Major business park and 400 homes planned for Foxdenton
PLANS are underway for a new 30-hectare business park which could bring up to 3,000 jobs to the Foxdenton area of Oldham.
The scheme, which is understood to incorporate the Ferney Fields farm site off Foxdenton Lane, is being progressed by a joint venture between Oldham-based Grasscroft Property and Seddon Group. Although still at an early stage, around 1m sq ft of new commercial space is planned for the site, as well as up to 400 new homes.
In a video presentation, Grasscroft Property director Mike Coulter said the scheme was one of three that his company was looking to progress within its home borough, alongside a project for 42 homes in Moorside and five luxury properties at Grasscroft in Saddleworth.
“We’ve not done any development work over the last few years because of the state of the global markets. However, we’re now poised to commence three developments and we’ll be making planning applications on all three of these schemes this year,” he said.
The scheme was one of a number of new projects highlighted by Oldham Council at an event on Monday night aimed at investors and developers.
The others included Dransfield Properties’ proposal to anchor a redevelopment of Royton Precinct with a new 50,000 sq ft foodstore, and the proposal for a new £40m scheme containing a new National Hospitality Academy next to the civic centre. This will include a 120-bed hotel, a revamped Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre and space for a 30,000 speculative office block.
Oldham Council leader Cllr Jim McMahon said the event was about showing investors that there was a will to progress schemes in the borough.
“There are people who will say that Oldham will take a decade to get over the economic downturn – well, not if we’ve got anything to do with it.
“We wouldn’t be in this job if we didn’t believe in the town, and if we didn’t believe that this town has a great future.”
He said the council was in talks with Greater Manchester’s LEP (which controls the city-region’s new £100m investment fund) and the Business Growth hub about alternative investment models for new development.
“We’re working with pension funds and we’re using different ways of getting investment off the ground. We’re using land, we’re using gap funding and we’ve got a team of people in place from the private sector who are all about doing commercial developments that stack up,” he added.
The council presented 11 town centre schemes to potential investors, including the Old Town Hall building opposite ING Real Estate’s Spindles & Town Square shopping centre. The council recently appointed BDP to handle its restoration and favours construction of a cinema-led family leisure destination.
Outside of the town centre, Cllr McMahon said draft plans were being worked up with Langtree for the masterplan for a major site in Hollinwood close to the junction with the M60, where work is shortly due to start on a new electric car showroom and charging station.
He also said that Frank Rothwell, who has received planning approval for a nearby 75,000 sq ft business park on the site of a former battery factory, is also looking to improve the quality of the scheme he recently submitted.
“We’ve gone back and said we need to do something different,” said Cllr McMahon.
“He’s really fired up about doing something better because of where it is.”
Oldham Council’s chief executive (left) Charlie Parker said: “We will take a very different and progressive approach to the regeneration of Oldham.
“There is a very strong sense of political will and leadership that should give investors and developers confidence.”
