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Sharing our memories of Heald Green
Last Updated 22nd Dec 2024
Outwood House 243-245 Wilmslow Road
By Helen Morgan
First Published 15/12/2024
Last Updated 15/12/2024
A house and surrounding area with many a tale to tell.
Fig. 1 The buildings now © Helen Morgan 27th Jan 2024
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The small building in the middle of my photo shows the original cottage that stood on this site from around 1750. The roofline was different before the area was redeveloped into housing. It was a croft which is an old Anglo Saxon word for a small holding, a small piece of land on an enclosed field in private hands. It was known as Peel Croft. The Peel family being important tenant farmers.
Alongside this croft stood Griffin Farm from around 1750 also. It was common back then for farms to also be Inns. The farm became the Black Griffin Inn with the first liquor licence being granted in 1786. Outwood House, to the right in my photo, paid the tithe taxes as the Inn according to the Williams’ book, Long Lane Cheadle Remembered and must therefore have been built around that time.
Alongside the croft, to the left, stood two outbuildings like large barns or shippons, one attached and one freestanding.
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Fig. 2 The arched windows on the left are original features.
© Helen Morgan 27th Jan 2024
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This area is not on the Tithe Map of Heald Green in 1841 as it was classed as Handforth. The Cheshire Tithe map below shows the fields in 1846.
Fig. 3 Tithe Map showing the fields in 1846
© Cheshire Tithe Maps.
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Three plots of land surround the Outwood House area, numbered 774,775 and 776. They were all owned by William Thompston and occupied by Robert Poole (not Peel).
Plot 774 was called Back Meadow and was arable land measuring 3 acres, 3 roods and 33 perches.
Plot 775 closest to Long Lane (Wilmslow Road) measured 39 perches and was classed as a farmyard and buildings.
On plot 776 stood Outwood House and garden measuring 1 rood and 24 perches.
I have the censuses from that time but apart from the Hankinson family, who lived at Griffin Farm, I have been unable to say with certainty who lived here.
The stories surrounding this house really begin in 1868. Women at this time could not afford to be “left on the shelf”, as in unmarried, and trying to fend for themselves. They had to find a husband to give them a roof over their head and financial security going forward into middle age.
An action of breach of promise went to court and was reported in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser on September 1st 1868. The plaintiff was a 32 year old cook, Martha Booth. The defendant was Mr C Hudson, a coachman of a similar age. Between 1863 and 1866 they met each other and between 200 and 300 love letters were exchanged mainly on his part. Mr Hudson had been a coachman in the service of a gentleman in Lancashire. Later on, his brother in law was supposedly getting him a job for a much better position in life and he wanted to settle down at once. This job was to be at the Waggon and Horses for which he would receive £3-4 per week (a lot of money back then).
During their correspondence he had from time to time promised to marry Martha. However, for whatever reason, the job never materialised. He had asked Martha to leave her employment as a cook for a Mr Greg near Handforth and fortunately for some months afterwards she stayed there.
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Mr Hudson was a bit of a gambler and showered Martha with gifts well above his station as a coachman on 10 shillings a week. The learned counsel remarked on the “substantial presents” he gave her. In one of his letters Mr Hudson remarked” I have not tasted drink this three weeks, only port wine, and I am very glad to say my hand has got quite well now. Dear Martha I have bought you a very nice little watch. A beauty, I could have sold it 20 times over.” Had he been in a bar brawl?
Along with the watch he also bought her an engagement ring and a shawl! “Dear Martha, I was out last night and I bought you a nobbly shawl-one of the latest out- a imitation paisley a nobbly one-they have none like it at Handforth.”
These letters were written from Outwood House, Handforth. He was definitely the instigator of the relationship “Dear Martha, I wish to know how it is that you have not wrote before now.” “I will now conclude, with my kind love to you, and believe me to remain, your dear lover, and from yours C Hudson.”
A witness, Hannah Rawlinson, was called to the stand. It was to her house that they met on a Sunday and behaved “like lovers.” Hannah had seen the watch and the shawl and heard him talk about marriage and the large wage of £2 or £3 a week he claimed he was on. Although she admitted that was 2 or 3 years ago now. She did not know he was now only earning 10s a week. When he had talked of working at the Waggon and Horses, he had asked Hannah to take in Martha and leave her job until it was convenient to marry her. Eventually she did that.
