Council backs 'principle' of selling fields to developer - despite turning down interest from resident

Rochdale council is to consider selling off protected fields for housing - despite insisting the land was not for sale when a resident enquired about buying it. Bosses approved the ‘principle’ of selling ' the six-acre site - between New Street and Stubley Mill Road, in Littleborough - to Russell Homes at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday night.

Owned by the council, the fields are not within the green belt but classed as 'protected open land'. They are currently leased for grazing and bring in a minimal annual income. A report to cabinet recommended the council be ‘duly authorised to complete the legal documentation for the disposal’, noting the authority's aim to create ‘a better mix of affordable and higher value homes'.

Russell Homes is developing a neighbouring land, and the reported said it would be ‘appropriate’ for the council to consider an off-market sale ‘in order to deliver a comprehensive, rather than piecemeal, development’. However, a packed meeting heard from Littleborough councillors and residents who spoke passionately against selling the land off - citing loss of green space, existing traffic problems and an increased strain on public services. READ MORE : 'We were left freezing for days in storm nightmare - but haven't received a penny in compo due to ridiculous rule'

The cabinet was also told that a Littleborough resident had twice been told that the land was not for sale after making enquiries with the council. Coun Ashley Dearnley read out emails from the council to Matthew Nickless, of Stubley Mill Road.

Also seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service the first, from October last year, says the fields are protected by council policies’ and there are no plans to change the use of the land ‘in the