Agenda item

Council is asked to consider a report of the Deputy Chief Execuitve (Place) in response to the Motion that Council approved on 10^th July 2024, regarding the Places for Everyone Joint Development Plan.

Councillor Taylor MOVED and Councillor Shah SECONDED a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) which reminded Members that a motion had been submitted to the Council for consideration on 10^th July 2024, for the removal of Oldham Borough from the Places for Everyone (PfE) Joint Development Plan. The motion was amended to include a requirement for member workshops to inform members about the opportunities and risks associated with this decision, ahead of a report being brought back to the November Council meeting for consideration and decision.

Five workshops were held to provide all elected members with the opportunity to ask questions, understand all the issues, opportunities and legal risks associated with the decision they need to make given PfE was formally adopted earlier in 2024 and is now part of the statutory development plan for Oldham.

The report advised that there were no powers for a Council to ‘undo’ an adopted Local Plan once it had taken effect; and it was understood that the Secretary of State (SoS) had never been asked to revoke a newly adopted Plan or Joint Plan such as PfE. As such, for both Oldham and the other eight Greater Manchester authorities within the Plan, the legal ramifications of revocation needed to be fully explored with the support of specialist legal advice and careful consideration given to the financial, planning, environmental and reputational implications.

The report before Council set out two sets of information for members to consider:

1.    The concerns listed within the motion as justification for writing to the SoS; and

2.    The implications and consequences of deciding to make a request to the SoS for the revocation of PfE for Oldham.

All members were invited to a series of workshops through which officers were able to answer questions and fully explain the ramifications of the motion, on Oldham and the remaining eight PfE authorities. 37 of 60 elected members attended the workshops - details of the key issues discussed were appended to the report.

A recorded vote, in line with the Regulations was then taken on the RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE SUBMITTED REPORT as follows:

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On a recorded VOTE being taken 29 VOTES were cast in FAVOUR of the RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE SUBMITTED REPORT with 30 VOTES cast AGAINST and there were 0 ABSTENTIONS. The RECOMMENDATIONS were therefore LOST.