Martha won her case. Although there was no actual evidence of a promise of marriage, her defence council agreed that she was better off “as a cook on £20 a year and her dripping than as the wife of a young chap on 10s a week.” With 21st century values, a very condescending statement! She was awarded £10 damages, although whether she ever got that amount, half a year’s salary, from Mr Hudson, is another matter.
From already researching and writing up an article, I know that The Griffin Inn moved northwards to where it stands today between 1871 and 1881. However, it was interesting when looking at the census of 1861, that Isaac Hankinson at Griffin Farm next door, had started to write as his occupation, pu (perhaps publican) and then crossed it out replacing it with farmer. Perhaps the inn was on the wane back then?
Once the Inn had gone there was now Griffin Farm and Outwood House Farm. Farms in the area reared cows and horses and very few sheep. However, here at Outwood House farm, pigs were reared. The area was and is still known as the Piggeries.
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Whoever lived there in 1880 placed an advert to let the house out.
Fig. 4 Manchester Courier and Lancashire Advertiser, December 16th 1880
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We now move forward to 1886. This announcement was in the Newry Telegraph on 25th March 1886. The Lees family were not in the area in 1881 but were at the house by 1884.
Fig. 5 Newry Telegraph on 25th March 1886
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James Lees must have been a gentleman of some worth. His death, also in 1886, was reported in London newspapers, as well as more locally. This is the announcement in the St James’ Gazette on July 1st 1886.
Fig. 6 St James’ Gazette on July 1st 1886.
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On the 1891 census, the Hankinsons were at Griffin farm, but the families around have occupations like gardeners and farm labourers, rather than farmers. I am therefore assuming that they did not live in this grand house but perhaps the croft cottage.
The next family of note are the Lockwoods, Alfred and his wife. He was the brother of Sir Frank Lockwood who amassed a huge fortune, mainly as a railway shareholder, but also with his job as both an MP for York and a JP. Alfred was the executor of his will, that came to the fore on his brother’s death in 1898. A death that was reported countrywide in newspapers from Abergavenny to East Kent. £30,000 at today’s value would be nearly £5 million!
Fig. 7 Dover Express 4th February 1898
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On the census of 1901 Alfred and his wife were living on Massie Street in Cheadle. At Griffin farm, Charles Hankinson was there with his wife and there are farmers around them, but again I could not say with any certainty who was at the house. What I can say is that by 1907 the Bayley family were advertising for domestic servants, in the country!
Fig. 8 Runcorn Examiner December 21st 1907
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The next really interesting story is that of Major Richard Bottomley Nowell who was born in 1880 in Ashton under Lyne. He married Florence Tipler a lady from Middlesex, in a church in Paddington, London in 1908. In 1911, before WW1, he was Mr R.B.Nowell, who owned the house and was trying to sell it.
Fig. 9 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser April 14th 1911
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Fig. 10 Manchester Courier, May 6th 1911
The day after the auction
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Fig. 11 The 1911 Census
The Nowell family living with servants at the house
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Fig. 12 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, August 7th, 1914, just before war broke out.
It was definitely a pig farm.
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Sadly, WW1 arrived and Father Richard went away to war leaving his two small children with his wife. He enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry before moving over to the Manchester Regiment. Here he would rise through the ranks from Captain, to Major and even Temporary Lieutenant Colonel.
Fig. 15 Manchester Evening News, October 2nd 1915
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Fig. 13 Stalybridge Reporter, August 21st 1915
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Fig. 14 Manchester Courier September 6th, 1915
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Fig. 16 Stalybridge Reporter January 22nd 1916
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More sadness befell the family, with the unexpected death of Florence on September 1st 1918, age 40, although she was in a nursing home. This left the Major with his young children. Daughter Vivienne was around 9 years of age and his son, also Richard, was about 7.
