Plans for estate of ‘affordable’ family homes

Photo: Brewster Bye architects for Great Places Housing Group

The three-and-four bedroom homes would be available for shared ownership – a part-buy, part-rent scheme for people who cannot afford a mortgage

A new estate where every home would be affordable could be built in Rochdale.

Housing association Great Places has submitted plans for 28 family homes on land off Belfield Mill Lane, in Belfield.

The ‘high quality’ three-and-four bedroom properties would be available for shared ownership – a part-buy, part-rent scheme for people who cannot afford a mortgage.

The aim is to give local people the chance to get on to the housing ladder, and eventually increase their financial share of the home to 100 pc.

The two-acre site, bound by Ashfield House and open fields, would feature a mix of detached and semi-detached homes served by 56 parking spaces.

As part of the plans, there would be a new access road into the estate from Belfield Mill Lane and a pumping station would be installed to ensure adequate drainage.

A design and access statement accompanying the application sets out the benefits Great Places believe the development will bring to the area.

It says: “Overall this is an excellent opportunity to deliver a high quality affordable residential scheme which will positively contribute to meeting an identified need for family housing in the borough.”

The document adds that the red-brick homes would all have spacious plots’ ‘generous gardens’ and ‘sufficient parking spaces’ – ‘thus providing a variety of high quality house types’.

The open land site  – is described as being in ‘a sustainable location, next to bus routes and within walking distance of the train station and the town centre, with a number of local amenities within the immediate surrounding area’.

Landscaping of the news streets also forms part of the proposal which, alongside the existing trees and shrubbery, the documents states ‘will further enrich the bio-diversity of the site’.

If given the go-ahead by planning officials, building is expected to start in winter 2020 and complete the following year.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter