A long-awaited development at Oldham Mumps has taken more time to break ground than it took to put a ‘man on the moon’, opposition councillors have claimed. Lidl had confirmed earlier this year it intended to move forward with creating a foodstore at the Prince’s Gate site in Mumps, with leaders saying that a planning application was expected during 2022 – but which is yet to materialise.
The formal application would be a major step in the project to revitalise the Mumps area of Oldham that has been in the pipeline for a decade, and spanned five council leaders. However at a recent full council meeting Councillor Howard Sykes, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group said it had taken longer to deliver the project than ‘it took to put mankind on the moon’.
“So far progress to-date has been far from interstellar,” he told members. Council leader Amanda Chadderton said the delays to the project were a source of ‘frustration’ but the authority had to wait for private developers to bring the scheme forward.
