Oldham greenlights two Chadderton proposals
Rowland Homes can deliver 149 homes on a former school site off Butterworth Lane, while hotel accommodation may proceed as the next stage of Ram Mill’s redevelopment.
Both schemes were approved with conditions at last night’s planning committee meeting. Rowland’s scheme has Section 106 obligations attached.
Butterworth Lane
Rowland is working with planner Asteer and Ascot Design Consultancy on a site that sits just inside the M60 orbital motorway, and is allocated for housing.
The site, which was occupied by South Chadderton Free School until 2017 – with all buildings demolished in 2020 – is close to 11 acres.
Rowland’s scheme includes 60 affordable homes, equating to 40% of the site total, with two-three- and four-bedroom housing lined up. Types include an apartment block, mews/terraced, semi-detached and detached houses.
As landowner, the council has confirmed its intention to exceed Local Plan policy requirements by delivering 40% affordable housing.
These will break down as 21 three-bedroom semis/mews, to be delivered as social rent or affordable rent; 18 two-bedroom semis/mews, to be delivered as social rent or affordable rent; and 21 three-bedroom semis to be delivered as shared ownership.
Officer recommendation was to approve, with suggested contributions of £1.4m for primary education, and £586,000 to mitigate the shortfall in public open space at the site.
Affordable home targets will be exceeded at the Rowland scheme. Credit: planning documents
Ram Mill
At Ram Mill, a 226,000 sq ft complex off Gordon Street, applicant Javed Akbar wants to convert three upper floors of the mill into 75 hotel bedrooms and 105 aparthotel units. PLanD is advising.
The site, a short distance north of the M60, is described by officers as being set within an established urban area characterised by a mix of commercial, business and retail uses, with the immediate area characterised by large format retail and food outlets, while the wider Whitegate residential area lies to the south of the site.
Ram Mill has accommodation over five storeys, and has a distinctive tower element and roof terrace. The building was originally constructed in 1904 for textile manufacturing and is recognised as a non-designated heritage asset of local significance.
As noted in the officer report, Ram Mill has received significant investment in recent years, with consents granted since 2021 enabling refurbishment and re-use of the basement, ground and first floors, with windows replaced like-for-like and modern commercial, leisure and business space created, now housing a range of uses.
To date though, the top three floors remain underused, and form the next phase in the building’s rebirth.
The hotel and aparthotel is intended to run as a single, centrally managed operation, providing hotel space for short stays, and aparthotel units for short to medium-term stays, particularly for business users and project workers.
What this means in practice is that while the aparthotel units benefit from natural light, much of the hotel accommodation is towards the centre of the floorplates, so won’t have access to windows – although as officers point out, this “Z-hotel” model is increasingly common in budget city centre hotels.
It is pointed out that “the applicant asserts that the hotel rooms would be designed to a high internal specification, incorporating enhanced artificial lighting, ventilation and acoustic treatment to provide an acceptable internal environment”.
There is no requirement for additional parking, as the site is served by 204 spaces at ground level and a parking deck of 64 spots.
Oldham Council’s planning portal has full information on both schemes, with the reference numbers OUT/355327/25 for Ram Mill and FUL/354904/25 for Rowland Homes.
Good to see the return of the green light.
Why would anyone want to stay in a hotel in Oldham?
By PLF_Cloud_Cuckoo_Land
@ PLF_Cloud_Cuckoo_Land…Plenty of reasons, actually. Conferences, access to the Pennines, good transport links into Manchester, and ongoing regeneration bringing new business and visitors. Not everyone stays somewhere just for nightlife, some are attending events, or working locally. Short-term and project based workers also need somewhere to stay. A new hotel simply reflects that there’s demand. No one would invest otherwise.
By Anonymous
I go to ram mill regularly what an excellently run business and superb blueprint for how our Mills can be repurposed
By Anonymous
The Ram Mill application is a really odd one with all the windowless rooms on top of industrial units in an unlovely spot – not somewhere to crash in the middle of a city.
Unless there’s a lot of trades/construction people working away from home just needing somewhere to sleep with van parking, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they ask for a variation once it’s finished to allow longer stays for whatever reason.
By Anonymous
Oldham’s mills are magnificent. The ones in Chadderton on Broadway blend nicely into the residential areas around them but this is not in a good area. I applaud the owner for trying something different,and hope it is a success.
By Elephant
Hotel bull hmo
By Phil
Not that there might be a connection (!), but these days many applications for what are really HMO’s in the Oldham area have been described as applications for hotels. Indeed, there have been applications in Oldham to CONVERT HMO’s into hotels! Could it be that people are seeing a way to get round forthcoming Labour Government legislation on such things as security of tenure?? As others have pointed out, if you WERE genuinely wanting a hotel in Oldham to stay for a short while, you would not choose this particular area to stay in! Planners have recommended approval, it will be interesting to see if the Planning Committee have the intelligence or will to properly scrutinise this application.
By A. R.
There will be another 3 bed semi available soon, I’m off!
By Ian
I used to work at ram mill in the 1990s and the smell from the sewerage works in the summer is unbearable 💔. I think its a very ambitious project and wish them the best of luck with that idea .
By Anonymous