Council votes to leave controversial housing plan

A council has narrowly voted to withdraw from a controversial housing scheme for more than 10,000 new homes after months of fierce debate about building on greenbelt land.

The decision by Oldham Council, which is Labour-led but with no overall control, will see officers write to the government to request the borough is withdrawn from the Places for Everyone (PfE) scheme.

The PfE housing blueprint drawn up by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) aims to see 170,000 homes built in nine of the region's boroughs, including 11,500 in Oldham.

Liberal Democrat group leader on the council Howard Sykes, who voted for the withdrawal, said the "developer-led" plan did not put the needs of people first.

Responding to the vote, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burham said it was not in Oldham's interest "to rip everything up" while the government was putting forward funding for new homes.

He told BBC Radio Manchester he would reach out to opposition councillors to find a compromise to see more brownfield land allocated under the plan and fewer greenbelt sites.

A group of Liberal Democract, Conservative and independent councillors have been demanding the council pulls out of the joint scheme since the local elections in May 2024, when Labour lost overall control of the council.

PfE was signed off before that election by Oldham Council and eight other councils in the city region.

Stockport Council, the only other authority in the GMCA, already pulled out of PfE in 2022 before it was signed off.

After the narrow vote on Wednesday night, the council will now write to Secretary of State for Housing, Angela Rayner, requesting the authority be taken out of the scheme.

The plans are supposed to use a "brownfield-first" approach to help fight the housing crisis.  

In Oldham, this would see building on land in Beal Valley, Bottom Field Farm, Broadbent Moss, south of Coal Pit Lane, and south of Rosary Road.

But the scheme has long sparked resistance over its inclusion of greenbelt land.

Sykes told councillors: "Expensive luxury housing on the greenbelt is not the answer to the housing crisis.

"This will be a developer and profit-led plan, not a people and need based plan.

"Is Labour really suggesting that the best Oldham can do is back a plan that was designed in Manchester ten years ago, with no idea about the local challenges we face?

"I think we can do better."

Labour councillors maintained it would be a mistake to withdraw from PfE, including council leader Arooj Shah

She said: "It shocks me how brazen some people are about misleading our residents.

"It would be a mistake for Oldham, for the greenbelt and for our residents who desperately need housing. It would lead to further developments on the greenbelt.

"The Lib Dems know that because it's the same that's playing out in Stockport where [the Lib Dem leadership] are now dancing to the tune of developers."

The vote was won by 31 votes to 29 to loud applause from councillors and members of the public.

Mat Trewern, Greater Manchester political reporter, BBC News

"Madness"– that's what the ruling Labour party in Oldham think about pulling out of Places for Everyone.

They say opposition parties are simply playing politics but their opponents insist the borough is better off going it alone.

With Stockport already having left the plan, Greater Manchester's Mayor Andy Burnham won't want to lose another area.

So it's no surprise he wants a compromise to keep Oldham onboard.

However, that could be easier said than done in a town often described as having a "toxic" political atmosphere.

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