A row is brewing in Stockport over plans for an 'eye-catching' block of flats expected to be given the green light.

Manchester-based firm Promised Way Ltd has submitted proposals to turn a Grade II-listed engine house built in 1877 into two properties, alongside building a block of 52 apartments on the land. Bosses behind the scheme want to bring the site back into use and create an 'eye-catching' development on a site to the south of Stitch Lane in Heaton Norris, close to the town centre, with the building designed in the shape of a cylinder.

The engine house was once used to transport goods at the height of the industrial revolution when Stockport took its place as a centre of industry in the north west. But today it is at the centre of the borough's housing dilemma, with a councillor left in "despair" that the plans do not include any affordable homes.

The application has come up at a time when Stockport is facing major difficulty to create enough new houses to keep up with demand.

People on the housing register face a 12-year wait for a social home, and there are at least 8,000 who have put their names down.

The site features a Grade-II listed engine house built in 1877 (Image - Alasdair Perry)

One resident named Lucy Canavan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week that her family of five is stuck in a two-bed flat and has been waiting eight years for an appropriate house.

Others around the borough have been left living in similar 'overcrowded' conditions according to a report from Stockport Homes, a social housing provider which manages the council's housing.

The town hall's leadership has made the case for building new homes on brownfield land, and has plans to create 8,000 homes over the next 15 years.

But opposition councillors in Stockport say planning applications such as Stitch Lane are an "incredibly frustrating" example of the lack of affordable homes in the borough.

The council has also been criticised for the lack of a local housing plan, which it had to delay again this year after the new Labour government brought in new house building targets for town halls.

At the Heatons and Reddish area committee on Monday (October 28), Cllr Claire Vibert shared her frustration over Stockport's housing problems.

She said: "We've got a relatively large application here and there's no affordable housing proposed within it.

"It's a feeling of despair really that we're in the situation that we're in, with the housing crisis that we've seen reported in the press in our borough, and we're looking at an application here that isn't going to meet the needs of Stockport's residents."

Council officials said there are plans to include a section 106 agreement as a condition of the application – often used to ask developers to make contributions to affordable housing or other facilities.

But they added that the chances of getting that are doubtful because of the "substantial" cost of developing the homes.

The application will be decided by the council's planning committee and is recommended for approval by town hall officers.

~

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Stockport Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our town.

To get our top stories in your inbox each week, subscribe to our free weekly newsletter HERE.

Please consider following Stockport Nub News on Facebook or Twitter