On the census of 1921 Richard and his new wife, Annie nee Brown, also from Ashton under Lyne, were boarding at the Crown Hotel, Cookham near Maidenhead. On the form Richard declared that there was a third child now, aged 8. The other 2 being 12 and 10. Perhaps it was their honeymoon as they married in Fylde that year?
However he had put the house and all the surrounding land and property on the market with vacant possession in 1921, so perhaps he was on the move, but where were the children? The advert gives a very comprehensive list of everything that was there.
Fig. 17 Stockport Advertiser and Guardian, April 8th 1921
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Later on Major Nowell and his son, worked abroad perhaps using his military connections? Their deaths were reported by the consulate in Parana, South Brazil under the section British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths. Richard senior in 1955 and Richard junior in 1962.
I was unable to find a death certificate for Annie. Vivienne also travelled to Brazil and later to the USA, where she died in Santa Barbara in 1993.
Fig. 18 Government probate declaration for Richard junior
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The 1921 census showed 2 families sharing the living quarters of number 293, the small cottage.They only had 2 rooms each. For the Burgess family that may have been ok. They were 24 year old Joseph and his wife Esther aged 27. He was a day gardener working for Mr J Molloy, the station master at Didsbury station. Esther did home duties.
The other family were the Hooleys. Albert aged 46, was a farm labourer working at Outwood Hall farm, for Mr N Davies a market gardener. His wife Ellen aged 35 was at home with 3 children, Danial aged 8, Jannet aged 6 and 18 month old Gladys. The 2 older children attended a school “whole time” in Handforth.
The next family at the house were the Brown or McLaurin-Brown family. In 1921 they lived on Sagars Road, Handforth. By 1924 they lived at the house.
Fig. 19 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, April 4th 1924
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The 1939 register goes into detail of who they were and the jobs they had at the start of WW11. Father, Herbert Brown, was a 60 year old woollen merchant and manufacturer’s agent from Lightcliffe in Yorkshire. His wife, Elma Mary from Hull, aged 54, did unpaid domestic duties. They had two sons. Gordon was a 22 year old aircraft and engine fitter, and 17 year old Stuart was an aircraft engineer apprentice. Apart from Stuart’s surname, the other surnames were amended from Brown to McLaurin-Brown at a later date.
However, the house was on the Market by 1938.
Fig. 20 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser November 4th 1938.
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Perhaps one of the sons was selling off his comic collection in 1940 ready for the house move?
Fig. 21 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, January 12th 1940
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Fig. 22 Aeroplane Comic
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Unbelievably in 1979, whilst doing my history “O” level coursework on Heald Green, I actually spoke to Gordon Brown.
This is what he told me:
“Outwood House was in three parts. The oldest part being over 300 years old complete with oak beams. The house had oil lamps until 1936 when Father had town gas laid on. A huge cheese press was down in the cellar. We made our own from our cow’s milk. It consisted of an enormous cube of solid stone which rested on a base slab, also of solid stone. There was a wooden frame, rather like gallows, through which ran a vertical, round rod onto which was fitted a double armed handle for raising or lowering the cube of stone. There was a large hemispherical white tiled dome over the front door porch. The front door was actually on the side of the house. There was a lovely embossed copperwork fireplace in the drawing room. The property was sold in 1941 to a chemical firm who were moving out of Manchester because of the war.”
That firm was Norman Evans and Rais Limited. A company who worked in laboratories to extract chemicals. In 1943 they began advertising in the situation vacant columns of newspapers. It is not until 1955, when the land and buildings were sold, that you realise what a rather large enterprise this was.
Fig. 23 Manchester Evening News, January 27th 1943
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Fig. 24 Manchester Evening News, November 15th 1948
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Fig. 25 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, April 6th 1951
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Fig. 27 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser June 10th 1955
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Fig. 26 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, March 6th 1953
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The next part of the story concern Rhind’s Motors. Indeed, this part of Wilmslow Road is still referred to by locals as Rhind’s corner.
The Rhind family lived in a house called Brookside on Finney Lane, opposite where the library is now. The family bought and sold cars and were established in 1919 according to their adverts. The business was originally in the centre of Manchester. In the Manchester Evening News in the 1940s and 50s, they would put adverts in, detailing cars they were selling from 120 Finney Lane.
