February saw no shortage of major planning decisions being made in the borough, from new houses to a pub being told to tear its beer garden down.
The Oldham Times has picked out some of the biggest planning stories of last month.
New houses in Green Belt
Four new houses are set to be built on Green Belt land in Saddleworth, which will see the demolition of an agricultural barn.
The terraced houses will be developed on Ripponden Road in Denshaw, on land which forms part of Hey House Farm and is across the road from The Moorlands caravan park.
The site currently has a large stone barn which sits parallel to Ripponden Road and is described as "weather beaten and in need of repair".
Despite the fact the houses will be developed on Green Belt land, they were deemed appropriate by planning officer Emma Breheny, who said "very special circumstances exist to outweigh the harm caused by the proposed development", which were mainly the fact a similar application had previously been approved.
Historic town centre building to become flats
A 130-year-old grade II listed county court building in Oldham which was recently a popular restaurant will be converted into 15 flats.
The building on Church Lane in the town centre served as the Salt Cellar restaurant and a Methodist Church resource centre between 1990 and January 2022, but has been vacant since.
There will be nine one-bedroom and six two-bedroom units, with the applicant saying there would be affordable housing.
Pub has to tear down beer garden
An Oldham pub has lost an appeal to keep its beer garden extension.
The Roebuck Inn on Brighton Road in Strinesdale submitted a retrospective planning application for an extension to its beer garden and play area in September 2022, after the beer garden was created in a bid to “meet increased demand from customers”.
Despite dozens of people expressing their support for the beer garden, the application was rejected, by the council's planning bosses, which led the pub to appeal the decision to the Planning Inspectorate.
However, the Planning Inspectorate said the development was inappropriate on Green Belt land as it would affect the openness of the area.
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