PLANNING | Bolton greenlights Lidl, refuses 112 homes
The council voted to approve the retailer’s plans to deliver a supermarket, retirement apartments, and football pitches on the 27-acre plot off Darwen Road at Thursday’s planning committee meeting.
Morris Homes’ housing proposals for the 11-acre site off Radcliffe Road did not share the same fate.
Land off Darwen Road
Application Number: 07518/19
Lidl has prevailed with councillors voting to approve its previously approved-then-thwarted plans to redevelop 27 acres of Green Belt at Bromley Cross.
Designed by HTC Architects, the scheme will deliver a 13,500 sq ft Lidl store on the former site of Hollands Nurseries. Opposite, 43 retirement apartments and a 91-space park-and-ride facility for Bromley Cross Railway Station will be built, as well as four football pitches at the edge of the site.
The Lidl store will provide an 11,000 sq ft sales area, as well as a 125-space car park.
A three-storey apartment block will house the retirement flats, featuring 26 one- and 17 two-bedroom homes.
Plans were first submitted in September 2019 and approved two years later in September 2021.
Approval was subsequently quashed in February 2022 and sent back to Bolton Council for redetermination. This recall followed a challenge from the Co-Operative Group citing that the application’s viability evidence was not available for public view.
This time, the application has been sent to the Secretary of State to make the final decision as plans include development on Green Belt.
Rapleys is the planning consultant for the scheme. The project team also includes landscape architect FDA Landscape, transport consultant SCP, and arboricultural consultant AWA Tree Consultants.
Land off Radcliffe Road
Application Number: 12387/21
A lack of affordable housing provision saw Morris Homes’ plans to build 112 homes refused against officer recommendations, three months after the application was deferred due to traffic and landscape concerns.
The scheme would have delivered a mix of apartments and townhouses, as well as detached and semi-detached properties.
There would have been eight one-, 62 three-, and 42 four-bedroom homes, none of which were designated to be affordable.
Two access points were also planned to have been created off Radcliffe Road.
Currently used as caravan storage, most of the 11-acre site has been previously developed. However, part of the plot used for grazing horses is undeveloped Green Belt.
The decision to refuse the scheme was made against officers’ recommendations, with councillors raising concerns regarding the lack of affordable housing proposed. According to the committee report, officers regarded that affordable housing was not viable for this scheme due to rising costs and falling market value.
The application had been deferred in March to allow further investigation into traffic concerns and the development’s impact on the future creation of a Bolton to Bury tram link.
This time, officers recommended that the committee approve the plans with the Highway Authority raising no objections to the proposals. A Bury tram link is also not identified within the Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040 or the Five-Year Transport Delivery Plan.
Emery Planning is the scheme’s planning consultant. Also on the project team is landscape architect Barnes Walker, transport consultant Mode, and arboricultural consultant Ascerta.
That elevation has to rank in the top 10 worst drawings I have ever seen. It hurts my eyes.
By Cattleburn Square
That’s great
By Karl Kingshott
Another one that will be won on appeal…. Councillors need only look along the old Bury Bolton, or Bolton Radcliffe train lines to seem numerous examples of it being constructed over, one of which is 500m east of this site. There is no clear route for a metro line… no wonder the town is in such a state….
By Anonymous
I hope Morris appeals this one and does Bolton for costs. What a ridiculous rejection. Take them to the cleaners Morris.
By Anon