Who we are

We are a small community in Oldham, Lancashire and we are asking for your help. Specifically, we are working hard to preserve one of the few remaining, accessible green spaces in our area. This is a natural area of open countryside enjoyed by all our community.

It is also home to an abundance of wildlife which includes badgers, foxes, roe deer, barn and tawny owls, bats and many species of birds, with several already on the amber list.  Many of these animals have already been forced into the surrounding heavily developed area in order to survive, we can’t keep taking their homes and habitat.  

Please donate to our campaign and share this page on social media and via email with family and friends!

Our Case

Our community has been fighting not just the developers but our own council since 2017. The development has previously been rejected at both parish and borough council level.  Unfortunately, owing to the determination of a council which does not wish to listen to the community they represent, and the deep pockets of the developers, the application has been passed, albeit under highly questionable and irregular circumstances. 

The granting of planning permission to build 265 houses on open land highlights a planning system which is wholly unsuited to its purpose. Rather than seek to build on unused and derelict land which previously contained hundreds of low-cost affordable homes our council is promoting the building of executive homes which will do nothing to alleviate our chronic housing shortage. Builders are being positively encouraged to seek out green field developments which will do nothing to regenerate our struggling town. 

The overwhelming objection to the building of a major link road, the filling in of a valley, the building a huge culvert and 265 houses which will destroy a vital green space, including land that is currently protected, has been ignored.  Our current planning system is openly biased in the developers’ favour. 

It is clear that communities and their views are just ignored and they are treated with contempt. The fight has been a stressful one and it is not over yet. Our council is wilfully ignoring the people they claim to represent. 

Why is this important?

If this development is not stopped it will set a precedent for developers across the country. It would provide a template for the cherry-picking of any land including land that carries protected status. We are fighting not just for ourselves but for countless communities up and down the country which are facing similar threats to their open spaces.  

More importantly we are fighting for our next generations future and that of all the wildlife that doesn’t have a voice other than the people who are willing to stand up and speak for them, we can’t keep taking our vital green spaces without dire consequences! 

Our sole remaining option in seeking to overturn the planning decision is to take legal action via a judicial review and this is expensive. This is why we are seeking your help.