False claims about Royton's Green Belt

It has come to our attention that a malicious communication in the form of a leaflet has been delivered to residents in Royton, produced and distributed by Oldham Labour. It alleges that Royton’s Conservative councillors have “voted to build on Hanging Chadder and Thornham Old Road”. We would like to assure residents that this is categorically untrue.

Given the distressing nature of the leaflet, we believe it is necessary to set the record straight.

Extraordinary council meeting

In an extraordinary council meeting called by the Liberal Democrats earlier this month, the Oldham Conservatives supported the motion to withdraw Oldham from Places for Everyone. They did so for a number of reasons:

1. To honour their long-standing manifesto pledge. The Conservatives (along with the Lib-Dems) have always advocated for Oldham to have its own Local Plan which prioritises Oldham's interests.

2. Places for Everyone covers more than just Green Belt and is a mayoral power grab that transfers many planning powers to the mayor. It is undemocratic and removes power from local residents to influence what is and isn’t built in their community.

3. Places for Everyone had a policy to build 50,000 affordable homes, but this policy was scrapped at the plan’s examination, which is a betrayal of the promises in the plan.

4. Due to the Labour government increasing the housing targets, Places for Everyone will have to allocate more land in 2029. This undermines the Green Belt protections in the plan. Because Hanging Chadder and Thornham Old Road are consistent with the plan’s spatial strategy, the risk actually increases in the long-term if we remain in Places for Everyone.

Unfortunately, our Councillors are faced with Hobson's choice. Whichever decision they make is going to put the Green Belt at risk at some point. The best that can be said for Places for Everyone is that it offers Royton’s Green Belt a stay of execution for 4 years, and then we are back to square one. The Conservatives do not believe the short-term benefits outweigh the long-term detrimental impact of the mayor’s Greater Manchester plan.

Green Belt

It is important to stress that not having an up-to-date plan does not automatically revoke Green Belt protections. Oldham did not have an up-to-date plan between 2016 and 2024 and the sites were not built on. Ultimately, in order to build in the Green Belt—with or without an up-to-date plan—a planning application must demonstrate there are “very special circumstances” for doing so.

Back in 2016, when the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework roared on to the scene, our local Labour councillors said they were being forced to build in the Green Belt by the “Tory targets”. We always maintained this was a misrepresentation of national policy which at the time exempted Green Belt land from the housing targets. The Tories ultimately dropped the targets, but they were subsequently reinstated by the Labour government who then increased them. The fact remains there is enough brownfield in Oldham to build the homes we actually need; it is a political choice not to remediate the land and to trash the countryside instead.

Save Royton's Greenbelt Group is non-partisan, and it is ultimately up to residents to determine what is best for Royton and to set that agenda through the local elections. However, whilst the threat to our Green Belt remains, we cannot allow any political party, Labour in this case, to spread untruths to Royton residents.