HYDE’S former library is up for sale on the open market – and can be transformed into something other than Tameside Council proposed.
The authority put forward a scheme last year to convert the Union Street site into 88 flats after securing a £225,000 grant.
But it – and the site of what was Tameside Technical College – is now being sold to the highest bidder.
And documents leave the prospect of it being turned into something else open, although the council will decide on an application.
They state: “The property is suitable for a variety of uses (subject to planning consent).”
Tameside Council declared the library building a ‘surplus asset’ but discussed turning it into 88 one and two-bedroomed apartments with associated community facilities including a café that should be accessible to all and also provide day care provision.
Cllr Joe Kitchen backed the library regeneration, saying: “I’m looking forward to the old library site being developed. We’ll try and keep the frontage of the building if it’s at all possible.
“I welcome this ongoing investment into Hyde.”
However, it is now being sold off, with offers wanted by the council before noon on August 18.
The site is described as: “A prime development opportunity situated in the heart of Hyde town centre, close to the town’s amenities and within convenient access of the train station and motorway network.
“The property is suitable for a variety of uses (subject to planning consent) and is situated in a convenient, easily accessible town centre setting.
“The site is an irregular shaped parcel of land located to the south east of Hyde and is currently occupied by a car park in the east, the former Hyde Library building in the West and the previously demolished former Tameside Technical College in the South which along with adjoining land is now naturalised in character.
“The building is one of the last surviving grand Victorian civic buildings within the town and would be would be considered as a non-designated heritage asset.
“In principle, the Planning Authority have advised that they would support the re-purpose of the building in conjunction with the redevelopment of the adjacent Union Street car park and the site of the former Tameside Technical College and surrounding land.
“The site may be suitable for residential, education, health or specialist retirement living as well as a variety of other uses, subject to planning.”
Hyde’s former library has been at the centre of fierce criticism over Tameside Council’s handling of the structure, with some saying it has been, ‘left to rot.’
The 122-year-old building has stood empty since 2015, when the facility was moved into the town hall.
Hyde councillor Phil Chadwick angrily hit back after Cllr Oliver Ryan insisted: “They’ve not been left to rot.”
He said: “I assume that Councillor Ryan has been inside Hyde Library and seen the state of the interior, has been round the outside and seen all the smashed windows and boarded up buildings that surround it.
“To say that the building hasn’t been left to rot is an absolute disgrace and a lie.”
The building is one of the last surviving grand Victorian civic buildings within the town and would be would be considered as a non-designated heritage asset.
Cllr Joe Kitchen backed the library regeneration, saying: “I’m looking forward to the old library site being developed. We’ll try and keep the frontage of the building if it’s at all possible.
The authority put forward a scheme last year to convert the Union Street site into 88 flats after securing a £225,000 grant.
3 comments, 3 questions
1. This is shameful. TMBC have ripped the heart out of Hyde, destroying all our lovely building. Why not save our last Victorian building?
2. “We’ll try to keep the frontage if at all possible” . That means they won’t. Why have they left it so long ? In the hope it gets burned down?
3. Why dont the council build the 88 flats themselves after securing a grant? They are quick enough to bulldoze greenbelt for the unwanted Godley green housing estate.
This whole debacle has made us Hydonians really angry, and sad, at the total disregard TMBC have for our once great town.
Please, Cheshire, take us back. We never wanted to leave.
This is typical of Tameside MBC, abandoning community assets, leaving them to rot. What excuse can CllrRyan put forward for the condition of the building, then? The same thing happened to the former Hyde Grammar School – a handsome and easily convertible building, reduced to rubble and replaced by a very anonymous estate of humdrum and unaffordable housing – no provision for Housing Association or Social rent, and this from a so-called “Labour” council. They have left damage everywhere, especially in Stalybridge, where one community asset, the RIverside Walk was sold to a developer who has wrecked it and left the site derelict, while another, the Stamford park Conservatory is also now being sold off in a dreadful state. When a local group put forward alternative plans they were ignored by our arrogant and ignorant Labour Councillors. They talk the talk about “heritage” but they are a bunch of destroyers and Philistines.