Housing scheme that left residents ‘extremely concerned’ rejected

A housing scheme that left Oldham residents ‘extremely concerned’ has been rejected.

The 21 homes due to be built off Road Knowl, Shaw, received more than 50 objections concerning everything from ‘dangerous roads’ to ‘buried horse bodies and asbestos’.

The council’s planning committee ultimately rejected the plans over highway issues and a failure to comply with section 106 – a planning policy that requires large-scale developers to pay a fee towards the creation of public spaces.

Lisa Smirk, a resident who lives close to the site, said she was ‘extremely concerned’ about the plan.

Smirk, who represented neighbours in the area, noted that access to site the was only possible through a road with a ‘narrow pinch point’, posing a danger to ‘children who cycle there and elderly people reliant on mobility aids, who are often forced onto the road due to narrow walkways’.

The site had been earmarked for residential development in the council’s local plan to fight the local housing crisis. But councillors argued that the development needed to be ‘appropriate’ and suggested developers ‘go back to the drawing board’.

And 54 local residents raised concerns about the development. Comments on the planning application also often highlighted the ‘hazardous’ access roads and increasing traffic.

Others highlighted the closeness of a nearby equestrian centre and farms, with one noting that two horse bodies had been buried on the land by a previous tenant.

“Can you imagine how scared our horses are going to be?,” another objector added. “This development will have a direct effect on our business and our livelihood and the horses’ behaviour.”

The homes would have been built over ‘irregularly shaped’ land split into a larger and a smaller plot south of Lilac View Close. Four affordable homes would have been built on the smaller portion of land.

The larger portion would have been used for 12 semi-detached and five detached houses, alongside a public green space on the northern side. And the project would have included a mixture of four two-bed, ten three-bed and seven four-bedroom homes.

The developer’s agent Gareth Glennard requested the council to defer their decision, claiming the planning process had been subject to a 15 month delay but that talks to resolve the concerns about section 106 had been underway.

But councillors decided instead to reject the proposal outright, meaning the developer will either have to appeal the decision with the secretary of state or start the planning process from scratch.