Healey Hall could become alcoholic treatment centre

Healey Hall

Rochdale's historic Healey Hall could become a treatment centre for recovering alcoholics.

Plans to change the use of the Grade II listed building to a 'residential alcohol therapeutic facility' have been sent to Rochdale Council.

The planning department at the Council is recommending that the scheme is given the green light, and councillors will meet to give the final approval next week.

The facility would provide beds for around 30 service users, who would be housed in the facility for no less than three months and anything up to 18 months. Therapy would run from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday and on some evenings and Saturday mornings.

Treatment would mainly be group related, although there may be some one on one therapy, with the ultimate aim to get patients back in the community alcohol free. The site would provide a 'Therapeutic Community', with no medical intervention.

The users of the facility would be fully self sufficient; cleaning the house themselves and making their own meals. 

Visits to the site would be by appointment only, while some allocated outings would take place on Saturday afternoons and users would be able to apply for weekend leave if they complete relevant modules of the programme.

The unit would be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The programme would be voluntary and users would be free to leave at any point.

The council's planning department has received 15 letters of objection to the proposal. These include objections that the facility would increase traffic on Shawclough Road, have an adverse affect on the Healey Dell Nature Reserve, cause increased crime and vandalism in the Healey area and force non reversable changes to the historic building.

The planning officer believes that traffic on Shawclough Road would not be exacerbated by the development, that the Nature Reserve would not be affected, that the unit would be secure because service users would not be able to leave without permission, that planning permission would not be granted if any internal alterations would damage the character of the Hall or its historic interest, and that the proposals for car parking at the site are satisfactory.

In recommending that the plans are approved, a spokesperson for the Council's planning department said: "The proposed use is considered to be viable and it would not harm the historic interest of the Hall, its curtilage and the surrounding area. The use would have a satisfactory relationship with the adjacent residents in that their privacy and amenity would not be unduly affected. The proposal demonstrates satisfactory parking can be provided within the site for staff and visitors and safe access arrangements from Shawclough Road."

Some parts of Healey Hall date back to 1774, while before that there was a sixteenth century stone hall at the site, and prior to that a medieval timber hall.

The Hall was used as a nursing home for around ten years. When that home closed the building was vandalised and many internal features were lost, damaged or destroyed. The current owner bought the Hall in 2000 and spent the next four years restoring it. The Hall has been on the property market for the last two years, during which time no residential buyer has come forward.

The applicant is now considering different uses for the site so that he can find a buyer and use funds raised to continue the restoration of Clegg Hall in Littleborough.