A historic church building in Dukinfield will be converted into bespoke new homes now plans have been approved.

St Luke’s Church is a Grade II listed building that has been in a state of decline after it was vacated back in 2016. Now it will get a new lease of life with the old church building being transformed into 12 apartments – two with two bedrooms and 10 one-beds.

As part of the plans, the old church hall, where the Sunday school used to take place, will be demolished and replaced with six two-bedroom homes.  

An agent on behalf of the developer, St. Luke’s Dukinfield Ltd, appeared before the planning panel in Droylsden to explain how every effort has gone into retaining the stunning features of the historic building. He praised the work of the infamous architect John Eaton, who designed many of the borough’s historic buildings, stating that this application would create more unique homes for the residents of Dukinfield.

The King Street site will also have 18 car parking spaces (one space per house) as well as a private garden and amenity space. 

Planning papers read: “The changes to the interior will transform the building from a disused church to 12 bespoke apartments. The architect has approached the conversion by designing a new structure within the volume of the existing building, effectively a building within a building.”

The planning panel were pleased with the presentation for the homes and gave unanimous approval for the application. 

Industrial estate to become new homes

The same fate came to applicant Darren Atkins who wanted to build 12 three-bedroom semi-detached homes off Town Lane in Denton.

Currently, the site is home to industrial buildings which have all been vacant since the last tenant left in December 2023. The applicant stated that the 1950s buildings are in poor condition and are no longer fit for purpose.

The proposal is to create six pairs of houses, three fronting Town Lane and three fronting Acre Street. Each will have a single parking space as well as landscaped front and rear gardens.

The planning panel in Guardsman Tony Dawnes House found no issues with the application and swiftly approved it.

Games room to be built within the greenbelt

A former farm site in Littlemoss drew the only bit of controversy at the meeting on May 29 with their application for a games room within greenbelt land.

Geoffrey Howarth wants to build a multi-functional games room at Meadow Bank Farm, which his representative at the meeting, Jason Dugdale, explained would be used by his family. The proposal would only be a single-storey building – which many of the panel felt was very minimal harm to the greenbelt, despite the planning officer’s recommendation to refuse the plan.

Cllr Doreen Dickinson claimed the Howarth Farm Road site was “becoming a small hamlet” after referencing previous applications on the site for three new homes already approved. The meeting heard how the applicant’s daughter lives with her family in one of those homes and the other two are rented out. 

Cllr Adrian Pearce weighed into the debate: “It’s simply not true that these types of applications are popping up everywhere as Cllr Mills suggests. We need to protect the green belt where we can. 

“The officers have made a clear statement as to why it should be refused. I will be voting against this.”

Cllr Pearce and Cllr Dickinson were outvoted though, and the plans were approved by the panel.