Decision on Lilac Mill plan delayed

AN artist’s impression of how the JD Williams warehouse will look at the Lilac Mill complex

Shaw Parish Council planning committee

PLANS for a £23 million warehouse development in Shaw won’t be decided before December.

Home-shopping retailer JD Williams has submitted a revamped planning application to redevelop its existing site at Lilac Mill, Beal Lane, which is says will secure 1,000 jobs and create 120 new ones.

The application went before the parish council with around a dozen residents attending.

Due to the size and complexity of the application, the committee decided to defer their recommendation until their next meeting on November 1, to give councillors time to study it fully.

The application, currently out to consultation, won’t go before Oldham Council until at least December.

The parish council and residents opposed plans for the site last year but they have since been altered massively. Designs for a 175ft (53m) high warehouse — only eight metres lower than Oldham Civic Centre — were scrapped after sparking an outcry that it would tower over Shaw. A second proposal for a 127ft (39m) building was again opposed. The new application is for a building 78ft high.