Developer’s £7m new homes and park plans
MULTI-MILLION pound plans for a huge new community park and 162-home development on the site of a former power station have been submitted.
Landowner The Casey Group wants to redevelop a site in Stalybridge which had held the Hartshead Power Station and Millbrook Sidings in a £7m project.
They are aiming to create a new park across 62 acres of land in Millbrook, named the ‘Tame Valley Park’ which would serve the 35,000 residents of Stalybridge and Mossley.
However since being submitted there have been 19 letters of support and 85 objections lodged.
The industrial buildings and structures have been empty and derelict since the 1980s, and the site has a ‘brownfield legacy’ while being located within the green belt.
The Casey Group says there are dangers on the site, including exposed culverts, drains and manholes, piles of rubble and ‘isolated contamination’ from its previous heavy industrial uses.
This has meant that public access to the land has been mostly prohibited.
The proposed new housing estate would be split between 31 two-bed houses, 75 three bed and 55 four or more bedroom homes.
These would include a range of affordable and open market properties, according to the planning documents.
Within the development there would be space for 162 cars, with the whole site being accessed off Crowswood Drive.
Under the park plans a ‘community hub’ could be built on the former Hartshead Power Station site, to the north of Spring Bank Lane, which was demolished in 1989.
This would include a ‘future activity zone,’ ‘flexible’ event space, activity zone and play area, and allotments and community gardens, as well as a car park and toilets. Nearby there would be an ‘ecology mitigation zone and wildlife refuge.’
The Casey Group says that nearly 40 acres of woodland vegetation would also be retained and improved.
A design and access statement on behalf of the developer states: “The site represents a unique opportunity to re-purpose previously developed land that has a long industrial history for public and environmental benefit.”