Pennine Animal Welfare Society fundraising to secure planning permission and build new home

The Pennine Animal Welfare Society – which rehomes animals around the local area, including in the Rochdale borough – is in need of funds to help secure planning permission and build its new home in Oldham.

The charity, which is the beneficiary of the annual Wardle Village Fete and Dog Show and which also held a ‘PAWS in the Park’ event in Heywood this August, relocated this summer from Todmorden to Delph after being evicted by its previous landlord.

However PAWS now needs to raise funds for a planning application in order to convert its land for use as kennels and a cattery, as well as the costs of changing and extending an existing stable block to create kennels.

PAWS also hopes to build an additional kennel building and cattery, as well as replace a storage container, form a parking area and add a mobile home for someone to be on-site to be able to provide essential care and supervision of the animals.

Planning permission submitted to Oldham Council this summer was rejected with the animal sanctuary planning to resubmit its application after a preliminary ecological survey is completed.

However, the first application has already cost the charity £5,500 so far, with PAWS currently not able to take any new animals into its care. The animal sanctuary is also currently unable to access funding without planning permission.

Oldham Council rejected the plans, saying the development forms part of the designated green belt, adding the proposals “would have a materially greater impact on the openness of the green belt than the existing development on the site and represents inappropriate development.

“No very special circumstances exist that would clearly outweigh this harm and the proposal is therefore contrary to the Oldham Local Plan and the revised National Planning Policy Framework.”

Trustee Michele Way said: “We now have the monumental task of raising sufficient funds to pay for the planning, and they’ve refused so we have to resubmit and for the cost of converting the existing stable building and building out a new cattery plus all the infrastructure. 

“We still have dogs needing homes but all the cats have been rehomed and we cannot take any new animals into our care until we have everything in order. 

“Sue [Curran, PAWS founder] has had to store her static caravan until we get permission and dogs are in foster, apart from three she is looking after. We are desperate for funds but waiting on grant application decisions – we still need to top those up though so we are fundraising in earnest to get there as quickly as we physically can.

“We are currently receiving between 15-20 calls and emails a day requesting assistance for stray and abandoned cats and other family pets that need to be rehomed due to unsuitable accommodation, moving, illness/death in the family and health reasons.

“It is extremely concerning to us and very depressing that we are not yet in a position to assist and we are praying that Oldham Council look upon our preliminary ecological report and resubmitted application favourably so we can get our funding in place.

“If anyone wants to help us financially, please donate through the website and physical help needed for clearing the site and sorting out buildings, rubbish removal, etc. We have no animal care to do at present so it's practical skills at the minute.

“We have also extended our catchment area by a further five miles, so it’s a 20-mile radius of Todmorden to include Saddleworth parishes and Oldham. We already covered Rochdale, Calder Valley, Burnley, Halifax, etc. We do quite a bit in the Rochdale area and will continue to do so.

“We are incredibly pleased to have secured a long-term home for the charity, but we just need to get on and do what we do best now, rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming unwanted cats and dogs.”

Pennine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) was established in 2007 and since then, they’ve rescued and rehomed over 1,500 animals. They offer pets, mainly cats and dogs, a second chance to live a happy life with a new family.

You can donate here on their website: www.pennineanimalwelfaresociety.org/contact-us