Plans for ‘car free’ homes in Oldham neighbourhood

Plans to build ‘car-free’ homes with ‘no hiding places’ in an Oldham neighbourhood could be given the go ahead next week.

Last year, ‘specialist housebuilder’ City Shape submitted a planning application to Oldham council to build 28 homes off Oldham Road in the borough on a vacant side near Brookdale and Ridgefield Street. The site has been empty for a number of years while a number of other homes have been built in the area which is ‘fast transforming from commercial to residential’.

The area is currently covered by a mix of gravel and plants and ‘has been used as ad-hoc, unsanctioned parking with cars riding the kerb’. There once was a church on the site but this was demolished in 2013.

A design and access statement for the application said the plans ‘will provide high quality homes and meet an identified need within this Failsworth area’ with ‘good amenities and public transport links’. The development will be a mix of two storey and three storey homes but none will be affordable.

The document said: “The scheme is well connected in Failsworth, close to local shops and services. The surrounding roads are existing and considered adequate for access to and from the new development, for vehicles and pedestrians.
“The footpaths pass in front of homes, rather than behind. There are no ‘hiding places’ within the development. The roads and pavements will be adequately lit to promote a safe, attractive route.

“The scheme is also well connected to all surrounding areas with regular bus routes and the Failsworth Metrolink stop a few minutes’ walk away.”

The plans are up for approval at an Oldham Council planning committee meeting on August 19. Concerns have been raised by three people that the 14 car-free homes included in the development will ‘displace parking onto surrounding streets and increase congestion’.

However officers said the site was accessible with good links to bus and Metrolink services. A Manchester Council survey said the road was ‘a busy road with lots of cars’ with 43 bus services per hour with some stops seeing more than 4,500 boardings a month.

At the same meeting, several other planning applications are being considered. One for a house of multiple occupation on Haigh Lane in Chadderton has been referred for consideration because the applicant Footlong (UK) Ltd is understood to be owned by a family member of Coun Abdul Jabbar.

The plans have faced objections from 121 people living in the area as well as Reform councillor Jon Ford. Officers are recommending for those on the planning committee to throw the plans out.

The concerns around the application centre around the development in what is described as ‘a well-established, quiet, family-orientated neighbourhood’. An officer report said no information had been given about the plan’s impact on the environment but impact on traffic would be low while the nearest HMO is 380 metres away.

A number of other issues raised by those concerned such as property prices in the area are not planning considerations. The planning report also said: ‘There is no substantive evidence to suggest that the use would give rise to unacceptable levels of noise, disturbance, traffic generation, or other impacts detrimental to the character and appearance of the area.”

While officers said a HMO was acceptable as there was not an over-concentration in the area, was acceptable in size, and would not cause traffic problems, the loss of 25 square metres of habitat and the lack of any assessment of environmental impacts means the application should be refused.