Progress made with Clegg Hall Mill development

After a lengthy discussion at Wednesday 20 December’s Pennine Township Planning Sub-Committee meeting, Councillors agreed that the development plans for Clegg Hall Mill in Littleborough would be allowed to progress as long as concerns over road safety and traffic issues were met.

Developer Northern Floor and Wall presented its planning application at Wednesday night’s meeting, which took place at the Wardle and Smallbridge Community Association on Wardle Road. The company has proposed to convert the Nineteenth Century Grade II listed former Mill, which has been left derelict since a fire in 2003, into 13 flats, eight townhouses and a detached home.

A representative of the 12 nearby residents that attended the planning meeting, described the main issue as one of road safety. After a long debate it was decided that progress could be made as the developer announced that his company would put £20,000 into traffic calming measures on Branch Road and Clegg Hall Road, two of the three roads that provide access to the Mill.

Another traffic issue arose when it was announced that improvements to the nearby Clegg Hall Bridge, which goes over the canal, would mean that the roads would be of sufficient enough quality to allow drivers to use the area as a ‘rat-run’ between Smithybridge and Rochdale, avoiding the A58. Councillors decided that a gate should be erected so that only farm traffic and emergency services would be allowed through.

British Waterways also had complaints over the development, due to the presence of floating water plantain, luronium natans, a European protected species, on the nearby canal which would be threatened by the increased shade caused by the construction of 10 directly overhanging balconies. This argument was rejected by the Committee as they believed that the shading of the area would not be made any worse than had previously occurred when the Mill was in use.

The Council’s report on the Mill development recommends that the planning application is approved because it would, “significantly improve the visual amenities of the vicinity and would enhance the character of the surrounding Clegg Hall Conservation Area. The proposal would also satisfy the most relevant policies of the Council’s Unitary Development Plan without causing harm to the openness of the Green Belt or having an unacceptable impact upon road safety.”

Ultimately it was decided that the restoration of the Mill and the development of the adjacent Hall would bring some glory back to the Clegg Hall hamlet. The restoration of Clegg Hall is being undertaken by the same developer that brought Healey Hall in Shawclough back up to standard and both venues have proved to be hit on the annual Heritage Open Days. It is expected that the development of Clegg Hall Mill will achieve the same high standard.