Oldham Council objects to 1,380 homes plan in Castleton

Stakehill

A new ‘garden community’ of 1,380 homes in Rochdale has been formally objected to by neighbouring Oldham Council. Last month, Redrow Homes submitted proposals for the huge Stakehill Garden neighbourhood development, in Castleton and Slattocks, south of the M62.

The developer said the site’s ‘special landscape qualities’ will be celebrated with ‘a healthy balance between landscape and built development’.

Redrow are seeking full planning permission for 233 homes and outline permission for a further 1,147 along with an extension to St Johns Primary School, a multi-use sports pitch and a new access road from Thornham New Road.
 

Read more: Plans submitted for new ‘garden neighbourhood’ complete with 1,400 new homes in RochdalePublished: 22 September 2023

The site is entirely within the borough of Rochdale but neighbouring Oldham Council have objected as they believe the plans do not comply with strategic plans for the Greater Manchester region, in particular, the Atom Valley innovation cluster.

Atom Valley is intended to be a 17 million sq ft development, which straddles areas of Oldham, Rochdale, and Bury. Members of Oldham’s planning committee last week supported the objection, which had been worded by the borough’s head of planning, Peter Richards.

He said: “Oldham Council objects to the application submitted by Redrow Homes, on the basis that it does not comply with the proposed policy of the modified Places for Everyone joint development plan. While many of the criteria are of a detailed, application site based nature which Rochdale Borough Council will assess, three in particular are of a more strategic basis that affect the whole allocation and so Oldham borough.

“Given this site is part of the Atom Valley innovation cluster, it is not appropriate that an application has been submitted for such a large number of homes without first considering the wider implications for the whole allocation, and it runs the risk of this key development allocation coming forward without the necessary infrastructure improvements and without the planning and phasing of those improvements.”

The site falls under part of the Stakehill allocation in the Places for Everyone plan. That allocation is a cross-boundary part of the plan covering areas in both Rochdale and Oldham, with residential development proposed to the north of Stakehill Industrial Estate, while employment development is proposed to the south and east of the estate.

The Stakehill Garden planning application will be deliberated on by Rochdale Council after a period of public consultation.

Chris Gee, Local Democracy Reporter