SADDLEWORTH councillors have helped force Oldham Council to request withdrawal from a controversial planning scheme.
The borough authority will now write to Secretary of State for Housing and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to ask to exit Places for Everyone (PfE).
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) housing blueprint aims to bring 170,000 new homes to nine Greater Manchester boroughs, including 11,500 in Oldham.
But more local representatives have won their battle to get Oldham Council to say it wants to join Stockport in withdrawing.
Saddleworth West and Lees Liberal Democrat Cllr Sam Al-Hamdani told an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, February 12: “We are at the mercy of a developer-led system in this town, in this borough, in this region, in this country – that is wrong.
“Whatever you think of Places for Everyone, this system is broken. This isn’t the way we should be building houses, this isn’t the way we should be trying to provide for the people of this borough and further afield.
“We need a better system, which takes into account what we actually need when we build houses so people get the GPs they need, the dentists they need, the shops they need.
“I’m sick and tired of seeing plans for 250 houses and none of those things appearing on it.
“I cannot stand up and say, ‘I’m OK with being a part of that system.’”
Ward colleague Cllr Alicia Marland described the debate as ‘groundhog day’ and added: “This is for our children and future generations.
“A new local plan is what is needed and this will give our residents and neighbours what they need.
“We and our children deserve better.”
Saddleworth North Cllr Garth Harkness added: “We’re all in agreement we need some more houses, we need to sort out homelessness.
“But this is a developer-led plan and building large houses on green spaces is not going to solve the housing crisis.
“Let’s leave this and have an Oldham-led plan.”
His ward colleague, Conservative Cllr Pam Byrne, commented as she spoke of fears it was ‘a*** about face’: “Where is the infrastructure going?
“Is there no plan? None of us have seen one saying where the new schools are going.
“It’s not just about protecting green belt. I don’t see any proper examination of the infrastructure that goes along with these houses.
“Let’s have houses in the right place, we’re the people who know where the right place is.”
The third Saddleworth North member, Conservative Cllr Luke Lancaster, claimed – making reference to Ms Rayner’s Ashton-under-Lyne constituency: “It’s not as if there aren’t local MPs that are based within the ministry responsible for housing.
“Maybe they could have a word so we wouldn’t have an unfair housing allocation forced upon the area.”
After the Liberal Democrats’ motion was voted through 31-29, Oldham’s Labour group insisted the PfE debate was a case of political point scoring.
Council leader Arooj Shah said: “It shocked me how brazen some people are about misleading our residents.
“This is cheap political point scoring at the expense of those Oldham people who just want a place to live, and at the expense of our precious green spaces and green belt.
“We know it’s a stunt because they haven’t got an alternative.
“What is truly shocking is how they are insisting on imposing their Lib Dem stunts on Oldham. It is going badly wrong in Stockport, everyone can see this, and trying to do the same here is madness.
“If, as a result of this game playing, the Lib Dems succeed in forcing us out of Places for Everyone, the people of Oldham can’t say they have not been warned.
“They will reap what they have sown, but unfortunately it’s our communities who’ll suffer as a result, including care leavers struggling to find their first proper home, families looking to move to somewhere with the space they need, those in temporary accommodation needing a permanent place to live and elderly or disabled residents who need accessible and adaptable homes.
“It is vulnerable residents the Lib Dems are preventing from getting a home by using PfE as a political football.”
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