Waterfront homes bid is given the go-ahead
AWATERFRONT residential development has been given the nod from council planners.
James Industrial Land has secured outline planning permission from Rossendale council’s development control committee to build up to 30 homes at the Irwell Vale Mill site, on Aitken Street, Irwell Vale.
The approval is subject to the agreement of a section 106 agreement to secure a 30 per cent affordable housing component, a contribution of £1,366 per dwelling towards the provision or upgrade of play equipment, pitches, facilities or public open space in the local area, and £120,925.80 towards the provision of five secondary school places (on the basis of 30 dwellings).
Five objections were received, along with five letters of support, and other representations.
The River Ogden bisects the 1.5-hectare former soap factory site before then flowing east to its confluence with the River Irwell.
The application is accompanied by a flood risk assessment and drainage strategy, and proposes that a flood water attenuation zone will be incorporated into the development.
The Lead Local Flood Authority did not object to the scheme, subject to conditions.
However, the county council as highway authority recommended it should be refused on the grounds of “the site’s poor sustainability credentials and in particular the absence of a safe pedestrian route between the development and the public transport facilities on Blackburn Road.”
Their response said: “In the absence of any significant improvement to these facilities the highway authorities’s [sic] position would remain one of an objection to the proposal due to concerns as to the safety of pedestrians along Irwell Vale Road.”
The report of Rossendale council’s planning manager - recommending conditional approval - found that the site may not be particularly sustainable when compared to sites within more urban areas, however it is relatively accessible (if only by private car) compared to other more rural sites considered as part of the Local Plan process.
It added: “There are insufficient sites within highly sustainable urban locations within the borough to meet the borough’s housing need, and in order to meet that need the council has considered the development of less sustainable sites.”
The proposal was approved by six votes to two.