Oldham residents can now have their say on Labour’s latest Places for Everyone plan and the Oldham Liberal Democrats are urging everyone to say No to Labour’s Green Belt and green land grab.
Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Howard Sykes said: “The Liberal Democrats tried at the last Council meeting (July 28) to seek Oldham’s withdrawal from Places for Everyone because it will still mean the loss of much of our precious and irreplaceable Green Belt, but Labour used its bloc vote to get it through. Now the public can have their say in this latest consultation to say No to Labour’s latest version of Mayor Burnham’s Green Belt land grab.”
Places for Everyone is the successor to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) which was derailed after Stockport Liberal Democrats succeeded in getting their Council to withdraw at the end of last year.
“Labour will tell you that Places for Everyone is better because less houses will be built across Greater Manchester and there will be less development on Green Belt land”, added Councillor Sykes. “But this is of no consolation to the people in my own district of Shaw and Crompton where over 3,000 new homes are proposed. This will not only mean the destruction of our Green Belt, but that our overstretched health centre and oversubscribed schools will be swamped.”
The Liberal Democrats believe that the Council’s Green Belt development policy is unnecessary. Councillor Sykes explained: “A large number of homes on several Green Belt sites across Oldham have already been pulled from the new plan, but we believe that so much more could be done. We want a real Local Plan shaped by Oldham people to meet Oldham’s needs.”
“Our policy is to see homes first built on Brownfield sites and on sites where planning permission for housing development has already been granted. We also believe that, where practical, redundant business premises, such as empty mills, factories, pubs and shops that are no longer commercially viable, should be converted for housing and that the large number of empty homes in our Borough should be brought back into use.”
The public consultation on Places for Everyone will now be open until October 3. Members of the public can have their say at www.gmconsult.org