Two brownfield sites and a listed Georgian building to be compulsorily purchased

Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) for a grade-II listed town centre building and two wastelands were approved by Rochdale Borough Council’s cabinet on Tuesday (30 October).

CPOs are used as a last resort and should only be made where there is a compelling case in the public interest and should only be promoted where such public interest outweighs the interference with the rights of those affected.

Grade-II listed 1 Whitehall Street, a Georgian building on the corner of Yorkshire Street, has been neglected and vacant for some time, having gone to auction in July 2018.

No bids were made, and the building has been for sale for a considerable length of time.

The building has been used as a restaurant in the past, with future potential for retail, food and drink, office or residential use.

Labelled an ‘eyesore’ due to its broken and missing windows, there is also damage to the interior with the structural integrity of the building currently unknown.

The building’s current condition presents a public danger due to its lack of security, which allows access for trespass, crime and anti-social behaviour. Greater Manchester Police have reported concerns to the Council regarding this issue.

The brownfield site of the former High Birch School site on Marland Fold, Rochdale was also agreed to be compulsorily purchased by Rochdale Borough Council.

The former High Birch School closed in 2007 and sold to a private owner at auction three years later. A demolition notice was issued in January 2011 and the school buildings understood to have been demolished shortly after. 

The current owner, an Oldham-based developer, submitted a planning application in December 2016 for 22 houses with associated parking, landscaping and access off Marland Fold.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/115938/houses-approved-on-'eyesore'-brownfield-site

It is understood that the proposals are acceptable in principle, but the owner refuses to sign a section 106 agreement to provide the required planning obligations in the form of financial contributions to education and recreational open space.

The second area of wasteland subject to a CPO was that of the former Red Cross Mill on Redcross Street.

The mill buildings were partially demolished in the late 90s, fully cleared in the early 2000s, and the land has been vacant ever since.

Due to the messy and dilapidated condition the site had been left in, the Council has served Section 215 notices under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, in 2014 and 2015.

The current owners inherited the site from their late mother in 2016. Prior to this, the site entered the family’s ownership in June 1991.