SADDLEWORTH councillors have helped defeat Oldham Council’s leadership over the controversial Places for Everyone housing masterplan.
Calls to remove the borough from the Greater Manchester scheme designed to regulate planning were opposed by Labour.
But the area’s Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have won out as a motion to remove Oldham from it – just like Stockport – was approved at a meeting of full council on Wednesday, November 6.
It is understood the council’s senior leadership must now write to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner – asking to be removed from the plan.
Places for Everyone will see a development at Chew Brook Vale – reduced to 90 homes from 171 and taking place on brownfield Robert Fletcher’s Paper Mill site rather than the nearby green belt.
But those representing Saddleworth believe a more localised option would be better.
Saddleworth West and Lees Liberal Democrat Cllr Sam Al-Hamdani said: “There’s a huge pressure being put on people to support Places for Everyone because of the massive increase in housing proposed by the Labour government.
“We’re going to have to revise Places for Everyone and we are going to lose the protection it provides very, very soon.
“At best, it’s a stay of execution and as everyone acknowledges, we don’t even have the capacity. We’re not building the number of houses they want us to build.
“It’s unachievable. The whole thing is a nonsense. Why are we not standing up and saying, ‘Places for Everyone I just our attempt to go along with the status quo?’
“We shouldn’t be that. We should be standing up and saying, ‘This whole system is broken and wrong. It I not delivering for the people of Oldham.’”
Saddleworth North Cllr Garth Harkness added: “The report says, ‘We stay in Places for Everyone – everything’s good. We come out – everything’s bad.’ It’ scaremongering.
“If we accept this, all the small sites – Saddleworth is going to get all the called for sites that were put in in 2016 and later.
“There are loads of them, they’re totally inappropriate and will all be getting built on with no infrastructure and we’re going to be in a terrible situation.”
Fellow Saddleworth members Cllrs Helen Bishop, Alicia Marland, Pam Byrne, Luke Lancaster, Max Woodvine, Graham Sheldon and Mark Kenyon also joined the 30 who voted against staying in Places for Everyone, while 29 voted for.
Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Howard Sykes, who tabled the motion calling on the Government to remove Oldham, took aim at a council report, saying: “There is no analysis at all of the potential benefits of leaving.
“Instead, it tries to present members with only one option – remain in Places for Everyone or the sky will fall in.”
Cllr Elaine Taylor, Oldham Council’s cabinet member for decent homes, argued: “It’s a plan that’s been designed to deliver safe, secure housing for our diverse communities.
“It’ll provide sustainable and cohesive growth, with new homes and new jobs.
“If we were to withdraw, our new housing target would increase from 680 to 1,049 new homes per year.
“I understand people feel strongly about releasing green belt land for development purposes, but we’d not be able to successfully defend against housing applications on green belt sites, or on Other Protected Open Land sites, without the protection of an adopted, up to date plan like Places for Everyone.
“The presumption in favour of sustainable development would kick in.
“Under that, our protected green spaces and green belt would be at risk from any development that can show it’s sustainable.”
Leader Cllr Arooj Shah added: “Remaining in Places for Everyone is not just vital for the borough, it’s crucial.
“Getting rid would give freedom to developers to build wherever they want and whenever they want. All that will happen is more building in places we don’t want.”
But after opponents won, Cllr Sykes added: “Liberal Democrats have 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.
“That is what we have done. This is a decision for Oldham councillors and Oldham councillors alone.”
Deputy leader Cllr Taylor added: “The Oldham Lib Dems have been told this time and again but they insist on continuing with these reckless shenanigans, putting the entire greenbelt at risk just so they can score a petty political point.
“The report to council made clear what the legal ramifications of this decision would be. The fact they want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend otherwise is dangerous.
“Lib Dem controlled Stockport, the only authority in Greater Manchester not in the Places for Everyone plan, has seen its annual housing figure almost double.
“They have just postponed their draft local plan consultation and conceded they will have to release green belt land to meet their increased housing targets.
“This is not fabrication – this is fact.”
