‘Controversial’ development to be built on pub car park receives final sign off

Three homes due to be built in the car park of a pub in Oldham have received a final seal of approval this week.

The three terraced houses will take up 15 spaces outside The Grapes on St John Street in Lees. 

The application was the subject of a tense planning meeting in February but has now been signed off by deputy chief of the council, Emma Barton, on Monday (August 19).

The bar chain and developer Punch Tavern will now have three years to start work on the three-bedroom properties, which will be situated to the West of the Grade II pub building and face Medlock Way. 

The homes will each have 50 square metres of garden and two on-site parking spaces.

They’ll be fitted with a double bedroom, two singles, a ‘generous’ kitchen, and an open plan living and dining room, according to the developers. 

Punch Tavern have also claimed the design will ‘sympathetically relate with the grade II Listed building’. 

The proposal initially sparked controversy because of ongoing “traffic chaos” in the surrounding streets.

Councillors and local residents called the development “a smack in the face” for nearby families and campaigners working to improve road safety. 

Medlock Way is home to two primary schools with around 600 pupils, two nursing homes and at least three businesses.

Residents argued in objection letters that the building works would exacerbate the traffic “carnage” during school runs. 

One neighbour, Natalie Mills, told the LDRS that the roads frequently become ‘dangerous’ because drivers often ‘lost their temper’, ‘beeping’ and ‘mounting curbs’.

There is also very little space for emergency vehicles to pass through, she said. 

Councillors worried that during peak times and events at the pub, the reduced car park capacity could lead to even more congestion and parking problems in the area. 

But a highways officer decided the new homes were ‘unlikely to have any adverse impacts on the existing situation’ and councillors narrowly voted to approve the scheme by six to five. 

The council is currently working on rectifying the ‘dangerous’ traffic situation.

In May, it approved a trial to introduce ‘school roads’, meaning the cul-de-sacs leading to Hey with Zion Primary School and St Edwards RC Primary School close to school traffic during drop-off and pick-up times.

Only residents and business owners with permits are allowed to use the roads during the 30 or 60 minute periods in the morning and afternoon.

The idea is to encourage parents and kids to arrive by foot or on bike. 

The trial is due to start on September 6.

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