OLDHAM Council is seeking a developer after giving consent to a new residential and sports development in Failsworth.
What we must do is not rush into any development, but ensure that - whatever the final scheme looks like - it is a flagship development.
The scheme for Oldham Council was masterplanned by Manchester-based architects Pozzoni.
There will be 140 new family homes, a commercial soccer centre with 10 artificial pitches, sports pavilion, floodlighting and car park, relocated and increased number of allotments, a new commercial unit and future protection for the Grade 2-listed Lancaster Club - externally one of the region's grandest Georgian mansions from 1770.
Lancaster Club - at one time the sports club of AVRO the Lancaster bomber manufacturer hence the name
Pozzoni also provided design support for the proposed relocation of playing fields and sports facilities to an existing area of open space on the vacant Higher Lime site at Limeside.
Cllr Jim McMahon, Oldham Council leader, said: "The Lancaster Club site offers huge potential for high-quality homes which Failsworth and the surrounding area needs - and in a location that is second-to-none in terms of its connectivity to Oldham and Manchester.
"The site is critical to concluding the deal with Oldham Athletic which will allow the club to invest in Boundary Park and put right the ageing stadium while also healing this sore for Failsworth residents.
"What we must do is not rush into any development, but ensure that - whatever the final scheme looks like - it is a flagship development which people will aspire to live in and one that gives a major boost to the surrounding area."
Planning permission for the scheme is part of a proposed package with Oldham Athletic FC, agreed in principle in August 2011, which sets out regeneration targets and keeping the football club in the borough at Boundary Park.
This article was first published on Place North West, our sister site.
