Development for 312 homes on green belt land causing a stir in Littleborough

A community group has aired its grievances with plans to build 312 homes on green belt land in Littleborough.

Bloor Homes wants to build the new housing development on the site of land to the west of Hollingworth Road as well as a replacement car park on land off Rakewood Road. Alongside the homes and the replacement car park for Hollingworth Lake Country Park, the developer wants to get outline planning permission to build a new primary school.

The majority of the homes would have four bedrooms with three and five-bed homes also planned. The site is currently farmland.
 

Read more: Plans for 312 homes in Littleborough submittedPublished: 30 July 2024

A new park and a tree-lined ‘green corridor’ linking Rochdale Canal to Hollingworth Lake and a circular footpath network are also planned. But according to Littleborough Civic Trust (LCT), who are opposed to the development, there are a number of errors in the planning application that need clarifying.

The group, which seeks to preserve Littleborough’s heritage, believes the planning papers do not accurately measure the amount of additional car journeys the new development will create. They also believe the idea of a ‘hybrid application’ in this case is not acceptable – stating this makes the idea of the new primary school on the parcel of land off Rakewood Road ‘a second thought’ by developers.

The LCT has more concerns regarding the potential impact this development would have on the road infrastructure in the town.

A spokesperson for Littleborough Civic Trust said: “Bloor Homes have stated in the records of a meeting between them and Rochdale Council that the already over-capacity transport infrastructure issues in Littleborough, are “not their problem”.

 

 

“It is clear that in view of the complexity of the traffic issues involved and the apparent lack of any ideas from RMBC’s Highways Department to solve the problems before the planning application is decided. Other than with the acceptance of the possibility of financial contributions to mitigate infrastructure issues, but not necessarily in Littleborough, nothing is proposed.”

Inaccuracies in planning documents are scrutinised as part of the planning process and would be raised by the council’s planning officers and discussed with the applicant either before and/or during a planning committee meeting. These factors would then be considered when officers make a recommendation to the committee whether to approve or refuse the proposal.

In response to this, a spokesperson for Bloor Homes said: “Discussions with TfGM and Rochdale Council’s highways department have taken place prior to the submission of the planning application, and they will continue to be engaged during the course of the determination of the application.”

Despite this, the LCT has asked why this application is classed as a hybrid when there are actually three applications involving two different parcels of land, in their opinion. It is also the belief of the LCT that the works to the replacement car park land should not be part of the planning application and should be a separate application.

Their spokesperson continued: “Essentially, whilst trying to represent the concerns of the community, we are being ignored by both the council and Bloor Homes, and hoodwinked by Bloor’s consultants.”

A ‘hybrid’ application has been tabled with the council which attaches the primary school plan to the housing development. But full planning permission would be needed at a future stage for the new primary school off Rakewood Road to actually be built.

In response to the concerns raised by the LCT, Mark Robinson, director of economy and place at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “As with all planning applications, there is a process for objecting to the plans and all these objections are considered before any decisions are made. We have received an objection from the Littleborough Civic Trust and this will be considered, along with the others.

“Hybrid applications are a normal and accepted part of the planning process, particularly when large developments are being considered. As hybrid applications seek outline permission for some aspects of the development, detailed applications for these aspects will need to be submitted at a future date before any development can take place.

“At this point, the application will be advertised, as per the normal planning process, and people can submit comments and objections.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter