Oldham monthly planning round up, including new school

From housing to education and even a gravestone showroom, here are some of the biggest planning decisions from last month.

Gravestone showroom could have to tear down extension

A gravestone showroom business may be forced to tear down an extension at its site after retrospective planning action was rejected.

Everlasting Memorials, based in Werneth, developed a two-storey extension at the rear of its shop which is currently used as a funeral parlour associated with the headstone shop.

Everlasting Memorials is based at the previous home of the Smut Inn pub (Image: Google Maps)

However, the extension could now be torn down after plans to keep it were turned down by the council's planning body on the grounds of an inadequate coal mining risk assessment being submitted.

The business, based at the former Smut Inn pub on Manchester Road, was told there were no other issues with the extension except for the "unacceptable" coal mining risk assessment report.

Seven new homes get approval

Plans to build seven new homes on vacant land in Oldham were approved last month.

An application earlier this year looked to build the homes on land to the south west of Nether Hey Street near Glodwick, the same site where plans to build five homes were approved last year.

Each unit would have a private rear garden and parking space (Image: Orya Architectural Studios)

Now, this second application has been approved and works to build the homes can begin, despite previous concerns from residents over the impact on roads in the area.

Each home will have four bedrooms across three storeys, a private rear garden and off-site parking, while the houses will be made up of three semi-detached units and one detached dwelling.

Plans for homes near Green Belt refused

A proposal to build 21 houses, which left residents "extremely concerned", has been rejected.

The homes, which were due to be built off Knowl Road in Shaw, received more than 50 objections, with concerns ranging from "dangerous roads" to "buried horse bodies and asbestos".

The houses would be a mix of detached and semi-detached (Image: Millson Group)

The houses would have been developed on two separate plots of land adjacent to the Green Belt.

However, the council’s planning committee rejected the plans over highway issues and a failure to comply with guidelines requiring large-scale developers to pay a fee towards the creation of public spaces.

Nursery to become secondary school

Permission has been given for a nursery to be converted into a secondary school looking to re-engage and re-integrate children into education.

The approval of the plans will see Channings Childcare just off Chadderton Way turned into an EdStart Specialist Independent School, which will provide education for up to 40 children aged between 11 and 16.

Channings Childcare has been open for nearly a decade (Image: Andrew Jackson Architects)

EdStart specialises in providing education to children with issues such as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and mental health challenges.

Kevin Buchanan, executive headteacher at EdStart Schools, said the approval was "great news" and that EdStart was "delighted" to be bringing a new space to Oldham.