First look at new plans to build more than 220 homes in Rochdale town centre

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Long-awaited plans to build 223 homes on a retail park on the edge of Rochdale town centre have been submitted. Developer Willmott Dixon has applied for planning permission on behalf of Rochdale council for Central Retail Park off Drake Street.

Earlier this year council announced it would bring the project forward after Manchester-based developer Capital&Centric pulled out of the scheme, saying Rochdale’s plans 'didn’t hold true to our vision'. A total of 81 townhouses and 142 apartments could be built on the six acre plot.

Read more: Redevelopment of Deansgate's sprawling Victorian behemoth could be a glimpse into the future of Manchester city centre

The council bought the site for £13.2m in 2018 and announced plans to develop it under its Rail Corridor Strategy for the area around Rochdale railway station. Planning documents submitted with the application say the the project will 'provide a sustainable environment for well-designed public realm and mixed use vibrant community'.

A grey brick five and six storey apartment block will face Drake Street and overlook a new park at the edge of the plot. Townhouses in similar style brickwork will be 'arranged as a series of terraces with private rear gardens and parking courtyards'.

The developers say all home with be 'net zero carbon through bespoke design, use of materials with lower embodied carbon, use of solar energy and air source heat pumps'.

The developer adds: "The scheme is not designed in isolation. It will perform the first part of a wider regeneration objective of the existing retail park which the council, as landowner, intends to redevelop in future years.

"This in turn is part of its wider objective for the Station Gateway to see some 1,500 homes in a