Plans have been submitted to Oldham Council for up to 192 homes at Birshaw Farm in the Beal Valley, on greenfield land on the edge of Royton.

The scheme is being put forward by IDPartnership Northern on behalf of Barratt Homes Manchester. It is one of the allocated sites in the Greater Manchester Places for Everyone scheme, a long-term plan covering every borough in the region except Stockport to oversee housebuilding, create jobs and protect green belt land from unplanned development.

The site sits about three miles north of Oldham town centre. In the wider plans for the area, around 2,000 new homes could be built alongside new industrial and warehouse space, a local centre and new access to education facilities. A new road from Ripponden Road to Oldham Road and a new Metrolink stop at Broadbent Moss are also planned.

According to the plans, the development would include wetland landscapes, green spaces and accessible walking and cycling routes. A design and access statement says existing woodland and mature tree groupings will be kept to establish a distinctive landscape character, with 551 new trees planned. The homes would have between one and four bedrooms.

The homes are proposed across three parts of the site: 84 to the north, 65 to the west and 52 to the south, with a new wetland in between. The masterplan vision is to create welcoming, well-connected neighbourhoods that feel part of the existing communities in Shaw, Royton, Heyside and Barrowshaw.

In a planning statement, developers said the project would deliver 100 direct construction jobs and £36.7m of gross value added to the area, a measure of its economic contribution. If the homes are built, they said an extra £5.5m would be spent by the homes each year, with an extra £500,000 of council tax revenue.

Concerns have already been raised in comments on Oldham's planning portal. One commenter said they had lived in the Beal Valley for more than 30 years because of the strong community and the area's greenery, and argued that sacrificing the landscape for development would destroy what makes Oldham a desirable place to live. They said they were now considering early retirement and moving somewhere the local authority genuinely cares about its green spaces and wildlife.