Vistry wins Oldham consent
Working with social provider First Choice, the firm can go ahead with 147 homes at the Southlink site. Less fortunate was Redwaters Estates, refused permission for a hotly-contested Failsworth proposal.
The 68-home Redwaters plan has drawn significant attention, covering part of the Green Belt that separates the built-up edge of Failsworth from Woodhouses village.
Those proposals have come forward at the same time as plans from North Lumb Farm for 180 homes from the opposite side, extending the Woodhouses boundary.
Although the applicant teams have been at pains to point out the volume of public open space that will maintain separation and room for leisure, opposition has mounted locally, with around 600 objections made for this project.
Officer recommendation had been to refuse the application on two grounds: concerns over highways layout, and not meeting all the conditions required for an exceptional approval under Grey Belt conditions – although as was pointed out at the meeting, officers consider the site can be considered Grey Belt in general.
Thus, even with refusal likely at this session due to the recommendation, there was and is some disquiet over the lingering threat, as residents see it, of Grey Belt designation.
Public speaker Steve Whitehead, chair of the M35 Save our Green Belt group, addressed the meeting. He said: “For six years, residents have fought to secure Green Belt status, and when some sites were released in the Places for Everyone allocations, it was retained. So what has materially changed?”
The vote to refuse was unanimous. Scheme documents can be seen on Oldham Council’s planning portal with the reference FUL/355686/26.
The final item on the Oldham docket saw Vistry, which will deliver the project with First Choice Homes Oldham, secure planning permission with little dissent for 147 homes close to the former Oldham Mumps railway station
With land ownership divided between Oldham Council and Transport for Greater Manchester, the 9.7-acre site currently consists of a vacant office building, hardstanding used for surface parking, and scrubland, with a disused railway cutting running east–west through the centre of the land – the station was rendered obsolete when Metrolink replaced heavy rail, with a new route branching into the town centre.
The land is bordered by the A62 Oldham Way dual carriageway to the north, a Royal Mail delivery office to the east, Southlink Business Park to the south, and the town centre to the north-west, with the Oldham Mumps Metrolink stop a short distance north, across Oldham Way. The site lies within the defined Oldham town centre boundary in the local plan
In all, 147 dwellings are proposed, all to be delivered as affordable housing – 125 to rent, and 11 each as shared ownership and rent-to-buy.
The overall mix comprises 97 apartments and 50 family houses, with one- and two-beds making up 66% of the total provision. That mix was queried by one member, with the officer reply being that the numbers had been determined by local housing need figures.
Documents for the Vistry/FCHO project can be seen on the Oldham portal, reference FUL/355201/25.
