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Homes plan for chemical works site
11:54am Thursday 1st May 2008
AN industrial complex could be transformed into a housing estate.
Merseyside-based Morris Homes wants to build 52 houses and flats on the New Britannia Works site in Hulme Road, Stoneclough.
The land currently houses aerosol and chemical manufacturer Industrial Maintenance Products (IMP) Ltd. Morris Homes has not yet bought the land, but will do so if planning permission is granted.
It says the development would regenerate a brownfield site and bring significant benefits to the area.
The developers are currently in negotiations with the council to reduce the proportion of the development that must be set aside as "affordable" housing. It says it would face greater than usual costs to redevelop the site because it would first have to clean up the land.
If it goes ahead, the industrial buildings would be demolished and 26 two-bedroom flats, 15 three-bedroom houses and 11 four-bed houses would be built.
There would also be parking spaces, secure bike storage, landscaping and tree-planting.
Developers plan to line the streets with trees and would pay for a children's play area on the nearby open space.
In its application to Bolton Council, Morris Homes says the existing industrial works were coming to the end of their use and needed to be replaced.
It says: "The buildings offer very basic industrial office and warehouse accommodation, which have reached the end of their useful economic life and are no longer capable of meeting a modern industrial operator's operational requirements."
It adds that several of the existing buildings had asbestos-clad roofs, and the main building was in poor condition and had "no aesthetic quality".
However, IMP director Bill Stout said: "We will not be moving for two or three years and will stay within the borough. We are looking to expand on a bigger site."
The company employs around 40 people and no jobs are under threat, he added.
People have until May 14 to comment on the proposals. Bolton's planning committee is expected to rule on the plan in July.
Your Say Yourtheboltonnews
xyzzy, says...
3:56pm Thu 1 May 08
Your sayYourtheboltonnews
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Ed Stirling, Westhoughton says...
2:31pm Thu 1 May 08
As for the affordable housing, what nonsense, we apparently live in a country where we try to legislate for "affordable housing" (never defined) when other housing must be by definition "unaffordable". Insane!
Being in it for the money, developers will do all they can to get out of providing "affordable houses".
Fortunately, the bubble is bursting, the credit crunch biting, people realising that all this debt - £1.4 trillion (£1,400,000,000,000) is a bit of a problem!
Developers are mothballing projects. BTL, the driver of this madness, is dead - even those Inside Track parasites have gone bust.
Over-priced property leads to lives of enslavement. High house prices are not a good thing - just think what else you could be doing with the money wasted on these inflated mortgages.
Buyer beware, with drops of 30%+ predicted over the next year or so, you would be bonkers to buy with your eyes closed.
And first time buyers, avoid like the plague shared equity (schemes designed to keep house prices high - in a falling market!). Save and wait. The last thing you need is to be tied to a part mortgage, part rent agreement.