SOME OF THE BIGGEST PLANNING DECISIONS MADE ACROSS GREATER MANCHESTER THIS WEEK

A string of applications for huge masts across the Greater Manchester region have dominated council planning discussions this week.

With 5G coverage and better internet speeds becoming a priority for government, the latest sweep of planning applications is especially prominent in Oldham. In recent weeks there have been a total of 32 separate applications for 15m high ‘air-fibre’ poles designed to carry high speed broadband across the borough.

The developer responsible for the applications, IX Wireless, launched in 2017 with the goal of bringing ‘21st-century digital infrastructure to towns and cities across the North West and beyond’.

As expected, there are a number of applications for housing developments but there has been a lack of any major decisions made across the region. One important decision for the emergency services means Whitefield in Bury will soon see a new fire station built.

The current site on Bury New Road was built in the 1960’s and is overdue for an upgrade – which Bury Council decided was up to scratch.

Here are the various decisions made in each borough of Greater Manchester:

Bolton

Fourteen bus lane cameras to be switched on in Greater Manchester town – with drivers risking hefty fines

Motorists in Bolton are set to be hit with more fines for the unauthorised use of bus lanes when new enforcement cameras are switched on next week.

The bus lane cameras will be activated on Monday, October 9 and drivers who contravene bus lanes at 14 locations in Bolton during operating hours will receive penalty charge notices.

Bolton council said signage is now in place at all bus lanes notifying people of the operating times, which aim to deter unauthorised vehicles, reduce congestion and improve bus journeys.

Council to sell three plots of land for £2million below market value to pave way for 160 affordable homes

Three plots of land are to be sold by Bolton Council at more than £2M below market value to enable affordable homes to be built

The authority has agreed to sell land assets they own to two social housing providers, Bolton at Home and Great Places, who plan to build 160 homes.

89 new homes are set to be built on Roxalina Street in Great Lever by Great Places, with the same housing provider set to construct 27 homes at a site on

Cotton Street and Wordsworth Street in Halliwell.

Bolton at Home plan a new estate of 44 houses at Eskrick Street

Bury

Plans revealed for site of pub which suddenly collapsed

Houses are set to be built at the site of a former pub which was urgently demolished after it collapsed.

Buildings next to the former Wellington pub on Stand Lane, Radcliffe, dramatically collapsed in March, leaving debris sprawled across the street.

Stand Lane was closed due to the unsafe property with bricks and rubble strewn across the pavement and road.

A retrospective planning application has been submitted this week to justify the urgent demolition of the buildings on safety grounds which revealed the probable future for the site as housing.

‘Outdated’ fire station set to be demolished to make way for updated building

A new fire station is to be built in Whitefield – which will replace the ‘outdated’ current building, which ‘no longer meets the needs of a modern fire service.

Originally build in the mid 1960s, Whitefield Fire Station on Bury New Road, serves the town and surrounding areas.

Plans lodged with Bury Council, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service said it is essential they are able to continue operations from the site to provide an adequate level of fire and rescue cover.

Manchester

New data-centre to replace former job centre in Wythenshawe

An old job centre off Wavell Road in Manchester will be knocked down and replaced with an office and data centre.

Manchester Council have approved plans for the two-storey building submitted by Teledata, who operate from the Delta House site north of this site. Before work can start, Simon House, which has long been vacant – will need to be demolished. 

New apartment block in place of historic snooker hall rejected

A developer hoping to see their 38-home apartment block replace an old snooker hall in Chorlton has been knocked back.

The council refused Rusholme Garden Investments Ltd’s plan to knock down the historic venue off Barlow Moor Road due to objections concerned with overdevelopment. The old snooker hall sits behind a McDonalds, Super quick Shine and Tesco Express and it was deemed there would not be enough room for the new block as well as a communal garden and 39 car parking spaces.

New homes to be built near Rusholme 

A total of seven new homes will be built near Platt Fields Park in Manchester following approval from the council.

The ‘traditional’ two storey homes would be semi detached and with just one being a detached house off Claremont Road. Four of the houses will front Victory street and will have deeper front gardens and rear private gardens.

Developers  Xenon 303 Limited said each will have one parking space either to the side or to the front of the home.

Oldham

More applications for 15m high poles put forward

Three more streets in Oldham have been subjected to applications for 15m high poles as part of a new network to carry high speed broadband through the borough.

Footways off  Mardale Close in Spring Hill, Wellington Street in Failsworth and Shawside off Oldham Road in Shaw are the three new areas where these ‘air-fibre’ poles are being planned by IX Wireless. This means the IX Wireless has applied to the council for 32 of the 15m poles in total across Oldham. 

