey and around Gravel Hole and Low Crompton.

Cllr Sykes and Cllr Dave Murphy, who seconded the motion, also objected to the GMSF as they believe Shaw and Crompton does not have the infrastructure in place to meet the needs of the residents 3,000 new homes would bring.

The motion passed with the amendment.