Hyde Library up for grabs
Knight Frank has been appointed to market a local authority-owned site, which also used to house Tameside College of Technology.
The firm said that the 1.78-acre town centre plot could be suitable for residential, education, health or specialist retirement living as well as other uses, subject to planning.
With such a range of options on the table, no guide price has been offered. The site is freehold and being offered for sale by informal tender with a deadline of 18 August 2022.
At present, the irregular-shaped plot consists of the former library building, a surface car park and a “naturalised” plot where the now-demolished college stood. It sits on Union Street to the southwest of Hyde town centre.
The “Hyde Triangle” of Hyde Town Centre, Godley Green and Hattersley has been identified as an area for growth in Tameside’s inclusive growth strategy.
Knight Frank office agency partner Mark Bamber said: “The site offers huge potential for a variety of uses in a town centre where an approved masterplan is in place to encourage investment and growth.
“The library building, although not listed, is one of the last surviving grand Victorian civic buildings within the town and would be considered as a non-designated heritage asset.
“In principle, the planning authority has advised that it would support the re-purpose of the building in conjunction with the redevelopment of the adjacent Union Street car park and the site of the former Tameside Technical College and surrounding land.”
Library services were transferred to Hyde Town Hall in 2015 to reduce costs.
The site is a 10-minute walk to Hyde Central railway station and a five-minute drive from Junction 3 of the M67.
Bamber added: “Regional towns of character, such as Hyde, provide a rich source of potential for developers and investors looking for well-connected locations close to large centres of population.”
Godley Green is our greenbelt. It doesn’t belong to a few Councillors who want to sell it off to greedy developers, it belongs to all of us. Leave it alone!
What’s next for the chopping block? Maybe Hyde Park? Think how many houses you could fit on there.
Hattersley has lost most of its green space already, with the rest under construction. They’ve even built on the sandpits, and we all know about the idiot who built his house on sand, don’t we?
The library is a historic Hyde building, as was the grammar school/Clarendon College, and didn’t they do a good conservation job on that?
By Anonymous
Sounds like a good idea
By Anonymous
Typical buffoonery from TMBC. Having spent a considerable amount of money on the building in the not so distant past, the Library facilities were moved to a small part of Hyde Town Hall, with local councillors trumpeting the bizarre notion that this was somehow “better”. Having done this, they then left the building together with quite an amount of equipment in place to rot and be vandalised – a recent fire was caught just in time, or it would have gone the same way as Stalybridge Town Hall. The former Hyde Grammar School could have been repurposed as the centrepiece of the housing development on the site. They pay lip-service to culture but have no idea what it means and have no interest in maintaining a sense of place. Quite happy to allow architectural monstrosities like Kentucky Fried Chicken down the road…
By Paul White
Paul White: The last refurbishment of that building was a fairly long time ago and at the time it was pretty minor. The library was moved as part of savings proposals, given the huge financial pressure on local government, moving it was a way of securing its future. Other libraries closed so I’d say moving it was a sensible idea. There was no decent or movable equipment or resources left in it, most of it was transferred, only fixed fittings were left. The council have been clear in the disposal documents that they want any developer to keep the facade of the building and they can add that condition. This building versus a KFC down the road are treated completely differently in planning terms, one is a new build subject to current planning regulations, another is an historically significant, not listed, building that they want to find a new use for, any new build on site would also be subject to new planning laws.
By Anonymous
What a waste of a beautiful old building. TMBC should hang their heads in shame for allowing this to happen but this is what they do as with Hyde grammar school and the college building am surprised they don’t suggest our town hall and build a monstrocity in its place.
By Anonymous
Would like it to be listed. As it was well built in stockbrick by a local builder. Around 1896
By Jean pollitt
People tried to get it listed but to no avail.
By Gerald
Does anyone know which construction company built the library. ?
Family ancestry suggests a link to the stotts and Robinson. No idea of any validity but interested
By Nicola buchanan