Liberal Democrat Councillors Garth Harkness and Diane Williamson have written to the Chief Executive of Oldham Council, Dr Carolyn Wilkins and the Leader of Oldham Council, Councillor Sean Fielding to complain about the way in which the decisions were made for applications to build on protected land in Saddleworth and green spaces in Sholver.

“A previous application in Royton was refused on the same grounds as what was proposed for the protected land in Saddleworth.  The professionalism of the meeting was that bad that it descended into a shambles, with members of the public not knowing what how the committee voted,” said Councillor Garth Harkness.

Councillor Diane Williamson added: “We have lodged a formal complaint on the grounds of unfairness and procedural impropriety due to the poor leadership of the meeting and decisions made that maybe constitutionally questionable and therefore legally questionable.”

Sam Al-Hamdani, councillor for the Saddleworth West and Lees ward, described the decision and the meeting as shambolic and an embarrassment.

He said: “This was a farcical end to proceedings – the planning committee changing its mind on an application they had previously rejected, a chair who didn’t know how to ask for a vote, and a decision being taken when it seemed half of the people couldn’t tell if they were being asked to vote for or against the application. 

“On a day when Labour’s leader Sean Fielding was talking about how their plans to develop Oldham town centre would stop the need to build on green spaces, it was an embarrassment to see such a mess of a decision taking place, and it showed his words to be meaningless. 

“This will not be the end of this. It shows the strength of the local community to have fought against this so far, and that will not be stopped by one bad decision.”

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