Oldham's 'deafening silence' since voting to leave Places for Everyone scheme
Oldham councillors express frustration over the lack of communication from the government and Greater Manchester mayor since voting to leave the Places for Everyone (PfE) housing scheme, which aims to build thousands of homes but has faced opposition over greenbelt land concerns.
Oldham Council remains in limbo five weeks after voting to quit the Greater Manchester-wide Places for Everyone housing programme, with ministers and the region’s mayor yet to formally respond to the break-away request.
The 12 February vote, carried by a single ballot, instructed chief officers to write to Housing Secretary Angela Rayner seeking approval to withdraw from the nine-borough scheme that earmarks tens of thousands of homes, jobs and infrastructure projects across the conurbation.
Opposition Liberal Democrat and independent councillors who forced the ballot say the plan would sacrifice protected green-belt for unaffordable housing, but complain that promised talks have failed to materialise.
“Deafening silence. No one’s reached out to us,” deputy opposition leader Sam Al-Hamdani said this week.
”It’s almost as though they’re not taking it very seriously. They know we’re ready to have a conversation and they have shown no interest whatsoever.”
Al-Hamdani warned that forthcoming changes to green-belt rules and higher Whitehall housing targets could strip Saddleworth moorland of its protected status and require 500 extra homes a year on fields “that have never been built on before”.
Supporters of the scheme insist it “sacrifices a small amount of green-belt land in order to protect the rest”.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority said the mayor has engaged through Oldham’s Labour council leader Arooj Shah and stressed that PfE has been adopted by the nine remaining councils and cannot be unilaterally altered.
The uncertainty is forcing the council’s planning staff to draft two versions of its legally required Local Plan - one aligned to PfE and one standalone - a process that can take months.
Liberal Democrat group leader Howard Sykes said Rayner’s recent hint that “I don’t think that they’ll be pulling out” only deepens the confusion:
“That could mean she’s giving it serious thought … or she’s simply waiting. Either way, the uncertainty doesn’t benefit anyone.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government did not respond to a request for comment.
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