Living in the future
Reporter: DAWN MARSDEN
Date published: 01 October 2013
A BRACE of new housing estates provides not only much-needed housing but an artistic sensibility to the borough too.
The 116 new homes at Primrose Bank - bounded by Chamber Road, Lee Street and Ashton Road - are managed by Great Places Housing Group.
Half the homes for rent are being advertised as “Working Xtra” homes: applicants must either be working, in training, in receipt of carer’s allowance or volunteering.
This scheme is part of a wider, £113 million Gateways to Oldham project, which will see more than 700 homes built or refurbished in the next three years at four sites.
The council and the Inspiral Oldham Consortium, which consists of Regenter, Great Places Housing Group and Wates Living Space, are now well into the second year of a landmark 25-year PFI contract.
Over at St Mary’s, residents are settling into a collection of 93 environmentally-friendly properties built by Contour Homes on land bounded by St Mary’s Way, Egerton Street, Horsedge Street and Scoltock Way.
The area had been vacant for years, since the demolition of flats built in the 1960s. The new estate is a mix of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes for sale, rent or shared ownership, with associated car parking and public open space.
