Major employer set to stay in town after housing scheme approved by planners

A major Rochdale employer is set to stay in the town after securing planning permission for 100 new homes on ‘surplus land’ it owns.

Having gained approval for a housing development, manufacturer Farrel Ltd now intends to sell the plot to fund an ‘extensive refurbishment’ of its Castleton works.

The Queensway firm - which makes machinery for the tyre industry - has operated in Rochdale since 1906.

It employs nearly 170 local people, while a further 45 jobs depend on its supply chain.

Bosses say it has recently been struggling to compete with firms in the ‘low-cost markets of eastern Europe and Asia’ - and would have had to move elsewhere had permission been refused.

Peter Gaskill spoke for Farrel Ltd at a meeting of Rochdale council’s planning committee.

He said: “There are substantial incentives for Farrel’s to relocate to these low-cost markets, so there’s an immediate pressing need for a facility that better meets the requirements of the business and its employees.

“Farrel’s needs to invest in the physical fabric of the buildings and adapt them to provide the quality of space to attract and retain staff and the expansion of operations within the site.”

Mr Gaskill told the committee the condition of the buildings had deteriorated over recent years, becoming ‘increasing dilapidated’, with facilities that were ‘unsuitable to meet current employees needs’.

He added the overhaul was ‘critical’ to the efficient operation of the factory needed to ‘justify’ the firm’s continued presence in Castleton ‘or, indeed, the UK’.

The site proposed for housing currently consists of a car park, a small staff seating area, and a fenced off area of ‘significantly overgrown’ scrubland.

A large office building known as Harp Mill and a smaller plant building would also be demolished to create space for the housing development.

A separate application for the refurbishment of Farrel Ltd has been lodged with the council, which the firm expects to soon be approved by officers.

During the meeting, Councillor Peter Winkler raised concerns the committee had been too focused on the business case - rather than concentrating on planning issues.

But the council’s head of planning, Paul Moore, assured councillors that officers had deemed the site suitable for a large residential development.

He said reference to the business case in the officer’s report was to explain that some financial contributions had been waived due to the employment benefits arising from the scheme.

Castleton ward councillor Aasim Rashid praised Farrel’s contribution to Castleton, before moving approval of the scheme.

He said: “They do a wonderful job for the local community and have a wonderful project to reinvest in the local community and we need this business to flourish in future.

“I’m really happy and delighted to propose this application for grant (of planning permission).

The motion was seconded by Councillor Shah Wazir, who described the plans as ‘a wonderful scheme’ which he was ‘very happy’ to support.

The committee voted unanimously to grant planning permission.

However, as this is an ‘outline’ scheme, a more detailed proposal will have to be brought forward by a developer in future before any house building can begin.

No members of the public or ward councillors spoke to oppose the application.

The meeting was held at Rochdale Council’s Number One Riverside offices on Thursday 5 March.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter