Town green bid set to be rejected

COUNCILLORS will tomorrow be asked to reject a bid for town green status for the Oak Colliery site at Hollinwood.

Barrister Vivian Chapman, brought in as a independent expert, says in a report that his overall conclusion is that the application should fail, agreeing with the findings of an earlier inquiry.

Residents had not used the colliery site — one of the last large open spaces in Hollinwood — as “of right”, he said.

The recommendations will be considered by the Commons Registration Committee.

If the committee agrees to turn down the application, it will be a blow for the Rev David Joynes, minister of Beulah Baptist Church, Hollinwood.

He invested several thousand pounds of his own money in a bid to secure town green-protected status for the land and save it from development for the people of Hollinwood.

The Commons Committee sitting in September heard Mr Joynes’s barrister, David Gilchrist, argue that inquiry inspector Martin Carter, who conducted a two-day hearing, was wrong in reaching the decision to recommend rejection of town green status.

He said they disputed Mr Carter’s findings that the land was not available for the public as “of right”.

He also pointed to evidence from a former deputy borough solicitor of Oldham which stated that the council took the issue of open space very seriously.