Places for Everyone formally adopted

The joint plan that stretches across nine out of 10 Greater Manchester boroughs has come into force today, marking the end of a decade-long saga.

Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Tameside, Wigan, and Trafford have all agreed to adopt Places for Everyone, meaning the final hurdle for the framework has been cleared.

The spatial plan outlines where 175,000 homes and millions of sq ft of employment space will be built in Greater Manchester over the next 15 years.

It allocates sites for housing, commercial, and industrial uses as well as releasing approximately 5,500 acres of Green Belt – a reduction of 4.1%.

Eamonn Boylan, GMCA chief executive, told Place North West the plan would provide a “degree of certainty” for investors and developers.

“I felt from day one that a mature city region like ours should be able to give some clear messages to communities, to its potential investors, to developers, to infrastructure providers, [about] what the future looks like, and give it a degree of certainty that can enable the decisions then to be to be taken.”

Greater Manchester is the only city region outside of London to have a joint plan like PfE, Boylan added.

“London’s is very different because the mayoral plan is effectively determined at a higher level. We did it from the ground up and I think that is something that is really powerful.

“It says an awful lot about the Greater Manchester that we have built over the years.”

Stockport Council is a notable absentee from Places for Everyone.

Stockport pulled out of the plan in 2020 due to concerns it would lead to development in the Green Belt.

Previously known as the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, the initiative has been in the works since 2014. The first draft was published in 2016.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham tore up the original plan in 2017, as he had promised to do during his election campaign, to shift the focus more towards brownfield development.

Paul Dennett, City Mayor of Salford and GMCA portfolio lead for Places for Everyone, said the adoption of the plan was a “major milestone”.

“It’s been a complex journey, but throughout it all our position has been clear: having a plan for homes, jobs and sustainable growth is the best line of defence against costly unplanned development.

“Places for Everyone is the key to delivering the homes that our communities need, revitalising our town centres, rejuvenating our green spaces, and integrating new developments into our transport infrastructure.

He added: “Places for Everyone is now part of the development strategy in the nine boroughs, opening up a new chapter in Greater Manchester’s devolution story. As a long-term spatial plan, we can use it as a tool to advocate for our people, places and businesses, maximise our strengths, and achieve our potential in a global economy.”

Hear from Dennett at Place North West’s rental market update in May.