Local Plan Review: Issues and Options July 2021 Introduction 1 What is Oldham's Local Plan? 4 2 Policy and Legal Requirements 6 3 Local Plan Context 8 4 You said, We Did 15 5 Community Participation 19 Spatial Portrait 6 Context 22 7 Population and Housing 23 8 Economy and Employment 25 9 The Natural Environment 28 10 The Built Environment 31 11 Transport 33 Vision and Objectives 12 Vision for Oldham 36 13 Plan Objectives 38 Issues and Options 14 Homes 43 15 Economy and Employment 63 16 Our Centres 73 17 Addressing Climate Change 78 18 The Natural Environment and Open Land 83 19 Green Infrastructure 95 20 The Built Environment 103 21 Transport and Improving Connectivity 111 22 Communities 120 23 Infrastructure 125 Monitoring 24 Monitoring 128 Glossary 25 Glossary 132 Appendices Appendix 1: Saved UDP Policies 138 Appendix 2: Current Local Plan policies to be superseded by draft GMSF 2020 139 Oldham Local Plan Review: Issues and Options Appendix 3: Plan showing the extensions to Oldham Town Centre Conservation 140 Area Appendix 4: Plans of the remaining saved UDP Housing Allocations 141 Appendix 5: Plans of the remaining saved UDP Mixed Use Allocations 155 Appendix 6: Plans of existing Business and Employment Areas and Saddleworth 157 Employment Areas Appendix 7: Plans of the saved UDP Employment Allocations 181 Appendix 8: Saved UDP Policy Farm Diversification 210 Appendix 9: Plans of the existing Town Centre boundaries 212 Appendix 10: Plan showing proposed amendment to Lees Centre 221 Appendix 11: Plans of the saved UDP Town Centre allocations 222 Appendix 12: Plans of proposed de-designated, new and amended Local Green 224 Spaces Appendix 13: Saved UDP Policy Protection of Trees 236 Appendix 14: Saved UDP Policy Telecommunications 238 Appendix 15: Current Local Plan Policy 7 Sustainable Use of Resources - 241 Waste Management Appendix 16: Current Local Plan Policy 8 Sustainable Use of Resources - 243 Minerals Oldham Local Plan Review: Issues and Options Introduction Oldham Local Plan Review: Issues and Options 3 1 What is Oldham's Local Plan? 1.1 Oldham’s Local Plan will guide development in the borough up to 2037. Upon adoption it will replace the current plan (Joint Core Strategy and Development Management Policies DPD) which was adopted in November 2011 and any saved planning policies from the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) 2006. The saved UDP policies that will ultimately be replaced by the Local Plan can be found in Appendix 1 and where appropriate they have been referred to in relevant sections throughout this document. 1.2 Underpinning the plan will be the principles of sustainable development, it will meet the needs of Oldham and its residents while also achieving high quality design, addressing climate change and increasing accessibility for all. 1.3 According to paragraph 8 of National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) achieving sustainable development means that the planning system has three overarching objectives, which are interdependent and need to be pursued in mutually supportive ways. The objectives are: an economic objective – to help build a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right types is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth, innovation and improved productivity; and by identifying and coordinating the provision of infrastructure; a social objective – to support strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by ensuring that a sufficient number and range of homes can be provided to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by fostering a well-designed and safe built environment, with accessible services and open spaces that reflect current and future needs and support communities’ health, social and cultural well-being; and an environmental objective – to contribute to protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environment; including making effective use of land, helping to improve biodiversity, using natural resources prudently, minimising waste and pollution, and mitigating and adapting to climate change, including moving to a low carbon economy. 1.4 Planning affects many aspects of our lives and our environment – from where we live, work, shop and how we spend our leisure time. In producing the Local Plan, we will not just consider land uses but we will also consider other issues that can be affected by land use, including health, education and community safety. It is important we get a wide range of opinions and views so that we can create the most rounded and effective plan possible. 4 Oldham Local Plan Review: Issues and Options 1.5 The Local Plan covers the whole borough except that part which falls within the Peak District National Park. 1.6 This document is called Issues and Options and follows on from the consultation that was carried out in the summer of 2017, called the ‘Regulation 18 Notification’(1). It builds upon the comments we received and has been informed by on-going studies and pieces of evidence work. It describes the key challenges facing Oldham, sets out broad issues and presents options and questions that we need residents, businesses and interested parties in the borough to help us answer. 