A CONTROVERSIAL application to build on an area of Lydgate land is back on the agenda for a FOURTH time.
And as one opponent put it: “Here we go again.”
Simon Leigh has once again lodged an application with Oldham Council to build a house at Stockport Road, and install a dropped kerb, after previous attempts were refused and turned down after an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
This two-storey structure, next to an existing property, will be ‘built out of contextual materials, and to a style which is respectful or contextual to the historic buildings in the Lydgate Conservation Area and to the two listed buildings near to the site.’
And documents backing this application state it will not adversely impact nearby listed buildings, St Anne’s Church and The White Hart.
They say: “The proposed development will have a negligible magnitude of change to the setting of the church as the work constitutes slight changes to setting that hardly affects it.
“As the proposed new dwellings will not affect significant views of the church, and as the church is set back within the churchyard, it is assessed that the proposed development will have a neutral impact.”
On the White Hart, they add: “The proposed development will not have any impact on how the structure is experienced.
“In addition, the significant views of the public house will not be affected.
“Therefore, the proposed development will have a negligible magnitude of change to the listed buildings as the development can be characterised as slight changes to setting that hardly affects it.”
On the Lydgate Conservation Area as a whole, the statement says: “The views into and out of the conservation area will not be adversely impacted.
“The proposed heights, materials and building forms are appropriate for the setting. The magnitude of impact is considered to be negligible – slight changes to setting that hardly affects it.”
The house would be located at the northernmost end of the plot, at its lowest point, and has been designed to preserve the openness alongside the boundary of the conservation area and church, as well as the views from the White Hart to the west.
The 51-page document for it states: “The new dwelling will not be prominent, dominant or conspicuous within the settings of the heritage assets.
“The proposals will neither erode the character of the site and its surroundings nor their setting.”
The Stockport Road land has been the centre of planning concerns for several years, with the original application to build three properties.
That was rejected by Oldham Council and then the Planning Inspectorate – then a bid to build one property was turned down last summer.
The authority said: “The proposed development constitutes inappropriate development in the Green Belt and in the absence of very special circumstances which would outweigh the harm caused by reason of inappropriateness.
“The proposed development by virtue of its height would cause harm to the local character of the area by detracting from the quality of the townscape or landscape.”
Now the applicant has come back again with a revised attempt.
Oldham Council’s planning committee will decide whether to grant or refuse permission.
This yet again ?
But then exactly the same thing is happening right across Saddleworth and it usually succeeds eventually , sooner or later and anyone walking on the tops looking down on the the valleys can see only too clearly that number of renovations, conversions and new builds on Green Belt land is growing almost by the month; like black spot on a Petri Dish.
I’m beginning to think Simon Leigh had some kind of mental health issues, an OCD obsession in developing a piece of land that can never be built on. To be fair I think it’s really sad that nobody intervenes and gets him the psychological help he clearly needs.
I fear that you’re perhaps confusing simple greed with mental illness and indeed the two can too often look much alike ?
This is ridiculous. It like an obstinate child constantly trying to get their own way. It’s been refused. No body wants it there, look at the previous objections, take it onboard and move on to pastures new.
Overindulgence everywhere now. Huge new build projects everywhere.
There are very few houses of this nature in that area and it will be an eye sore to all living there.!
Very well put
Stockport Toad is very busy at times. The junction with Oldham Road is often blocked with traffic. The speed bumps restrict the two way flow. Therefore any access to this development would exacerbate the traffic problem .
And you think that one house will make any difference
Simon Leigh is playing the “Planning Application “game whereby he puts in Application after Application, only slightly modified, hoping that OMBC will consider it too costly to continue the fight. He will recoup the costs of paying the architect by selling the house he has had built for a vast sum but the only way OMBC can recoup costs is by increasing our Council tax.!!
To be very fair, and l am neutral about the development, If OMBC grants permission and the new build is in Council Tax Band H, OMBC will get £4,479.82 and the rate is about to increase. So perhaps after a very few years the Council will gain a very healthy regular income.
A large measure of nimbyism is being shown here by the objectors. Lots of recent developments have been allowed in Lydgate, particularly off Platting Rd. Further back, around 1968, Saddleworth UDC allowed an inappropriate stock police house immediately next door to the proposed new house. That police house has since had piecemeal additions, all of which are completely at odds with the local vernacular. The new house should be allowed, subject to appropriate design. What was sauce for the goose, should also be sauce for the gander!
Not really.
I grew up in Blackley, (even now still euphemistically called Blackley Village,) and in the 1930s my grandmother’s house was the very last house on the road and all beyond that was farms and fields .
Now it’s just another anonymous suburb of Greater Manchester.
Much the same thing is happening to Saddleworth.
“You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone ?”
Hi JP. You may know that a petrol station stood at the south-west corner of the Oldham Rd/Stockport Rd junctionfrom the 1960s to c 2000. When it closed, OMBC allowed the present houses to be built on the site, in a very prominent position, but with appropriate design requirements. That seems to have worked out OK. In the present case, the site is an infill, next to a poorly designed ex-police house, and opposite a large pub car park. OMBC should demand appropriate design of the new house, and then grant permission. Best wishes, DG