Plans in the offing for derelict Mellor Street land

Reporter: Katie Hill
Date online: 13/09/2007

It has been proposed that the former Carter Brothers site at Mellor Street is to be redeveloped into a retail unit and office block.

The site, which will be developed by Henry Boot Developments Limited, already has planning permission for the two buildings, including car parking servicing and landscaping and associated highway works. However a subsequent, revised application has now been given to the Council. The revised application includes a request for the permission of an Adult Learning Centre, in lieu of the office use.

Originally the planners hoped to build a new bridge across the River Roch to provide access to the site, although this has now been replaced by the application for new site access off Mellor Street.

The planning application will be accompanied by documentation which will comment upon its impact in terms of access, traffic, pollution, flooding, the environment and geotechnical information, all of which will be available for public inspection.

A spokesperson from Matthews and Goodman, the property advisors who are handling the application, commented: "We have undergone a series of discussions with the relevant Planning Officers, and whilst the Council will also co-ordinate a formal period of consultation, prior to finalising the scheme and submission of a planning application we would welcome your views at a key stage in the development process.

"This is an approach that we are keen to adopt as we appreciate that any aspirations that we have for the redevelopment of the land will always have a relationship with, and a potential impact on, the site’s immediate neighbours and end users."

A public exhibition of the plans is currently being in held in the Wheatsheaf Centre in Rochdale and will run until Wednesday 19 September. This will provide the public with a chance to learn more about the proposed scheme.

The Council will undergo its own consultation period once a formal planning application has been submitted by the developers.