Deadline looms to save town’s last green space

PROTEST . . . Shaw and Crompton Parish Council chairman Dave Murphy and Councillor Diane Williamson, front centre with local residents fighting to save their green space

HUNDREDS of flyers have been distributed by residents around Shawside Park in the fight to save the only remaining green space in central Shaw.

With one day left for residents to have their say on the future of the Cowlishaw Lane park, objections have flooded in to halt possible development — forcing an extension of the deadline last week.

Plans to allocate the site for housing were mooted in Oldham Council’s options report — detailing the best possible uses of sites throughout Shaw and Crompton.

Residents have come out in force against plans to develop the site. Beryl Hacking, a local resident for 40 years, said: “I’m very much against this because it’s the only open green space left around here and the local children use it all the time. If it goes ahead for housing it will cause chaos down here. It isn’t fit to have heavy traffic.

Shaw and Crompton Parish Council chairman councillor Dave Murphy has been inundated with objections from residents: “This is about making it 10 times harder for anything to be built on the site in future years and trying to safeguard Shawside Park. This is not about scaremongering, it is about informing the local community about something that could happen in years to come if we don’t object.”