They say this will facilitate the creation of a ‘gigabit capable electronic communications network’ which can deliver broadband speeds of up to 300Mb – compared to Oldham’s current average download speed of 58.57 Mbps.

Rochdale

‘Giant monstrosity’ broadband pole installed next to 76-year-old’s house

A 76-year-old woman in Rochdale has complained that a broadband mast from IX Wireless was put up directly outside her home without warning.

 June Eastwood, of Clarendon Street, said the company had not contacted her before starting work despite it causing the whole house to shake during the installation. Neighbour Alan Chadwick, who lives across the street and can see the pole from his window, said it was put up on Monday, August 18.

Salford 

Mansion in the middle of Greater Manchester park to become stunning new wedding venue

A former mining museum is to be converted into a stunning new wedding venue.

Salford councillors have approved plans which will enable the restoration of Buile Hill Mansion in Eccles, a building which has been vacant since 2000 when The Mining Museum closed. Plans approved by the city council’s planning and transportation regulatory panel, also gave the green light to the demolition of outbuildings in the adjacent Buile Hill depot to create a car park.

However, campaigners in a group bidding to get one of the outbuildings, the Buile Hill Park greenhouse, preserved and also restored at a cost of up to £1.75million, wanted the glass structure excluded from the demolition plan. They are now in talks with landowners, the city council, over a way to preserve the building which dates back to 1930. 

Chair of Buile Hill Greenhouse Association, Doug Provos, said the building was ‘savable’ in an address to the committee.

A 20m high 5G tower approved given the go ahead

The land at Go Church in Weaste will become home to a 20m high lattice tower to provide 5G coverage for the area.

The applicant, Cornerstone, advised that there is “a specific requirement for a new radio base station at this location to provide improved 2G, 3G and 4G coverage and capacity in and around Weaste”. This tower, to be constructed in Dallas Court, would provide increased service demand whilst also providing the latest 5G service provision to the local area, the developer said.

Stockport

Historic pub to be demolished for drive-thru Greggs despite objections

A historic Greater Manchester pub is set to be demolished to make way for a drive-thru Greggs despite receiving 64 objections from residents. The planning application from Greene King to knock down the vacant Farmers Arms on Stockport Road in Cheadle Heath, Stockport, was approved at Stockport’s planning group despite opposition from some councillors sitting on the committee.

Tameside

New HMO given green light despite local objections

A large three storey, six-bedroom semi-detached Victorian villa in Stalybridge will become a house of multiple occupation (HMO) once it has an extension built.

Tameside Council approved the plan to demolish the current outbuilding and extension at the Stamford Street building and replace it with a single storey extension to the side and rear of the property. Local objections cited parking issues from too many HMOs as a big concern for the site situated close to West Hill School and Stamford Park.

Despite these local concerns, the plan was approved as it met regulation requirements and was not deemed to have a big enough impact on the character of the area to be refused.

Fabrics factory in Hyde to build a new silo for industrial use

A big fabrics manufacturer based in Hyde has been given permission to build a new 12m high silo.

The new silo for industrial use at Louverlite, known for making luxury window blind fabrics, will sit alongside another identical silo off Mill Street that was installed back in 2021.The silo will be used to supply two extruder machines with raw plastic pellet type material.

The council deemed this to be continued investment in the borough at a long-established industrial site, supporting economic growth.

Trafford

Chill Factor E withdraws plans for electric charging points

The ski centre next to the Trafford Centre has withdrawn plans to add more electric charging points to its car park.

Chill Factor E had submitted plans to install 18 electric vehicle charging points, 24 parking bays for electric vehicles and 21 new parking bays with feeder pillar and 3 three power banks. These plans have now been withdrawn.

Wigan

Former site of local newspaper to be transformed into offices

The basement of the former newspaper office in the centre of Wigan will be transformed into offices.

The Observer building, located in Rowbottom Square, will see its basement turned into four office units after it was previously used as cycle storage for the apartments above. The mid-19th century three floor building was previously occupied by the Wigan Observer newspaper before they moved in the 1970’s.

The developer, Neil Pike Architects, is hoping this will bring more job opportunities to the area.

Hospital car park expansion to ease pressure for parking

Plans to extend Leigh Infirmary’s car park by 60 spaces have been approved.

Currently, across the whole hospital site there are a series of other car parks with a current total of 645 spaces – 39 being disabled spaces. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust states that the increased number of existing parking bays is required to ease car parking pressures caused by a lack of parking bays at the site.