That threw me for a long while, as that is now where Christ Church shops now stand and I knew there was not a garage there. The penny only dropped when not only did the advert say Finney Lane but also “Brookside”. The even numbered houses would eventually change in the early 1960s when the new shopping parades were built in the village.
Fig. 28 Manchester Evening News March 8th 1935
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Fig. 29 Manchester Evening News, February 17th 1941
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“Alec Rhind became my first boss when I left Woods Lane School. I worked at Rhind’s Motors as an apprentice mechanic. He was a nice chap who gave me driving lessons in his brand new Vauxhall VX490. I spent hours driving him all over the place to auctions each week. He used to wear tweed coats and deerstalker hats. He used to shout at me “Get your foot down lad, we have just been overtaken by an old lady in a Volkswagen!” He even put me in for my driving test and paid for it.”
- Phil Platt, Facebook 2023
Fig. 30 Manchester Evening News January 5th 1956
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By June 1956, Rhinds Motors was operating out of buildings connected to Outwood House.
Fig. 31 Manchester Evening News June 16th 1956
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Fig. 32 Rhinds Motors
© Helen Morgan 1979
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Why oh why did I not take more photos!
In 1979, Rhinds, Gilbank Motors and the Northern Fleet steam cleaning company were there and could be seen from the front. I did not know what was going on behind there.
“Myself and friends, who had motor bikes around 1970, used to call the bend beyond Rhind’s, going towards Cheadle as “Rhind’s bend”. Not that we were speeding or anything like that! Still do to this day, like Roscoe’s roundabout.”
- Ian Carpenter, Facebook 2021
“Brings back memories. I bought a Toyota Corolla GT from there and got a great deal. Sold it 2 years later and got my money back.”
- Mike Connor, Facebook 2021
“Rhind’s Motors was on Wilmslow Road, on the left as you went towards Wilmslow, just before Outwood Road. The farm buildings and house that was occupied by Alec Rhind and his business are now various housing properties. I know that Alec was operating there in the 50s.
I still refer to it as “Rhinds bend”. I remember going round it towards Cheadle in a minivan. We went round it flat out, probably 60mph. It was the quickest ever been round it. That was about 1965.”
- Howard Hunt, Facebook 2021
“My dad worked at Rhind’s garage and car sales until around 1970, then moved to Dean Row garage, on the road to Macclesfield from Wilmslow.”
- Neil Broughton, Facebook 2021
“You could always tell a car that had been supplied by Rhind’s. They had a foil sticker on the dashboard (remember most dashboards were wood) with “supplied by Rhind’s Motors” on it!”
- Howard Hunt, Facebook 2021
“Sold Mr Rhind quite a few second hand cars.”
- Pete Durrant, Facebook 2021
“A friend of mine used to try and scrape his exhaust on that bend. I think he managed once or twice, not sure how fast to achieve that, must have been taking the “racing line!” Clearly under 30mph! Still, we weren’t supposed to do that were we!”
- Ian Carpenter, Facebook 2021
Fig. 33 Outwood House Farm
© David Webb 1972
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Gilbank Motors traded from there owned by Andy Walker. The business was run from Outwood House itself.
Fig. 34 From the book
Long Lane Cheadle Remembered
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Fig. 35 Manchester Evening News September 7th 1978
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On the site were lots of sheds and outbuildings that were used by smaller companies, all connected to the motor trade.
“A friend of mine rented the land at the rear of Outwood House and ran “The Jaguar Drivers Centre” from there, eventually using the outbuildings to the left as workshops and offices. That was mid-seventies. He eventually closed that business down and set up “Airparks”, providing one of the first airport parking facilities.”
- Howard Hunt, Facebook 2021
Fig. 36 Manchester Evening News, April 22nd 1978
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The Jaguar driver’s centre was established in the 1970s. At one time there were some 800 Jaguar cars parked at the back. Car and spares would be bought, broken down into parts, cleaned and then sold on. When fuel prices escalated, the cars were scrapped and sold and the business closed.
In 1984 AirParks was established to transfer people to Manchester Airport and park their car on the land at the rear, where the Jaguars used to be. During this period, Bullocks Taxis from Stockport rented a Portakabin, along with Budget Rent A Car, who stored cars on the land. AirParks ceased operating in 1988.
