Town sees a housing boom in new homes

A HOUSING boom has hit the borough with the number of new houses built being over 10 times the average regional growth.

The borough of Rochdale has seen Greater Manchester’s biggest increase in new homes in the last year.

Government housing figures show that 799 homes were built in the borough in 2017/18, up from 315 in 2016/17, an increase of almost 154 per cent.

The increase seen in Rochdale far outstripped any other Greater Manchester area, where the average was an increase of 13.5 per cent. The average across England was a two per cent rise. ●●More homes will be developed on brownfield sites, including ones like these at St Martin’s View, built on the former Whipp and Bourne factory site in Castleton

Development at 67 sites across the borough has helped fuel the increase, including 42 semi and detached properties at the former Birch Hill hospital site in Smithy Bridge and a further 38 new properties have been built at Broad Lane, Rochdale.

Much of the development has taken place on long-term vacant brownfield sites, including the former Coral Mill site in Newhey and Nile Street in Rochdale.

The housing boost has also generated £1.7 million in new homes bonus and additional council tax income for the borough.

The news comes as figures reveal that house prices in Rochdale are growing at an average of more than seven per cent, the sixth highest house price growth in the UK.

The new homes are a further boost to the borough’s ongoing regeneration, after ONS figures revealed that there are now 8,255 enterprises in Rochdale, up from 6,685 in 2017.

More than £1m square feet of employment space has been let across the borough since the start of the year.

Coun Daalat Ali, cabinet member for planning at Rochdale council, said: “These impressive figures show that our borough’s ongoing transformation, which includes a £400m regeneration programme in Rochdale town centre, is paying dividends, with major housebuilders wanting to invest here and more and more people wanting to live here.

“As well as creating a huge variety of new houses, from affordable homes to aspirational properties, this investment has helped to transform a number of challenging, brownfield sites and is helping to regenerate the borough.

“As a council, we take a proactive approach to development and I’m delighted that this is delivering such strong results.”