Homes plan halted

Oldham Planning Committee
FALLING house prices have halted plans to build affordable homes on the former Lumb Mill site in Delph.

Planners had given the thumbs-up to plans for 41 houses and eight apartments on the Huddersfield Road site.

But now, Three 60 Property Investors Ltd and Taggart Homes, who were due to build them, say falling sales prices and rising costs mean the original plans are “unviable and unfundable.”

And they say unless the requirement for five affordable homes to be built as part of the development is dropped, they could be forced to back out.

Planners worried that would leave the site semi-derelict, agreed to waive the clause — but added an alternative clause which would release up to £866,325 for alternative affordable housing if house prices and sales profits rise above a certain level.

Councillor John McCann hit out at the decision, saying affordable homes “should be part of every major building scheme.”

He said developers had an unrealistically high expectation for profits in the current economic climate, and that the council should not be subsidising them.

Members also agreed to drop a condition for solar panels to be installed in the houses as the extra cost would make homes more expensive.