“I remember Rhinds Motors and spent many a happy hour on the waste ground known locally as the Gyppos. There used to be a scrapyard behind Rhinds, full of classic jaguars rotting away slowly. Still think I have a V* badge off a Daimler somewhere.”
- Mark Jackson, Facebook 2021
Here are some photos to give you an idea of the hive of activity going on in the 1970s to early 1980s.
Figs. 37 to 44
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Fig. 37 Click On Image To View
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Fig. 45 Aerial photo taken c.1982.
Griffin farm was home to the farmer John Sloane
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In 1984 a company called Copyall Limited, began trading from there, selling photocopiers.
“It was a photocopier company. We had the whole upstairs and downstairs was a car garage. 40 years ago.”
- Sherann Hillman, Facebook 2023
Fig. 46 Macclesfield Express February 23rd 1984
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The whole site was taken up by car related businesses. One of them was Tommy Tyres and I had a chat with Tom Bates recently. He was on the site from 1988/89 until 2006. This is what he told me:
“The road off Wilmslow Road had a huge oak tree at the side of it and it then split into two. The main buildings towards the right were where Gilbank Motors, owned by Andy Walker and Alec Rhind’s motors traded from. Gilbank was in Outwood House and Rhinds motors in the building attached to the smaller old farmhouse. I once went for a look upstairs above Rhind’s and there were lots of old car guides up there to look through. It was not high enough though for me to stand up and you couldn’t get through to the house from there. Both businesses had car sales offices and room out front to display their cars. George Brierley would eventually run his business there after Alec Rhind died in the 1990s and before he moved to Canada. Derby Motors, run by Kevin Derbyshire, was at the back of Gilbank and did lots of their work for them, although they also did private work too. Further behind that was a unit occupied by JD Motors body shop.
On the left hand side was a large brick building that would have been used for horses and carts, indeed the archways were still there. When I moved onto the site in 1989/90 Arthur Broadbent was using it as a garage to do repairs in. I moved into an old shed behind there and opened up Heald Green Tyres, known locally as Tommy Tyres. In fact, old customers still call me that when I see them out and about. Alongside me was a better built building used as a valet bay.
On the other side were two old air raid shelters. Alan Thompson was in one doing car repairs and the other one was a body shop. Their walls were about four feet high and then they had a dome shaped corrugated roof. Of course, this was all old RAF land, so there were old bunker foundations around too. At the front of this building was Mike Barlow who was a working jeweller. To the left of that was Clive Allen’s garage followed by spare unoccupied units to the car wash area at the back linked to the valet bay. At the side of that building was SVS car sales and then Griffin Farm and its cowsheds.
Eventually Arthur Broadbent moved into the smaller building behind Rhinds and that enabled me to move into his far bigger building in 1993. I applied to the Ministry of Transport to become an MOT centre. There was lots of paperwork and specific requirements needed to do this. The business became Heald Green Tyres and MOT Centre in 1994. All the bays ended up being drive in ones. I installed a ramp rather than a pit for the MOTs and the end unit had a rolling road brake tester.
I took over Mike Barlow’s office when he left and the door there (now a window) led to an upstairs office that I used as a kitchen and storeroom. An office had been up there too for the Jaguar centre. When airport parking started, there was a portacabin office at the back. Budget rent a car also had an office near this. By 1992/93 it was all parking at the back, as all the jaguars had gone.
The whole site was all car related. I counted up at one time there were 23 different businesses on there all connected to the motor trade. The whole site, including Griffin Farm, was emptied by Christmas 2006 by Seddon Holdings. I was the last one to go. They began clearing the site twelve months previously, beginning with the farm. We dealt on site with a man called Ernie Bennett. I only saw Wayne Seddon once when he arrived to give us our notice. To begin with the site was boarded up from the road and then once a car was sold, a dumper truck would offload into the space. A huge concrete hopper was erected at the farm and they came to me to ask to connect to my power source and then I wouldn’t have to pay anymore electric. I agreed. However later on the electric and water was cut off and it was time to leave.
