An outline planning application has been submitted for 180 homes at North Lumb Farm near Woodhouses, Oldham, with the applicant arguing the site qualifies as Grey Belt and should be approved in light of local housing need and a shortfall in deliverable supply. The scheme includes 63 affordable homes and areas of green/open space, and is being promoted as compliant with the NPPF Golden Rules.
Greater Manchester Mayor Bev Craig has set out a plan to deliver 10,000 new social homes by May 2028, supported by a new Public Sector Land Bank and funding expected through Homes England’s Social and Affordable Housing Programme. The announcement was made alongside a visit to a recently completed EPC A social housing scheme in Ashton-under-Lyne, which Craig cited as a model for energy-efficient, brownfield-led delivery.
Cheshire Fresh has submitted an outline planning application for Weavers Green, a proposed 280-acre development north-west of Crewe that could deliver up to 2,100 homes alongside employment space, local facilities and land for a primary school. The site is currently countryside and not allocated for development, but the application is framed against Cheshire East Council’s inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.
The Planning Inspectorate has overturned Cheshire East Council’s refusal of Bloor Homes’ outline application for up to 200 homes off Prestbury Road in Macclesfield. The inspector gave significant weight to the council’s shortfall in five-year housing land supply, accepted the site as Grey Belt, and found only minor landscape harm with no highway safety objection upheld.
