Countryside primed for Oldham go-ahead

Planning officers have recommended approval for 365 homes across two plots in Fitton Hill.

Advised by Lichfields, Countryside is advancing its plans for Parcel A, at Rosary Road, and Parcel B, at Hill Farm Close.

Combined, the sites account for 22 acres, on the edge of Oldham’s urban core, around two miles south of the town centre. Both are well served by existing facilities and bus routes.

The project team includes E3P, CBO Transport, Redmore Environmental, ELLUC, and Urban Green. Plans were lodged in October.

Both sites were recognised as suitable for housing in a 2020 market assessment – although two small segments within one of the site boundaries are classed as Green Belt, there is no intention to build on them.

Parcel A formerly housed Fitton Hill School and Marland Fold school, along with a community education centre, all of which have now been demolished. Parcel B is also a cleared site, having previously been home to housing and an infant school.

Eighty one of the homes put forward by Countryside are proposed as affordable, accounting for around 22% of the total. The remainder will be split as 187 for open market sale and 97 for the private rented sector.

In recommending approval, an Oldham planning officer noted that “the proposed development will involve productive use of primarily previously developed sites within a sustainable urban area and will make a significant contribution to the council’s available housing land supply”.

That supply could also be bolstered by proposals for former mill sites – in a report published in March, the council said it will look to deliver 800 homes amid its collecion of 64 such locations as it seeks to reduce the need for Green Belt incursion.

Oldham’s planning committee will consider the Fitton Hill plans on 6 April.