Appeal over controversial housing development dismissed

An appeal over the refused 17-home development behind an industrial warehouse in Mossley has been dismissed.

The old Rooches site off Manchester Road was earmarked for new homes until Tameside council’s planning panel deemed it ‘unsafe’. 

Town hall planning officers said the proposal for 17 new homes on the edge of Mossley would create a ‘poor standard of living’.

Its mix of semi-detached and detached homes would have been accessed via a route into Roaches industrial estate.

The homes were planned to go right behind Acorn Works on what is currently used as space for caravan storage. Harry Cyprus, who owns a number of industrial units off Manchester Road, told the planning panel meeting earlier this year he would not accept access on a road dominated by HGVs and industrial vans.

Appearing at the planning panel meeting on January 15, he said: “I will not agree to access off my road. It will result in a loss of land for the use of businesses in the area. It is not a safe site to introduce any further vehicles to what is already an overused road.”

Mossley Town Council also opposed the scheme, claiming the loss of employment land in the area would be detrimental, a concern the council’s planning officers shared.

Graham Wraight, from the Planning Inspectorate, sided with the objectors. Loss of employment land, unacceptable living conditions and the impact on trees were the reasons Mr Wraight dismissed the appeal from the applicants, named as Mrs A Jones and Mrs A Bradbury.

A report from the inspector read: “I have found the design of the proposed access to be acceptable. 

“However, it has not been demonstrated that the loss of the employment land is justified in the context of local planning policy, that the proposed development could be undertaken in a way that would not adversely affect the operation of nearby businesses, that it would provide acceptable living conditions for future occupiers of the proposed dwellings and that it would safeguard the adjacent tree belt.”

Planning Inspectorate decisions on matters of planning are final and cannot be appealed, except for a judicial review in the High Court.

Aerial view of Roaches site off Manchester Road, Mossley. Credit: Tameside Council