House passed

Oldham Planning Committee reports

COUNCILLORS have approved plans to convert a former engineer’s workshop into a water-side detached house.

The large building on Green Belt land in Greenfield is part of the Royal George Mills development and has been numbered 10, Gibbs Close by the council.

Planning permission, granted after a public inquiry, was for part of the site to be used for business, the rest for homes. But offices in the old workshop have not attracted any tenants despite two marketing attempts.

Objecting to the scheme, the chairman of Greenfield and Grasscroft Residents’ Association, Mike Rooke, said: “While procedures may have been observed correctly, the decisions made by the planning department are frankly astonishing.

“Any proposals located at Royal George Mills, the subject of a public inquiry, and a conservation area, need to be transparent, taking sensitive account of local feeling.

“It is our strong contention that the developer should have been required to have submitted his building proposals by applying for full planning consent.

“What was being presented as a refurbishment was in fact a major rebuild, creating a completely new structure doubling the size of the old Block Q, raising the height and relocating the building away from Weir Reservoir.”

Councillor Richard Knowles asked the committee to defer a decision to allow a longer period for marketing the building as one or several offices. However, the plan was given the green light.l PLANS for 14 houses in Ladcastle Road, Dobcross, were given the green light.

Beckmere Partnership originally proposed 17 detached and semi-detached homes on the site but reduced it to 14 houses with alterations to the layout in a bid to address flood risk concerns.

Objections were received from 20 near-by residents and MP Phil Woolas, who wants a tree preservation order on the site.


AN historic pub has been saved from demolition after councillors voted to keep it open.

A proposal to bulldoze the Daisyfield Inn in Keb Lane, Bardsley, to make way for nine homes was scrapped after objections.

One resident said: “Around 250 residents are against plans to knock this building down. It is the only historic building in Bardsley.”

Councillor Stephen Bashforth urged councillors to vote to keep the pub running: “If it fails it fails, but it seems to be well used so why not keep it open?”


PLANS for 14 houses in Ladcastle Road, Dobcross, have been given a green light.

Beckmere Partnership originally proposed 17 detached and semi-detached homes on the site but reduced it to 14 houses with alterations to the layout in a bid to address flood-risk concerns.

Objections were received from 20 nearby residents and MP Phil Woolas, who wanted a tree preservation order on the site.