Places for Everyone Plan (formerly the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework), Andy Burnham’s joint development plan for nine of the ten Local Authorities in Greater Manchester, proposes to take over 2,200 hectares of land out of the Green Belt (equivalent to 3,000 football pitches) to build nearly 30,000 executive style homes and around 2 million square metres of warehousing. Around 2,800 of the houses will be built in Oldham, and the viability assessments show that none of them will be available for social rent. The viability assessments also show that the Oldham sites have only marginal viability, so the developer contributions for investment in schools and public services will be very low.

Our only recourse is to take legal action. Save Greater Manchester’s Greenbelt has appointed Leigh Day and is in the process of preparing a judicial review. This will cost an estimated £100,000, costs that the Oldham groups will share with Bury, Rochdale, Tameside and Trafford. All donated money will be paid into the Save Greater Manchester Greenbelt legal fund. Our barrister successfully challenged the Green Belt grab in Leeds, and the council was forced to put all the sites back into the Green Belt. All donations welcome regardless of the amount, and we will ram it up Oldham Council!!

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