hartford mill site c google earth

The chimney was the last part of the mill standing, removed only recently. Credit: Google Earth

Oldham site up for grabs at £14m

Once home to the now-demolished Hartford Mill, plans are in the works for around 250 homes at the 8.7-acre North Werneth site.

Bury agent Entwistle Green has been engaged to find a buyer for the site – long derelict, demolition of what had become a problem area for antisocial behaviour was finally started in 2020.

Having stalled during the pandemic, the final parts were brought down this year.

Working with architect Halliday Meecham, Parker Properties put forward outline plans in 2018 for residential development of the site and surrounds, off Block Lane and Edward Street, but the proposals never reached committee stage.

According to Entwistle Green’s listing on its website, the current landowner has a detailed planning application just waiting to be submitted, comprising 249 homes. This would break down to 156 apartments, 93 houses, and some supporting retail.

The site is well located for public transport through the Freehold Metrolink stop.

Entwistle Green described the sale as “an extremely rare opportunity to acquire a brownfield development site in the heart of Oldham for an excellent residential and commercial project on the former Hartford Mill site”.

Built in 1907, the mill produced cotton until the late 1950s and was later occupied by Littlewoods, the retailer leaving in 1991.

Oldham Council itself took the demolition through planning, with then-Leader Sean Fielding hailing the start of demolition as an example of the borough’s brownfield-first approach to housing.

Your Comments

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This site has been sold!

By James

How much????

By Heritage Action

Going to sit undeveloped for a few more years with that asking price… whose advised that!?

By Anonymous

£14 million?! Never in a month of sundays!

By Anonymous

It’s £12m on Rightmove. Every little helps.

By Vicar in a Tutu

Described as 185,130 sq ft at £12million on other marketing sites, that’s about 4 acres at £3million an acre – leafy Cheshire executive area money, not applicable to adepressing area full of low council tax band properties right next to a noisy metro line and suffering from fly tipping and vandalism and beggars, in fact a quite scary area. I would think that even the very best areas in desirable Saddleworth would struggle to achieve anywhere near that level of pricing. Methinks someone must have added up how much money they already have tied up in this site and the considerable amount of money still needed to complete the clearance and make the site capable of being developed and come up with this total fantasy figure.

By K. W.

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