Concern over plans for housing development in Littleborough

A number of residents from the Littleborough area have raised their concerns following the news that a housing development of 110 houses could go ahead on land off of New Road, Littleborough.

It is understood that residents close to the site were made aware of the plans on Saturday 8 August after they received a letter.

Janice Percy, a local resident, said: “Littleborough can’t take it. It is bad at the minute with the traffic and congestion. We don’t have the infrastructure to cope. Gone are the days when families only had one car, you are now looking at two or three. Everyone I have spoken to thinks that this is outrageous.”

Nicola Dawson, who lives on New Road, has submitted objections to the plans and said: “I wish to strongly object to the proposed development on land off of New Road due to several factors. The visual impact of 110 dwellings would have a devastating effect on the character of the current neighbourhood. There would be loss of privacy and overlooking to the properties in closest proximity to the development along with the noise and disturbance associated with over 100 dwellings, with the possibility of up to 200 vehicles entering and exiting the development.

“At peak times Featherstall Road, New Road and Halifax Road towards Rochdale are almost at a standstill and heavily congested - the addition of potentially another 200+ vehicles would only exacerbate this problem and compromise highway safety and convenience of current road users. At non peak times these roads are still a constant stream of traffic in both directions.

“Schools, doctor’s surgeries and dentists in this area are already at capacity and could not accommodate an influx of potentially 200, 300 or 400 pupils/patients.”

Tracy Furnell, from Featherstall Road, said: “Our greenery is being eaten up by developers at an alarming rate. The land off New Road is one which I frequently walk with my dogs and take great pleasure from the surrounding fields, which currently animals graze upon. I, and the owners of the houses that currently back onto this land, would lose those views.

“New Road is already an extremely busy road. At peak times the traffic crawls all the way from Littleborough to way past the traffic lights at the bottom of Wardle Road. A further 110 houses might easily accommodate two cars each, some three, depending on the ages and number of offspring in those houses. We may be looking at an extra 220 to 330 cars attempting to join the queue of traffic. This can only have a negative impact on what is already a nightmare situation.

“My other concern is our ageing drainage system. Will the waste from another 110 properties put the current system under pressure? There were some areas of Norden where, in the past, the drains emptied into the gardens of some of the new properties there. Will the same thing happen here?”

An outline planning application for 110 dwellings with associated services, drainage, landscaping, access arrangements and car parking has been submitted to Rochdale Council.

In a planning statement issued as part of the plans by Russell Homes, it states: “The proposal will provide up to 100 high quality family homes and make a valuable contribution to achieving a more balanced choice of housing within Rochdale, diversifying the range of housing available and rebalancing the borough’s housing stock profile that is currently characterised by an oversupply of low value terraced housing and a shortage of high quality, modern family dwellings.

“The proposed development will help to meet the identified significant shortfall against the five year housing supply within the borough. The development will therefore make an important contribution towards meeting short-term deliverable housing needs.

“The proposed development has been designed with careful consideration to the site’s heritage context and existing, well-established residential setting and will respect the amenity of surrounding properties.

"The design will retain a visual link across the development site maintaining the opportunity for long views through the site from New Road, to the south and ensure that sufficient distance can be achieved between Stubley Old Hall and the new homes proposed.”

It is not yet known when a decision on the plans will be made.