Decision on ‘intrusive’ housing development in Littleborough deferred

Site plan for land off Chestnut Way, Littleborough

The decision on a new nine-home development labelled ‘intrusive on neighbours privacy’ has been deferred by Rochdale Council’s planning committee.

The plans for the site, just off Chestnut Way in Littleborough, were subject to ridicule from a number of neighbours – with 29 letters of objection being submitted in total. These covered concerns around flooding, minimal separation between houses, traffic increases and fears they would overlook neighbouring houses.

One house in particular – plot 6 – was claimed to be built over a land drain, fuelling distress over drainage and flooding issues.

The ‘lack of detail’ in the planning application from Angel Manor Ltd was a point of confusion for many on the planning committee which met at Number One Riverside on 20 October. The council's planning officer and the applicant both said there was adequate distance between the new houses and the neighbours (14m between a principal window and any directly facing two storey elevation) but objector Claire Brierley claimed the distance was less than that of ‘a soft toy snake’ she brought as a prop.

“We are not objecting to building or development, we just don’t want it to affect our properties,” she told the committee. “Let’s sort the issues first before making a decision.”

The nine homes would be detached and be two storeys in height, something the developer had ‘worked on with officers for one and a half years’. The applicant also told the committee that he would take away the water features after Councillor Billy Sheerin claimed ‘a child can drown in them’ – and this chopping and changing during the committee meeting was one of the reasons the plan got deferred. 

Applicant Bob El Hage claimed he had installed a land drain ‘as a good gesture’ when he first bought the land due to the ‘historic flooding issues’ which he claimed he didn’t have to do. However, he failed to convince councillors of the precise detail on whether any buildings would be on top of current drains and how high certain buildings were going to be, which led to the can being kicked down the road until next month’s planning committee meeting.

Ward councillors John Taylor and Ashley Dearnley were in attendance backing up objectors points, who they claim had not been listened to by the developer during the consultation period. They also told the committee that this should have been brought before the Pennine Planning Panel prior to the meeting – which they believe would have ironed out the kinks in the application.

The motion to defer this application to the next meeting, as a result of planning detail confusion and that it hadn’t gone before the specific Pennine panel, was carried.

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter