Court conversion into apartments approved despite 'slums' concerns

Plans to convert Oldham's former county court into apartments have been approved, despite councillors' concerns it could become a 'modern slum of the future'.

A meeting of the planning committee gave the green light to the proposals to transform the empty court building on Rochdale Road in the town centre into 43 flats.

The building closed in July 2017, and all cases were transferred to Tameside Magistrates’ Court.

During the time it was empty it became a home for ‘property guardians’  – but this venture was shut down by the town hall after it ruled its living accommodation was ‘substandard’.

An application to convert the court building into offices was approved by the council in 2019 but never implemented.

The latest plans, by ACT Property Development Ltd, proposed a mix of apartments, with four studios, 29 one and 10 two-bedroom flats.

Planning officer Graham Dickman said: “It’s been vacant for a little while, it’s had some unauthorised used for a short period of time as well.

“This is a proposal to hopefully bring it back into productive use. So the intention is to convert from the existing use into a residential use.”

However councillors at the meeting voiced concerns about the size of the flats and people needing to work from home in the aftermath of the pandemic. 

Werneth Councillor Shoab Akhtar said: “I’ve got some concerns about this. It needs to take into account the current climate in terms of home working.”

And Shaw ward Coun Hazel Gloster said it was time the authority ‘got our finger out’ and put in place a policy over the necessary sizes of dwellings.

She added: “Here it is right in front of us on the table, a modern slum of the future.”

Oldham County Court. Photo: Studio KMA.

Mr Dickman said that all the proposed flats met national space standards but agreed that it was not a ‘spacious development’. 

“There are benefits in introducing accommodation into the town centre, this is part of the ambition to try and bring further life back in there, this could in theory act as a precedent for that to bring forward,” he said.

“Clearly the applicant has looked at where the potential demand will be for units and these are the types of units that are the result of that.”

Interim head of planning, Simon Rowberry said that while he sympathised with the arguments about home working, and the potential to introduce a local policy that stipulated larger space standards, that policy was not currently in place.

“We have existing standards, and the proposed development complies with those standards, therefore we would not have any justification to actually refuse this application because it does meet those standards,” he added.

There would be eight parking spaces provided in the existing car park under the plans.

The development will also incorporate a series of rooflights, and new windows which would be added on the three floors.

But there would be no affordable housing contribution included as part of the development after the applicant was able to prove this would make the scheme unviable.

Mr Rowberry said the scheme was ‘absolutely on the margins’ in terms of its current viability.

Committee chair Coun Peter Dean added: “We’re trapped between viability here if the developer did reduce the numbers then the scheme wouldn’t be viable, and it’s the sort of development we do want to see in the town centre and to fulfil the shortage of properties we do have in Oldham.” 

The application was approved with ten councillors voting in favour, and three abstentions.

Main image:

Oldham County Court, now closed and to be convert into offices. Photo credit: Mark Jones Planning Consultancy.