Rochdale approves mill conversion

Redwaters and Prescot Business Park will work together to restore the grade two-listed Crimble Mill to deliver 214 homes across the 56-acre Green Belt site near Heywood.

Rochdale Council approved the proposals at its planning and licensing committee meeting yesterday. The decision was made in line with officer recommendations.

CJ Partnership and Urban Green designed the scheme, which will convert the former cotton mill to provide 33 apartments and 11,700 sq ft of ground-floor commercial space.

The dilapidated buildings next to the mill will also be redeveloped. Plans will see these buildings demolished to make way for a further 31 three- and four-bedroom houses.

Finally, the greenfield plot within the wider site will see the creation of 150 three- to five-bedroom houses.

In total, seven one-, 23 two-, 106 three-, 57 four-, and 21-bedroom homes will be provided.

There will also be improved access to the development, with alterations to the road bridge into the site and upgraded public rights of way.

Crimble Mill closed more than 20 years ago and has been vacant since 2015, the same year that Prescot Business Park acquired the site.

According to an officer’s report, the project demonstrates “very special circumstances” in order to justify Green Belt development, with proposals including the restoration of a grade two-listed heritage asset.

Plans were submitted for the development last July.

Urban Green is working as the landscape architect, arboricultural consultant, and on wider masterplanning for the scheme. CJ Partnership is the masterplanner for the mill complex segment.

Lichfields is the planning consultant. The project team also includes Blackett-Ord Conservation Engineering, CB3 Design, Roger Hannah, Redmore Environmental, RJT Consulting, Tetra Tech, and E3P. Lanpro is the archaeological consultant.

Want to learn more about the plans? Search for application number 22/00588/FUL on Rochdale Council’s planning portal.