Fresh doubts over Greater Manchester housing plan

The Places for Everyone scheme was signed off when councils agreed to allocate land for 115,000 new homes in Greater Manchester over the next 15 years

The majority of councillors in Oldham are demanding the borough pulls out of Greater Manchester's joint housing and business development plan.

The Places for Everyone scheme was signed off earlier this year when nine of the region’s 10 local councils agreed to allocate land for 115,000 new homes over the next 15 years.

But after Labour lost its ruling majority on the council at May’s local elections, opposition members voted for the local authority to write to the deputy prime minister and ask to leave the deal.

The council described it as "an incredibly risky course of action", adding that it was "considering next steps".

Liberal Democrat leader Howard Sykes, who brought the motion to the council, said his party had been “against the destruction of our green belt in pursuit of developer profit from day one”.

“When Labour lost control of the council earlier this year, we promised the people of Oldham we would force another vote on this issue and lead the charge to pull out of this scheme in favour of a brownfield-first strategy for truly affordable housing.”

The term "green belt" was introduced more than 70 years ago, with the aim of limiting the growth of large built-up areas, and refers to about 13% of land protected from development in England.

About 480 homes are due to be built on land at Beal Valley in Royton

The Places for Everyone scheme was approved in March after numerous consultations and revisions, and a long analysis by the government's Planning Inspectorate.

Controversially, the councils have said some protected green belt land must be used to meet housing needs, despite opposition from affected communities.

Under the current plan, Oldham is due to build 11,560 homes by 2039.

However, due to the Labour government increasing its house-building target since it came to power, the council said a new local plan for Oldham could see the borough having to find space for 54% more homes.

Councillor Elaine Taylor, Oldham Labour’s deputy leader and cabinet member for decent homes, said: “If Oldham were to withdraw from Places for Everyone we would almost certainly see green belt sites, which we have fought hard and worked with residents to protect, be built on.

“The Oldham Lib Dems have been told this time and again but they insist on continuing with these reckless shenanigans, putting the entire green belt at risk just so they can score a petty political point.”

The Labour government say some existing green belt land can be re-designated as grey belt to free up land for new homes

Campaigners from the Save Oldham’s Greenbelt Group have welcomed the latest step, saying there was a “lack of affordable housing targets” and the scheme was “relying on data up to 10 years old in some cases”.

“We remain very concerned that very little consideration was given to ecology during the largely developer-led site selection process, and some of the green belt allocations are prime wildlife havens hosting endangered species.”

An Oldham Council spokesperson said: “Places for Everyone (PfE) is Greater Manchester's plan to ensure that the right homes are being developed in the right places across the city region whilst safeguarding our valuable green spaces.

"The reality is that the level of housing need in Greater Manchester means that there will inevitably be some limited encroachment on to our greenbelt. In Oldham we successfully reduced this from 7.5% of our green belt to just 2.5% by maximising use of brownfield availability in the borough.

“Leaving PfE would be an incredibly risky course of action for Oldham because it means our green belt land and other green spaces would no longer benefit from the protections that PfE provides, making it easier for developers to build on them.

"Therefore, officers recommended that we didn't write to the deputy prime minister to ask her to consider a request to withdraw from PfE.

“We are now considering next steps.”