Plans for a housing development where a paper mill once stood have been pulled by the developer after fears over flooding were raised with the council.
Eccleston Homes has withdrawn its application to build 83 houses at the former Mondi Paper Mill, also known as Holcombe Mill, in Ramsbottom.
This comes less than two weeks after the Environment Agency wrote to Bury Council recommending it refuses permission for the plans, pointing to a risk of flooding on the land, off Bridge Street which lies next to the River Irwell.
But the developer has not explained why it has withdrawn the application.
Ramsbottom resident Marlene Hession, who opposed the developer’s plans, reacted to the news.
She said: “Everyone who cares about the town is happy about this positive development and it is hoped that we can all now be involved in developing a plan for the site which benefits the whole of the town, those who live in it and those who visit it.”
The proposed redevelopment sought to accommodate 83 houses on the former Mondi Mill site ranging from one to four bedrooms in size.
The Environment Agency said the developer had failed to consider how people will be kept safe from flood hazards and how they would be evacuated.
Planning advisor Sylvia Whittingham told council planners that the application does not comply with requirements for a site-specific flood risk assessment.
She said: “In the absence of an acceptable flood risk assessment we object to this application and recommend that planning permission is refused.”
Ramsbottom resident Marlene Hession described the proposed development as the biggest in a generation for the town with a population of 18,000.
She warned of “regular flooding” at the Mondi Mill site as well as the adjacent cricket pitch, Nuttall Park and Ramsbottom football ground.
Residents were unable to return to their homes for up to 18 months after the Boxing Day floods in 2015 devastated the town which has suffered from “serious flooding” again earlier this year, according to Mrs Hession.
She said: “Residents of Ramsbottom are only too well aware of the regular flooding in the town.
“One only has to look at the plastic bags hanging from the trees on the banks of the Irwell by the Mondi site to see how high the river level rises.
“It took many, many months for the town to recover. The Environment Agency is well aware that the Mondi site is a flood plain.”
Ramsbottom councillor Clare Cummins said she welcomes “the most thorough scrutiny” of the flood risk by Bury Council.
But she said there has been “strong support” from residents for housing, commercial units and some car parking at the site in past public meetings.
Eccleston Homes was contacted but did not wish to comment.
