Council chiefs have agreed the potential use of compulsory purchase powers to allow the controversial Godley Green development to go ahead.

Tameside council is aiming to create a new garden village of 2,350 homes on land at Godley Green, between Hyde and Hattersley, over a 20-year period.

Under the proposals, which are yet to be formally submitted to the planning authority, there would also be two village centres with shops and facilities for health and the community and ‘generous proportions’ of open space.

However the plans have proved contentious, with opposition from residents and green belt campaigners. A petition opposing the garden village has attracted more than 4,000 signatures.

At a meeting of Tameside’s executive cabinet on Wednesday, members voted in favour of adopting a ‘resolution in principle’ to use compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers.

The council is currently in negotiations with all the landowners in the area of Godley Green, and has made offers to all through ‘option agreements’ and the acquisition of the land through private treaty.

However the cabinet report states that ‘in the event that it is not possible to acquire these interests by private treaty, a CPO will be required’.

CPOs allow public bodies to force homeowners to sell up their property if it obstructs a regeneration project or if it’s for the ‘greater public good’.

Compulsory purchase powers will used to overcome any ‘rights, encumbrances or ownerships that cannot be dealt with via private treaty negotiations’, officers add.

However the report states that this will only be made where is a ‘compelling case in the public interest’.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, director of growth Jayne Traverse said the decision they were making was not to serve a CPO, but to approve the principle of their use to deliver the scheme.

“I must stress that this is a normal initial step when delivering a scheme like this with land in multiple ownerships,” she told members.

“When you’ve got land in multiple ownerships a CPO would always be required to get clean title and we would always be looking to negotiate with landowners by private treaty.

“And do that by negotiation, hopefully without the need to use CPO powers.

“This resolution is needed at this moment in time to allow us to do preparation work should we require the need for a CPO in the future and it’s an important next step in bringing forward the Godley Green Garden Village scheme.”

Cabinet member for housing, planning and employment, Councillor Ged Cooney said they accepted that people had concerns around the use of CPOs.

“It’s one of the most contentious areas people are raising,” he added.

However council leader Brenda Warrington told members the report was not a ‘statement of intent to introduce a CPO’. 

“It’s worth really making it very clear that this is normal procedure for any development of this type,” she said.

“Nobody needs to start to think that any CPOs are to be raised in the immediate future and let’s hope that we don’t need them at all.”

Councillors also told the meeting that they expected that the Godley Green area would ultimately have to be developed under Conservative government housebuilding targets, so the garden village proposal was the best way forward.

Coun Warrington said a council led development would ensure it was ‘genuinely a garden village, not just a number of fields with the maximum number of houses on them that you could possibly fit there’.

Ward member for Hyde Godley, Coun Joe Kitchen – who narrowly defended his seat with just 52 votes from a Tory challenge in May’s local elections – added: “Do you want the council controlled development which will bring all the community facilities with it, all the infrastructure with it, rather than a developer led one which will guarantee nothing at all?”

The cabinet report states that the earliest potential date for planning permission being granted for the scheme would be autumn or winter 2021.

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