Public to have say on major new homes plan for Diggle

PLANS to build a new 76-home development in Diggle have been revealed.

The area in question off Huddersfield Road is described as being “next to the new Saddleworth School site – land at either side of the access road”.

Brief details of the proposals emerged following correspondence between local OMBC ward councillors and consultants working on behalf of the as yet unnamed developer.

A meeting via video link has since been held between some Saddleworth Parish planning committee councillors and representatives of the proposed builders.

It has now been confirmed to the Independent a full public consultation will take place before any concrete proposals are submitted to Oldham Council.

Garth Harkness was one of three Saddleworth North councillors – Pam Byrne and George Hulme the other two – who were first contacted by Social integrated agency about a meeting to discuss the housing proposals.

Cllr Harkness responded to a request for more details and issued a statement.

It read: “An application for around 76 houses on Huddersfield Road in Diggle is expected to be submitted to Oldham Council.

“Myself and Parish Councillors were invited to a meeting with the developers and they have agreed to do a consultation with residents before they submit an application to Oldham Council.

“I understand the developers will be providing details soon.

“This is near the development for the new Saddleworth School.

“The land is currently designated for Industrial use but developers want to change this to housing.

“When the details emerge, I am keen to listen to your views on the development.

“I want there to be considerable consultation from developers and Oldham planning department to ensure residents views are heard.”

Oldham Council confirmed no application has been received in support of the future homes plan.

A spokesperson also confirmed: “The land in question is not, and was not previously, in council ownership.”

But they would not say if local authority planners had previously been made aware of proposals to build the new development.

A spokesperson for Social said they hoped a public consultation would take place within the next month.

The Independent also contacted Manchester based P4 Planning who are consultants for the scheme for more details. But calls for information were not returned before we went to press.

The company is described as providing “hands on commercial planning advice to a range of developer, operator and land owner clients.”

It also states it has “a 100 per cent success rate for planning applications.”

Work on the new Saddleworth School started last month on the site of the former WH Shaw Pallet Works. It is expected to be completed in February 2022.

• Oldham Council’s proposals to introduce parking restrictions outside properties 20-44 on Huddersfield Road, Diggle, and implement replacement parking to the rear are scheduled to be decided at a Traffic Regulation Order Panel on September 24.

This follows objections received during a recent consultation period.

One Reply to “Public to have say on major new homes plan for Diggle”

  1. Do the powers that be realise that to get to Diggle, 2000 additional people will have go down (because of the narrowness of Huddersfield Road and the parking) what is effectively a single track -one direction road. All the people walking will have to squeeze through a 60cm (2 foot) space past parked vans on the only (one side of the road only) footpath twice a day getting to the new school and new housing. So cars and buses that have dropped people off will have to stop (just as they do now) to allow other cars and buses to come down Huddersfield Road. It will be chaos!
    I am amazed that new housing estates and other large building schemes are approved without any provision for the impact all these extra cars are going to have on the area.

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