Planning permission granted for four houses at Wince Brook

Four detached six-bedroom houses

Planners have approved an application to build four detached six-bedroom houses on the former Ramsden Farm site in Wince Brook Nature Reserve, Middleton.

The plans submitted by Terry Connor in November, who owns approximately one third of the nature reserve, were approved on Friday 13 January by Rochdale Borough Council. They also include a private access road off Roundthorn Road, which is currently a footpath. Mr Connor now has three years from that date to begin building.

However, the Friends of Wince Brook are unhappy at the nature of the plans on greenfield land and are determined to fight to ensure access to the park is retained. They are concerned that a private road could restrict access to existing footpaths connecting Roundthorn Road with Grimshaw Lane and Neilson Close via footbridges.

Objections to the application concerned traffic congestion, impact on privacy, and security risks. The planning decision notice said the Local Highways Authority raised no objection to the plans for an access road, and that the security or privacy concerns raised were not grounds for refusal.

The planners say the development “would make a valuable contribution to the supply of housing in the Borough”.

The planning decision notice adds “it is not considered that the loss of land (part of which was occupied by buildings forming Ramsden Farm) would have a harmful impact on the visual, recreational or ecological value of the Greenspace Corridor [at Wince Brook].”