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In March 2020 Japanese Knotweed Control (JKC) were appointed to remove the Japanese Knotweed from the Council owned land at Mersey Road North (MRN).
The start of works was delayed due to Covid-19 and subsequently began in late July 2020.The contractor has now advised of a significant increase in the scope of the works and is claiming additional costs.

RESOLVED - That:
Option 1 – The Council to fund the additional cost of the Japanese Knotweed removal works at an additional cost of £69,000.

The SHLAA is a technical document identifying land that might have potential for housing at some stage in the future, as required by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). NPPF states that a housing assessment should be used to establish realistic assumptions about the suitability, availability and the likely achievability (economic viability) of land to meet the identified housing need. This then determines whether a site could form part of the housing land supply and, if so, when it is expected to be developed.

As well as providing evidence for the housing land position, it will inform the review of the GMSF and Local Plan and provide data for the Brownfield Land Register. The base date of this SHLAA is the 1st April 2020. This SHLAA provides the annual update to the previously published SHLAA, published in December 2019.

Finally, the SHLAA discusses the latest housing requirements and whether we can demonstrate that there is enough land in the five-year deliverable housing land supply to meet these requirements.

Approved as per option 1 – Publish the SHLAA, as at 1 April 2020, in full to provide evidence for the housing land supply position and Local Plan review as per the recommendations [set out within the report].

The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations came into force in April 2017 and require each local planning authority to prepare and maintain a Brownfield Land Register. The Regulations require the register to be updated at least annually. This report now seeks approval for the 2020 update.

The purpose of the register is to provide up-to-date and consistent information on brownfield land that the local authority considers to be appropriate for residential development. The register comprises of two parts: Part 1 includes all brownfield sites considered suitable for residential development and Part 2 is for sites which have been granted (planning) permission in principle.

This report explains the process of preparing the Brownfield Register and sets out the implications for Oldham. As was the case in 2018, it is recommended that no sites are proposed for permission in principle. Therefore, the Brownfield Register which is being sought for approval only includes Part 1 sites.

Approved Option 1 – Publish Part 1 of Oldham’s Brownfield Land Register in line with the Regulations as per the recommendations set out within the report.