Push to redevelop store’s old site

A NEW push to sell the former Sainsbury’s site in Bloom Street could regenerate Oldham’s West End.

The site, left empty when the supermarket moved to Union Street in 2004, is costing Sainsbury’s over £1million a year for the lease and rates.

No-one is interested in taking over the building, except a car park operator currently leasing the parking spaces.

But agents are now marketing the whole site for demolition and complete redevelopment.

And Adrian Hanley, surveyor at Angerrman, Goddard and Lloyd in London said: “We have had around 50 requests for details, and held discussions with Sainsbury’s landlord.

“Something needs to happen there and the council is obviously keen to see it redeveloped.”

The site is part of the West End suggested in the Oldham Beyond report, and designated for an education and cultural zone by the council.

Regeneration officer Paul White said that while the Sainsbury site is too expensive for the council, it has recently bought the nearby Transweb building in Manchester Street.

Two health clinics in Cannon Street are also due to close when Oldham’s new integrated care centre opens behind the civic centre next year.

The council has an informal agreement with the Primary Care Trust to take them over.

The council has also bought and cleared the Pennine Way site, to be used partly for a new science centre.

He added: “It is no secret that Aldi (the Manchester Street supermarket) is looking to relocate.

“The potential is then that this whole block of land could become available.”

The council is also talking to Mecca, the bingo company whose buildings back on to Manchester Street, and University Centre Oldham, Oldham Sixth Form College and the Oldham College

Although Oldham Coliseum is exploring the idea of using the old Town Hall for a new theatre, he added, the idea of building it in the West End is not dead.