Plans to build a ‘high quality’ 200 home neighbourhood at a derelict retail park site have been given the green light. Rochdale council’s planning committee has signed off major proposals that will see more than 223 homes built at Central Retail Park, on the edge of the town centre. The scheme includes a six-storey building boasting 142 apartments and a further 81 town houses, both in grey brick.
A new park will also provide a ‘green corridor’ across the seven-acre site which lies between Oldham Road and Drake Street, close to the town's railway station. The council owned plot - previously home to Wynsors, Focus and MFI - is to be developed by Willmott Dixon as part of the authority’s wider Station Gateway plans for a 1,500 home ‘urban community’.
The scheme was unanimously approved by councillors despite some reservations over the impact on traffic and the potential for Rochdale to become a commuter town for Manchester. Coun Phil Burke, vice chair of the planning committee, told colleagues it was ‘an opportunity we can’t afford to miss’.
