Finance switch to spur house building

A FINANCIAL shake-up has been introduced to speed up the development of a former Hathershaw mill during the credit crunch.

Oldham Council has changed the financing of the plans to build 280 homes and new shops on the Borough Mill triangle between Ashton Road, Copster Hill Road and Schofield Street.

Council leader Howard Sykes explained that normally the developer would buy the land from the council, build the houses and then sell them.

Instead, the council has agreed to license the land to Countryside Properties which will then build the homes and pay back the money as it sells them.

He said this would help the company’s cash flow and added: “There is no financial disadvantage to the council.

“We have just been a bit creative in our financing of the development to get some properties built.”