1.7 In particular we are seeking your views on: The issues Oldham, and your particular area of Oldham, faces; What kind of place you would like Oldham to be in 15 years; and Questions and options set out throughout the document that relate to specific areas of planning, such as the location of future housing, design of new buildings and protection of our open spaces. 1 This was an early stage in the Regulation 18 process where the council sought views about what the local community and stakeholders thought the Local Plan should contain, what the key planning issues for Oldham are and what the main aims of the Local Plan should be Oldham Local Plan Review: Issues and Options 5 2 Policy and Legal Requirements 2.1 The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 sets out the requirements for local authorities for producing and consulting on their Local Plan. There are various stages in the production of a Local Plan and Oldham Council is now at the “Regulation 18” stage. The Regulations allow for considerable flexibility to local planning authorities regarding how they carry out the initial stages of local plan production, provided they comply with the requirements set out in Regulation 18 and the council's adopted Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). As part of the initial stages of preparing the Local Plan the Issues and Options consultation provides the community and other stakeholders with an opportunity to shape the Local Plan based on the current and emerging evidence that has been gathered by the council. 2.2 The following paragraphs provide a brief summary of the formal requirements associated with Local Plan making. National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF, 2019) 2.3 The NPPF sets out the framework for the preparation of a Local Plan. It ensures that plans and decisions should apply a presumption in favour of sustainable development, and that plans should positively seek opportunities to meet the development needs of their area. 2.4 Paragraph 16 of the NPPF states that Plans should be prepared with the objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development; be prepared positively, in a way that is aspirational but deliverable; be shaped by early, proportionate and effective engagement between planmakers and communities, local organisations, businesses, infrastructure providers and operators and statutory consultees; contain policies that are clearly written and unambiguous, so it is evident how a decision maker should react to development proposals; be accessible through the use of digital tools to assist public involvement and policy presentation; and serve a clear purpose, avoiding unnecessary duplication of policies that apply to a particular area (including policies in this Framework, where relevant). 2.5 Paragraph 17 of the NPPF states that Plans must include strategic policies to address each local planning authority’s priorities for the development and use of land in the area. 2.6 Both strategic and non-strategic policies should be included in Local Plans. Strategic policies should set out the overall strategy for the pattern, scale and quality of development making provision for housing; infrastructure; community facilities; and conservation and enhancement of the natural, built and historic environment. 6 Oldham Local Plan Review: Issues and Options Duty to Cooperate 2.7 Section 33A of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 seeks to maximise effective working on strategic issues by requiring local planning authorities "...to engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis…" with certain prescribed bodies, including neighbouring councils and organisations such as the Environment Agency and Natural England. 2.8 This “Duty to Cooperate” is a legal requirement which must be addressed in Local Plans, to demonstrate that the emerging plan has also taken account of needs which require a wider level of co-operation over a wider geographical area. 2.9 In Greater Manchester, nine of the ten Local Authorities are working together to produce a joint Development Plan Document (DPD), called 'Places for Everyone', Stockport is the tenth Local Authority, they withdrew from preparing Greater Manchester's Place for Homes, Jobs and the Environment (also known as the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF)) in late 2020. As part of the process of preparing the joint DPD, the nine districts will be required to enter into dialogue with Stockport on matters of strategic, cross boundary significance. The outcome of which will need to be set out in a “Statement of Common Ground”. 2.10 In relation to the preparation of the Local Plan, Oldham Council will engage with all the prescribed bodies and neighbouring councils to ensure that the Duty to Co-operate requirement is met.