Housing plan under fire from residents

Plans for housing on the sprawling Robert Fletcher site at Greenfield are on a collision course with local residents.

The Evening Chronicle revealed yesterday that the Isle of Man-based company, Whiteoak, has engaged architects to draw up a draft masterplan for the 17 acre valley.

And it hopes to develop housing, leisure and commercial uses at the former paper mill, which closed in 2001, after starting talks with Oldham Council.

But Mike Rooke, secretary of the Greenfield and Grasscroft Residents’ Association, said: “We have made it very clear that we won’t be happy with more housing.

“There have already been planning consents for 20 or so dwellings around the site for commercial use, we don’t need any more, it is just greed. This site in particular has got such huge potential for heritage tourism and leisure.

“It is such a beautiful location and they should stick to the ideas in Oldham Beyond.”

Oldham Beyond is the 20-year masterplan for the borough drawn up in 2004 which envisaged an extreme sports complex at the mill site as a regional attraction.

But John Taylor, spokesman for Whiteoak, has already rejected the idea.

He said that unless Oldham Council paid for a feasibility study, or someone else bought the site, the sports centre was just a suggestion.

However, Whiteoak would demolish most of the industrial buildings, under plans likely to go out to public consultation towards the end of the year, he added.

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas said: “I hope Whiteoak will work in partnership with the council.

“We want economic activity and environmental conservation, and council officers are very closely involved.

I think it is a case of keeping fingers crossed.”