In the early 1980s I believe the land at Mill Lane/Harcourt Street, Barlow Fold was in the town plan as public open space. Housing was built on the site following a meeting held behind closed doors involving one senior council officer and one senior councillor. Greater Manchester Council did not approve the use of this land for housing and I believe no consultation was held with local people concerning the change of designation as housing land. Greater Manchester Council was very annoyed at this.
I asked a FOIA question regarding this and the information was not disclosed to me. I mentioned the question of possible corruption, as I recall, and I wanted access to the documents myself to check. It would appear that in those circumstances the Council should have disclosed those documents under its Fraud policy.
Apparently the formal adoption procedure had not been applied to the local plan.
The above document can be more clearly read here – http://www.sheilaoliver.org/how-did-it-pass-planning-.html
