New lease of life for our derelict land?
Reporter: Marina Berry
Date published: 01 October 2008
ACRES of unused land across Oldham offer great opportunities to improve the lives of residents.
That conclusion comes from the team set up to discover exactly how much unused land and property there is in the borough — both in public and private ownership.
And the team recommends that land least likely to be used for development in the foreseeable future should be turned over for public use.
The group, headed by Councillor Alan Roughley, will report to tonight’s meeting of the economic prosperity select group.
It will suggest that derelict land is made available to schools, voluntary and community groups, and used for allotments and nature gardens, open-air sports facilities such as BMX tracks, or public open spaces.
In total, Oldham has 200 acres of derelict land, with the most, around one-third, in West Oldham, followed by Hollinwood and Failsworth, which has 50 acres.
Under-used land accounts for a further 207 acres, with the biggest part — a quarter — in Chadderton.
A further 143 acres is labelled as neglected land, with the biggest amounts, just under one fifth each, in Saddleworth and Lees, and Chadderton.
The Government has asked for a review of available land as part of its national target to build three million new homes before 2020.
Tonight’s report says the council had not previously seen the need for a complete, accurate land utilisation map for the borough.
It is, say its authors, an exercise which is both expensive and time consuming, and unjustifiable in the likelihood that the borough will have a stable population for the foreseeable future.
It adds that Oldham already uses a very high proportion of brown field sites for new housing developments, and any more large developments would involve destroying considerable areas of green belt land.
Housebuilding instead should be to replace existing properties which are inadequate to meet the needs of Oldham’s population, which vary from single people living alone to large families who need four and five-bedroom houses.
