Park offer to secure homes plan

THE current site, a belt of land running from the right to bottom left

AN eco-park will be created in Shaw if a development of 80 houses is given the green light.

Bosses at P+D Northern Steels Ltd say they need to sell their Mosshey Street base to keep the business going and safeguard jobs by relocating to a more efficient site elsewhere in Oldham.

They have offered to give the council four acres of land adjoining the site to create and maintain a new eco-park for community use. If the plans are approved, the business will pay £150,000 towards the cost of converting the plot into an eco-park as well as £10,000 for highway safety measures and off-street car parking spaces for residents.

Residents have raised concerns over the housing plan, which goes before the council’s planning committee tomorrow and is recommended for approval.

Thirty-two letters of objection have been sent to the council saying it is an overdevelopment, will intensify already heavy traffic movement increasing congestion, noise, air and light pollution and highway safety and will cause parking problems.

They say the site is a primary employment zone not suitable for housing and the junction at Greenfield Lane, where Asda is accessed, is already dangerous and needs addressing.

A decision on the application was deferred at a previous meeting after the firm said money it would have to pay for open space development would make the relocation unviable. It has since held meetings with planning officers and reached an agreement.

Council leader Howard Sykes, a Shaw councillor, has also been involved in discussions with residents and the business, saying he wants to ensure the application works to everyone’s benefit.

P+D Northern has been at the site, used for storage and flattening steel plates, for 34 years and employs 15 full-time and three part-time staff.

Managing director Peter Martin said approval would support a long-standing local business, safeguard jobs and deliver new family housing and the eco-park.

The firm is committed to staying in the borough and re-investing proceeds from the sale of the 4.75 acre site to relocate. More space will help the company expand and diversify and increase employment in the future.

The proposal will also regenerate a brownfield site and fund highway safety improvements along Mosshey Street and access around the Asda junction.

Mr Martin said: “We have simply outgrown our existing site, which is too small and we need the planning permission to secure the companies future, to maintain the existing jobs and increase the numbers in the future from the current levels.

“We desperately need bigger facilities, where we can acquire or build warehouse space, to diversify the business into other product lines, in order to meet the ever-changing demands of the highly competitive global steel market.

“Unfortunately we can’t do this at Mosshey Street and if the application is refused the company, will be in a very difficult position.

“We have been working on these proposals to help the business for well over three years and I hope that members of the planning committee can see the benefits of the development and what it means, not only for the business in these difficult times, but also for the wider community.”