Wills remains Tameside Leader as Godley Green grumbles grow
Labour’s Cllr Eleanor Wills has retained her role at the helm of the local authority, which entered no-overall control after the party lost 16 seats to Reform in May’s elections. It marks the first time in 47 years that Labour has not had an overall majority in Tameside.
Reform councillors came out swinging on their first council meeting last night, having proposed more than 15 amendments less than 24 hours before. These amendments were circulated to certain members at 9:31pm on Monday via an email seen by Place North West.
The amendments, as well as speeches from Reform members during the meeting, show that Godley Green is firmly in the crosshairs of the council’s second largest party.
Newly elected Reform Cllr Kim Roberts said that projects like the 2,150-home Godley Green Garden Village were “rubberstamped” by the council, which failed to listen to residents.
“You do not take notice that it’s thousands of people who say they don’t want it,” he said. “You’re just ignoring them.”
Wills argued that the council was not ignoring people, but trying to deliver much-needed homes and bolster the area.
“Things like Godley Green bring forward £29m worth of investment into the community,” she said.
The amendments proposed by Reform largely focussed on the council plan, centred on a request for the plan to be viewed as an interim document with a review after 90 days. This motion failed in a 23-27 vote and the council plan was approved, as per the Labour motion.
However, the Reform amendments showed where the group was looking to make changes.
These included a call for a lawful-options review of Godley Green Garden Village, as the councillors sought to find out the options available “to pause, amend, reduce, resist, discontinue, or withdraw discretionary council support” for the project as well as residential plans for land by Hey Farm in Mossley.
The amendments also asked for a review of major capital commitments, an audit of the town centre regeneration programme, and a business case for an Ashton leisure facility.
Controversy is nothing new for the Godley Green project, which focuses on 254 acres of land north of Mottram Old Road in Hyde. This land was once Green Belt, but was allocated for housing in Places for Everyone, the Greater Manchester spatial development framework that was adopted in March 2024. Many of the thousands of objections to the proposals over time have focussed on the fact it is being built on former Green Belt.
Godley Green is being delivered by the council and MADE Partnership, a joint venture between Barratt Developments, Homes England, and Lloyds Banking Group. The project secured a vote for planning approval in March after a series of amendments were made.
The plans for the garden village, drawn up by masterplanner IDP, include the aforementioned 2,150 homes, as well as a primary school, two local centres, formal gardens, a medical centre, and two local centres with shops.
The project team for Godley Green includes IDP Landscape, TEP, Eddisons, Brookbanks, and Avison Young.
While the Reform amendments for an interim council plan failed, the party’s members made it clear they would not shy away from speaking up.
“We intend to hold your feet to the fire, Labour, to make sure you do listen to the residents,” Roberts said.
Cllr Christopher Stones, also newly elected and Reform, addressed the incumbent councillors. “You were the future once,” he said. “The people of Tameside are watching and will show little forgiveness if we don’t step up.”
You can learn more about Godley Green by searching reference 21/01171/OUT on Tameside Council’s planning portal.
Not great for market confidence that Reform plan to rip up the borough’s largest and most significant residential development…
By David
A taste of things to come sadly. Disruption and chaos from a party that will pander to NIMBYs at the drop of a hat.
By Anonymous
Turbulence ahead, but doesn’t Places for Everyone stay in place?
By Rich X
There will be no social or economic progress with Reform’s brainless babies in charge. Anyone who’s young and living in Reform areas – move to London or Manchester now. You have no hope of a future in Reform’s drain towns
By Anonymous
@Rich X – yes. It’s not clear to me if Reform think they can stop the development of the site completely or simply get different things out of the scheme. If it’s the former, they’re selling a lie. If it’s the latter, well, maybe. I’ll be intrigued to see what wealth of understanding, knowledge and experience they can bring to the table.
By Northern Monkey
@Rich X – Places for Everyone would stay, but withdrawing all council resources would likely just lead to a free-for-all on the land when they can’t prove their housing land supply. It’d be less of a garden village and more likely to just be 2,100 houses.
By David