‘This is vital for the regeneration of our town’ – green light for ‘Utopian’ plans that will bring more than 200 homes to retail park site

Plans to build a ‘high quality’ 200-home neighbourhood at a derelict retail park site have been given the green light. 

Rochdale council’s planning committee has signed off major proposals that will see more than 223 homes built at Central Retail Park, on the edge of the town centre.

The scheme includes a six-storey building boasting 142 apartments and a further 81 townhouses, both in grey brick. A new park will also provide a ‘green corridor’ across the seven-acre site which lies between Oldham Road and Drake Street, close to the town’s railway station.

The council-owned plot – previously home to Wynsors, Focus and MFI – is to be developed by Willmott Dixon as part of the authority’s wider Station Gateway plans for a 1,500-home‘ urban community’. The scheme was unanimously approved by councillors despite some reservations over the impact on traffic and the potential for Rochdale to become a commuter town for Manchester.

Councillor Phil Burke, vice chair of the planning committee, told colleagues it was ‘an opportunity we can’t afford to miss’.

“I think this is a fantastic opportunity to get people living in the town centre and we should snap it up straight away,” he said.

 

 

“We have ‘high-spec’ apartments being built for people who want to move into the town to enjoy themselves,” he said.

Councillor Billy Sheerin concurred, describing it as ‘a gem of a site’. He added: “This is a brownfield site that hasn’t been built on for years and years and years. We need to do something with this site and this is a wonderful development.”

The Castleton councillors said it had ‘all the attributes’ people needed, along with ‘marvellous access’ to the railway,  Metrolink and buses.

“We cannot turn this down,” he said. “This is seriously important for the regeneration of our town.”

Councillor Sameena Zaheer also backed the ‘vital’ scheme – saying it demonstrated the council was prioritising brownfield sites for development.

 

 

But while Councillor Peter Winkler agreed brownfield sites were ‘what we keep asking for’ he had some misgivings over the plans – suggesting they may be too good to be true.

“My only reservation is that, is this so idealistic and Utopian that it’s beyond actual reality?” he said. “Are we going to achieve what we say we are going to achieve.”

He also worried that, while people may live in Rochdale for the cheaper homes, they would spend their leisure and work time in the city centre.

“I think we are building city centre living in Rochdale,” he said. “I hope it all works – I hope that the Utopian plan comes to fruition. I’m going to support it, but I hope in years to come we see the plan we are describing tonight.”

Councillors also expressed concerns over the absence of affordable housing, but were told the developer had proven this would be financially unviable. The scheme is not yet fully-funded but forms part of the council’s £20m bid to the government for ‘levelling up’ monies.

Rochdale council met at Number One Riverside on Thursday night (22 December).

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporting Service