Council 'not exiting housing scheme', hints Rayner

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has hinted that Oldham Council will not be pulling out of Greater Manchester's housing plan, even though it has submitted a request to do so.

Last month the local authority voted to withdraw from the Places for Everyone (PfE) scheme after months of debate about building on green belt land and wrote to Rayner to request to be taken out of the scheme.

The PfE housing blueprint aims to build 170,000 homes - including 11,500 in Oldham - in all of Greater Manchester's 10 boroughs except Stockport.

Rayner said: "I want [Oldham Council] to work with us... working together is how we will achieve housing we need across Oldham and across the whole of Greater Manchester."

In Oldham, the scheme drawn up by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) would see building on land in Beal Valley, Bottom Field Farm, Broadbent Moss, south of Coal Pit Lane, and south of Rosary Road.

The PfE has sparked controversy, however, due to the inclusion of green belt land and councillors voted 31-29 to opt out of the scheme.

Labour, which lost overall control of the authority in last year's local elections, maintained it would be a mistake to withdraw from PfE.

"I want [Oldham Council] to work with us," Rayner told the BBC.

"I don't think that they'll be pulling out of that plan.

"I know the local area. I think working together is how we will achieve housing that we need across Oldham and across the whole of Greater Manchester."

Oldham Council said it was awaiting a response from Rayner.

The BBC has asked the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government to confirm when a decision would be made about Oldham's request, but has not yet had a response.

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