THE creation of flats in a former nightclub that fail to meet minimum floorspace standards would be ‘taking advantage of a housing crisis’, an Oldham councillor has claimed.

Councillors were discussing plans to turn the former Scruples nightclub on Yorkshire Street into 12 apartments when a dispute over the amount of living space tenants would have erupted.

Chadderton North councillor Barbara Brownridge told members that the application should be refused on principle.

She said: “I do not approve of people having to live in such tiny units, it’s not acceptable in the 21st century.

“It’s taking advantage of the fact the fact that there’s a housing crisis and people are desperate, and I don’t think we should sign up to that.

“We should stick to our guns and have decent sized good quality accommodation, particularly in the town centre.”

But Conservative councillor John Hudson suggested it was hypocritical to refuse the application when the committee had given permission for 160 "micro flats" at Cardinal Court in 2013.

He said: “I grumbled then and I’ll grumble now – it’s opened up a whole can of worms because how do we justify what we did there in the name of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, and we’re telling these people we won’t accommodate them?”

Those flats gave tenants eight to 27 sq m of living space.

The latest proposals would have seen residents given 37 to 46 sq m of floor space – which also falls below the minimum of 50 sq m for a single person.

Planning officer Graham Dickman told the meeting that the authority had concerns residents would not be able to open their windows because of the noise from the street which has a number of late night entertainment venues.

He said: “The level of activity from those has been deemed to be problematic by our environmental health officers.

“There is a lack of information to demonstrate that the amenity for residents in terms of noise nuisance will be adequate.

“Added to the issue of noise, effectively you’re looking at residents who first of all would have to have their windows closed to mitigate that but also would have limited space in there.

“It’s not like if you’re on a residential street and your neighbours are having party, you can go in the back bedroom – they don’t have the luxury of that and we feel that those aspects together make it an unsuitable proposal in its detail.”

He added: “With the correct scheme we feel this could be acceptable in principle but we’re not there at the present time.”

Committee chair Steven Bashforth added: “Anyone choosing to take an apartment in the town centre will probably be aware there’s noise and I think it’s reasonable to say they would have to put up with some of that.

“My concern is the size of the apartments. We may have done micro apartments in the past but I think when you’ve got the combination of the noise issues and the very small apartments, they are too small for what we want.”

But applicant Guy Barlow told councillors the redevelopment would cost "just shy" of £1 million and disputed the criticism that the flats would be too small and too noisy.

He said: “We don’t want to build sub-standard properties. We are a professional outfit, this is our third project in the centre of Oldham.

“This project will bring back a site that is de-listed for rates, not producing Oldham council any money, it will actually bring over a ten year period in excess of £250,000 back in in council tax rates and it will create at least a dozen jobs.”

The aim was to turn the ground floor into a "high-end" wine and prosecco bar, with the upper floors as apartments, he said.

Councillors voted to defer the application so that the living space and noise mitigation issues could be addressed.