By George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporting Service
MORE THAN 100 homes are set to be built at the site of a Droylsden factory after planning permission was signed off.
Seamark, on Edge Lane, will be demolished and turned into a residential area – 72 apartments and 71 houses – in project valued at £37 million.
Permission was granted in February last year after an original scheme to build 225 properties was scaled down.
But discussions over section 106 agreements, which see developers contribute to council services or the locality, were taking place.
Among many clauses, in this instance, £25,000 will be given for improvements of nearby Copperas Fields.
Other agreements were made with Tameside Council over financial contributions to local infrastructure and the authority’s education department had also previously suggested the authority seeks a developer contribution towards infrastructure costs of £622,870.25.
The firm, who first applied for permission in 2019 and is moving to a new location in east Manchester, made changes to the scheme so it was given the go ahead at a meeting of Tameside Council’s Speaker’s Panel (Planning) committee.
Blocks will be a maximum of four storeys high, as opposed to the original six and the inclusion of pocket parks and amenity green space. About 10 per cent of the houses will be available for shared ownership or social rent.
The meeting last February was told by opponents that 10 homes will still be overlooked and they asked for a further reduction of blocks to three storeys, as well as repositioning of some.
Parking concerns were also outlined as 108 spaces would be provided for the apartments and it was stated: “There will be a lot of pavement parking, both on and off the site.
“The situation’s only getting worse because of the high level of house building.”
Other worries included that and the development adjacent to Bradford Garage – Waters Edge, would mean a dramatic impact and population in such a small area.
Speaking for the application, however, Rachel Glover-White told the panel: “We’ve done everything we can to make the application acceptable.
“We consider it to be a high quality and sustainable development.”
Now the go ahead has been fully ratified, meaning work can commence on the factory, which contains the cold stores and processing units for the company and has been in the area since 1997.