Russell plans in for 320-acre Rochdale site

Russell Homes has submitted a planning application to Rochdale Council for a 320-acre site in South Heywood, outlining proposals for a 2.2km link road, 1.45m sq ft of commercial space, and up to 1,000 homes.

The first phase of the 20-year masterplan is the application for full planning permission for the link road, and outline planning permission for the subsequent mixed-use development.

An infrastructure priority for both the local council and Transport for Greater Manchester, the £20m link road would provide HGV traffic from logistics parks in the South Heywood area with a dedicated route to the motorway, 17km shorter than the existing journey.

The other part of the application is the development of new employment, residential, ancillary retail, and community uses, including a new primary school, playing fields, parks and open space.

The new link road would be part-funded by grants from TfGM and Highways England, with the shortfall met by Russell Homes through the release of the proposed housing.

A decision on the proposals is anticipated within the next 12 months, allowing work on the road begin by 2019.

Daniel Kershaw, Russell Homes director, said: “The South Heywood masterplan is an ambitious long-term development that will support and significantly enhance economic opportunities in the borough and benefit the local area greatly, providing high quality family homes, jobs and community facilities.

“There is a real opportunity to improve the economic standing of the borough and its profile as a place to do business, building on the already successful industrial and logistics parks at South Heywood. There is a clear requirement from businesses to expand and locate here, and the borough is fast running out of suitable employment space of the type that we are offering.

“While the existing logistics parks of South Heywood are strategically placed for the local motorway network, connectivity to the network is poor, resulting in long journeys or inappropriate routing of HGVs through the town. The new link road would provide a direct route to junction 19 of the M62, to the benefit of businesses and local people.”

Russell Homes has received design and planning support for the South Heywood application from How Planning and IBI Group, and advisors Axis, Regeneris, Cushman & Wakefield, Campbell Reith, REC, E3P, and Orion Heritage.

Russell Homes South Heywood Illustrative Masterplan

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A poorly planned 621m link road will be such a bottleneck, drivers wanting to get to the existing Pilsworth industrial estate will avoid this area, and further congest residential local roads. Who would want to locate their business in a highly congested area. This will drive business ‘away’ from Heywood and cost jobs. Not to mention the pollution and the resulting I’ll health. Russell Homes have clearly failed to address the most basic issues. They have not addressed the existing flooding problems within the site and on existing roads on the site boundary. Never have I seen such a poorly presented planning application, using out of date data, and simply ignoring the need to find a solution to an issue the very same application has highlighted.

By Rob

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