There were lots of business units there and we had applied to the Town Hall to have new ones built. There was enough land for everyone but it was not to be. Some of the businesses have continued to this day. Steve Jackson, who worked for Gilbank’s, now works with Steve Shrine, SVS car sales opposite the Kenilworth pub. Before that they were alongside the Sangam that is now going to be a Co-op. Alan Thompson works off Anfield Road next door to Steve. Clive Allen works on Demmings Road.
I left in 2006 and went to work off Simonsway until 2010, before being given notice to quit there too! In both cases the tyre racking I put in was holding the buildings up!”
“My husband, Tom Bates, ran the tyre bay in the late 80s and then opened the MOT garage on the site. The site was owned by Alec Rhind and following his death, by his wife Anne Rhind. There was airport parking to the rear and numerous car sales pitches and repair businesses. There was nothing car related that could not be fixed on this site.”
- Christine Bates, Facebook 2024
Fig. 47 Tom’s map of the businesses that were there
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In July 1987, Orbit Developments (Manchester) Limited applied to Stockport Council to build a Hi Tec/office development on land adjacent to Outwood House. It was refused on the grounds that it was contrary to the principles of green belt land. How times have changed! They must have obtained permission in the end as Quicks Garage was demolished in the late 1980s to make way for the offices called the Southgate Centre.
Fig. 48 Quicks demolition 1980s
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In August 1987, Mr JA Rhinds and Orbit Developments tried again. This time they applied for permission to build an office/high tec development at Outwood House. This would be 80,400 square feet of offices and car park. Again, it was refused due to green belt policies and also the plan would overdevelop the site.
Budget Rent a Car also traded from here in 1988, via Quicks Garage next door.
Fig. 49 Macclesfield Express August 4th 1988
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In April 1989, the Stockport Express Advertiser ran a story about a company called Partfleet Limited, trading from Outwood House, going into liquidation in respect of VAT owed.
Fig. 50 Wilmslow Express Advertiser May 21st 1992
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A business not car related!
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In November 1993, planning permission was given for Ace Private Hire of Hazel Grove to use the first floor of Outwood House as an office and control room for private hire vehicles.
Another car business
And another one!
Norbury Car Sales had moved to the site in 1991.
Fig. 51 Stockport Express, July 28th 1993
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Fig. 52 Stockport Times West October 8th 1997
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In 1998 a bold plan was put forward by Outwood House Properties. Their agent was Howard & Seddon Partnership. This was to change the use of the house to a hotel and a car showroom and vehicle repairs. They wanted to build a two storey rear extension to this new hotel and construct a new access road to Wilmslow Road.
Permission was refused. The grounds given were again due to green belt land. In particular it was noted that a new extension on the back was an inappropriate form of development within the green belt. It would be “visually intrusive, fail to preserve the openness and thereby conflict with the purposes of including the site within the green belt”.
By 1998 Griffin Farm, alongside Outwood House, was derelict and boarded up. The motor trading businesses can be seen in the background.
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Fig. 53 From the book
Long Lane Cheadle Remembered
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Then in May 1999 permission was granted for application J71793 with building work to commence within 5 years. The house was to become a hotel with a two storey extension to the side and rear with a conservatory and a new vehicle access.
The permission came with a whole lot of conditions. These included the widening of the carriageway, a dedicated right hand lane to turn off the road and a pedestrian refuge. There was also specific landscaping issues and the need for no cooking odours to escape.
Fast forward to 2004 and the planning was renewed under the same specification before the 5 years were up. The new decision was numbered DC015106 and dated 12th July 2004.
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However, the partnership had also put in a new planning application that was granted under number DC015458 dated 30th July 2004. This was to convert the existing buildings into 16 dwellings and the erection of a new building for another 8 apartments, therefore totalling 24.
The council agreed that they had already granted approval to change the use of the site and had assessed the green belt policies. With the removal of unattractive buildings from the area and under very special circumstances the permission was granted, again with a lot of attached conditions.
The Partnership decided to also convert Griffin Farm into 11 apartments and were given permission in February 2005 under number DC017602. As this was a listed building there were set criteria to be met. These included replacing the existing roof with natural blue slates and investigating the removal of the existing render. The permission also allowed the retention of the existing airport parking.
