Green light for office and apartment block

The development of a five storey office block and flats in Heywood has been approved by councillors despite concerns over parking in the town centre.

There are no plans to include car parking with the development and councillors said this could cause problems in what is already a congested part of town. However, planning officers said that the application could not be refused on these grounds because parking is not required with town centre apartment blocks.

The building will be erected on a privately owned car park, on the junction between Earl Street and Bethel Street in Heywood centre.

The ground floor of the building will be used as office units and the other four storeys will be used to accommodate 17 flats.

Planning permission was refused for the building of a private hire taxi booking office on the site in 1999 on the grounds that the design and appearance would be inappropriate for the town centre.

The location was denied planning permission again in 2002 for the erection of a two storey building because it would result in the loss of the well used car parking facility but Council planning officers decided on this occasion that the use of the car park could be taken away by the land owners at any time and that the office and accommodation development would be more beneficial to the town centre.