Housing plan for Lancaster Club

Oldham Council Cabinet meeting
ONE of the sites acquired by Oldham Council in its bid to deliver regeneration benefits to Oldham Athletic Football Club could be turned into a housing estate.

The local authority agreed a deal in principle to purchase the Lancaster Club, Failsworth, from Latics last August, after plans to build a new stadium on the land fell through.

It was proposed that a mixture of new houses, plus a number of commercial developments, could be built on the Broadway frontage to the site. A commercial soccer centre could be developed on the existing allotment gardens on Broadway — with the allotments reinstated anew on land at the Park Avenue/Broadway junction.

Sports pitches lost from the current Lancaster Club setup would — subject to Sport England approval — be reinstated on the vacant Higher Lime site at Limehurst Village.

The council will now launch a formal public consultation exercise to measure community reaction to the plans.

Councillor Dave Hibbert, Cabinet member for housing, transport and regeneration, said: “Oldham Council is firmly committed to consulting the local community and user groups about any future plans for this site.

“We’ve already been discussing these initial proposals with the Broadway Allotment Society and Avro FC, who currently occupy the Lancaster Club pitches.

“We will now be holding a special all-day consultation event on Thursday, March 22, at the club.

“Residents and stakeholders are invited to drop in at any point between 11am until 8.30pm that day to have a look at these plans and submit their comments.

“It’s very important that people let us know their views so that we have the best possible scheme prepared before it is submitted as an outline planning application later this year.

“At that stage there would again be the usual further statutory consultation period on those plans.”