Welcome to flats with flair

THE latest sheltered housing development in Oldham has been hailed as a massive improvement in quality of accommodation for elderly and disabled people.

Twelve new one-bedroom and four two-bedroom flats have been opened at Wood Square in Greenfield as part of a borough-wide scheme to provide modern facilities.

The scheme is the country’s biggest-ever sheltered housing private finance initiative (PFI) for older people worth more than £400 million over the next 30 years.

Oldham Council cabinet member for housing, Councillor John McCann, who is also a Saddleworth South councillor, praised the development.

He said: “The flats have top class facilities with pleasant garden surroundings and parking right by the entrance.

“Tenants have started moving in including some who are moving in temporarily while their existing properties are modernised. Elderly and disabled residents in Saddleworth have been waiting for years for top class quality rented property like this.”

Wood Square is the sixth of 19 community schemes run by Housing 21 for Oldham Council and the third in Saddleworth after the complete refurbishment of flats at Holland Close in Delph and Lido House in Grotton. Councillor McCann added: “I am now looking forward to the next improvement scheme in Greenfield where the flats in the three storey blocks at Chew Vale in Greenfield are soon to be given a complete makeover.”

Also undergoing complete renovation this year are Hopwood Court, Crompton, Aster House, Oldham, Charles Morris House, Failsworth and Old Mill House, Springhead, with more across the borough to follow.

The PFI contract means around 1,500 sheltered homes are undergoing major building and refurbishment work, around half of the borough’s sheltered homes, undertaken by Bullock Construction Ltd.