Plans to convert a historic Greenfield mill into 59 apartments, with 26 houses built around it for people aged over 55, will go before Oldham Council's Planning Committee on Wednesday, October 21.

Tanner Bros Ltd's hybrid application for the Waterside site, known as Tanner Business Centre, is due to be heard by the committee. Planning officers have recommended that the panel grant permission, subject to conditions.

The proposals have been redrawn. The number of new houses has been reduced from 29 to 26 after extensive discussions with officers.

A revised planning statement said: "The number of new houses has been reduced from 29 to 26. This is due to the removal of a small part of the scheme that was within the Green Belt. None of the proposed development is now within the Green Belt."

Any mention of commercial development has also been removed from the revised proposal.

The mill building would hold the 59 apartments, and its fourth floor, destroyed by fire in 1966, would be reinstated. Existing cottages at Waterside would be kept and refurbished if permission is granted.

Access to the site would follow the same approach used for the neighbouring Fletcher's Mill development. A new road would be put in place, with access to it from the current junction of Holmfirth Road and Chew Valley Road and over the existing bridge. A new footbridge would be introduced over Chew Brook next to the existing bridge.

Documents submitted with the application say a scheme for improvements to this junction and the roundabout at the Manchester Road, Holmfirth Road and Chew Valley Road junction was prepared jointly by highway consultants for Fletcher's Mill and for the applicants, working with the council's highway officer.

The statement says the buildings have reached the end of their economic life and that viability studies show the current business cannot be sustained in its current form. It adds that the aim is to give the site a new lease of life while keeping surrounding Green Belt land undeveloped.

Waterside Mill was built by the Buckley family in 1838 and began as a cotton mule spinning manufacturer. Tanner Brothers acquired it in 1919 and initially produced heavy cotton fabrics.

At its height the company employed approximately 850 people across four factories, specialising in tyre fabrics for the motor industry and supplying companies including Goodyear, Firestone and Pirelli. It ceased manufacturing in the late 1990s and restyled itself as a local business centre.