Unauthorised building work sparks outrage in Smallbridge

Unsanctioned building work started on a Smallbridge playground to turn it into a car park, leaving locals fuming.

Unsanctioned building work started on a Smallbridge playground to turn it into a car park, leaving locals fuming.

The community asset has been enjoyed by the people in the area since the old St John’s school shut down in the early 2000s. But a few weeks ago fences went up and builders started work on a new car park for the staff of Great Howarth School.

One local approached the builders churning up the playground and asked where their planning permission was to do the work and notified Rochdale council. The local authority confirmed that work was stopped as soon as they contacted the special educational needs school.

The site off the road known as Great Howarth remains fenced off to the public. One campaigner, who is also objecting to dozens of new homes off the neighbouring grassland, has been left outraged as a community asset has been lost.

She said: “On Easter weekend fencing was put up to block off the gates onto the playground. Diggers came out and started digging things up.

“There were no notices, no planning permission and no health and safety equipment. But a temporary stop was put in by the council and now the playground has been closed off, the area was tidied up and the bank was filled in.

“But this has blocked off access. It should be used for play. We have got kids with nowhere to play now.”

Great Howarth School officially opened in February this year and offers a state of the art learning facility for children with a range of complex needs. However, a lack of parking at the site meant the school entered an agreement with the council to use their land for a staff car park.

A spokesperson for Rochdale Borough Council, said: “The council has a licence agreement in place with Great Howarth School which will enable them to use council owned land close to their school for additional parking for a period of up to five years, if they secure planning permission.

“This agreement is designed to help support their students, who have special educational needs and travel to and from school predominantly in cars and minibuses. When we were made aware that work had already started, we contacted the school, who immediately stopped work.

“Our planning enforcement team then visited the site and confirmed that no work was taking place. We are expecting a planning application from the school in due course and will determine this as per our usual planning processes.”

This forms part of a wider battle the community is currently fighting. Hundreds have signed an online petition to stop plans for 40 homes on grassland behind Great Howarth School.

The petition on change.org read: “For decades, the field behind Great Howarth School has been more than just “land.” It’s a sanctuary where our children play, families walk their pets, a habitat for local wildlife, and a piece of our history with its WWII shelters and mine heritage.

“Right now, this space is being taken from us. Work has already started—without planning permission—to destroy our community basketball court and block the paths we use every day. Even the stone steps we’ve used for years have been ripped out.

“This isn’t just about a car park; it’s about a ‘Trojan Horse’ for 40 homes that will flood our streets with traffic, right outside an SEN school where child safety should be the priority.”

A spokesperson for Great Howarth School said: “We understand that members of the local community have concerns about the work taking place behind the school and we want to reassure residents that we are taking those concerns seriously.

“The proposed car park forms part of our wider plans to reduce congestion and improve safety on surrounding roads – an issue that has been raised with us by local people. The area in question is existing hardstanding.

“We were granted a licence from the council to undertake this work but when questions were raised by members of the community about this, we immediately paused work and sought further guidance from the council. We are now working closely with them to ensure all appropriate processes are followed and will not proceed until this is fully resolved.

“We remain committed to being good neighbours and will continue to listen and engage with the community as this is addressed.”