Liberal Democrat Leader calls for halt to Labour’s Green Belt homes plan

The Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE

“New Conservative planning proposals will now make Labour’s old plans to build thousands of homes on Oldham’s Green Belt redundant”, says Liberal Democrat Leader, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE.  “It is time to stop and take stock”.

Earlier this month, the Conservative Government published a consultation document on their proposals to bring in new legislation, called ‘Planning for the Future’, that will radically alter how new homes and businesses are developed in the future.  Each local authority will be required to develop its own new Local Plan within thirty months of the legislation being passed, based on new ‘zones’.

Councillor Sykes commented:  “This legislation will ultimately be passed, and it will make Labour’s current plans redundant and unfit for purpose immediately they are adopted”.  He has written to the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive and the Deputy Chief Executive urging them to rethink their proposals for Oldham given this new reality.

Councillor Sykes added: “Rather than spending yet more Council Tax payers’ money on officer time and commissioning specialist reports, it would be better to look at creating a new Local Plan that will meet the requirements of this legislation and that saves our Green Belt by focusing solely on Brownfield development.”

“We are likely to have a lot of empty space in our town centre (and district centres) given the impact of Covid-19 on shopping habits.  This is exactly the approach the Liberal Democrats urged in our motion to Council in March 2017.”

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