The developers did a very good job of doing just that. When you remember how derelict it was in 1998 to how it looks now with all the beautiful, original brickwork once again on show. The site would now have 35 apartments and 150 long stay airport car parking spaces.
By February 2006, new plans were submitted to include Griffin Farm, under number DC022364. There would be 11 apartments. Back at Outwood House two buildings would be converted into 16 apartments and a new build on the rear side would have eight. There was even a tennis court planned at the right hand side entrance!
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Fig. 54 Plan DC022364
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Howard and Seddon asked Singleton Clamp and Partners in March 2006 to advise on the road improvements that were requested by the council. They concluded that 30-40 cars were there daily in the peak hours, to use the garage facilities still on site, and these did not require a specific right hand lane turn or create queues on Wilmslow Road. There was clear visibility to leave the site.
Also, SMBC were consulting on their own measures to improve safety on the main road. This was to reduce the speed to 30mph and a mini roundabout was proposed at the Outwood Road Junction. The partnership would look into improving pedestrian safety by increasing the pavement width between the site and the entrance to the existing car parking facility to 2 metres.
In June 2006 permission was granted to alter the roofline of the original croft cottage under number DC022849. Substitution of house types at plots 3 and 9 would enable a height increase to the ridge.
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Fig. 55 Plan DC022849
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By Christmas 2006 all the car related business were gone and building work could begin. By April 2009 the site had been redeveloped. Retrospective planning permission was applied for. At Griffin Farm there were features not on the original planning like bin stores, a satellite dish post, extra parking, gates, wooden fences (not hedges) and no soft landscaping.
At Outwood House the banking at the back between the housing and the car parking was the wrong size and not planted with appropriate landscaping. The car parking area was in the wrong place and there were now 50 not 35 spaces. Permission was granted under number DC041758 approving the bin stores, satellite dish column support and security gates. “To protect the nearby listed building and the openness and visual amenity of the green belt” a list of conditions and reasons were attached for everything else to be amended. At the end of it there was only to be car parking spaces for 70 cars, no more.
The tennis court never materialised!
Alongside the Outwood House complex is Hunters Manchester Airport Parking. In 2023 an application was made to build 80 dwellings on their land and around the back of Outwood House, under number DC/088902.
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Fig. 56 Proposed site layout with overlay
Calderpeel Architects
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Another application was made for their access road to be used by the Seashell Trust as they continue to extend their campus at the back of here. It seems that clearing up of the site has already begun, as bushes have been removed and new tarmac laid on a pavement. A temporary construction access road will be built, to be used by vehicles over three years, to build a new college, administration block and a sports and training building.
Fig. 57 Hunter's Entrance
© Helen Morgan 2024
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One thing is for sure, it’s going to be rather busy around there!
There you go, another epic tale of the comings and goings here.
Thank you once again to everyone who gave their memories via our Facebook page or spoke to me directly.
Bibliography
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Williams, K & Williams, J.T (1998). Long Lane Cheadle Remembered. pp.24 & pp.25.
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Williams, K & Williams, J.T (1998). Long Lane Cheadle Remembered. pp.40.
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Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. September 1st 1868
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Williams, K & Williams, J.T (1998). Long Lane Cheadle Remembered. pp.27.
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SMBC Permission granted under number 58694 dated 1.11.1993
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SMBC Refusal of planning permission notice number 68330 dated 30.9.1998
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SMBC Permission granted under number J71793 dated 4.5.1999
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SMBC Permission granted under number DC015106 dated 12.7.2004
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SMBC Permission granted under number DC015458 dated 30.7.2004
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SMBC Permission granted under number DC017602 dated 16.2.2005
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SMBC Permission granted under number DC022364 with full plans dated February 2006
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Letters to Karl Seddon from Singleton, Clamp and Partners dated 3.3.2006
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SMBC permission granted under number DC022849 dated 15.6.2006 with drawings 21747 and 21748
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SMBC retrospective permission granted under number DC041758 dated 31.7.2009
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The Editor. Spring 2024. Updates on the progress of key local planning applications. Contact Magazine no.208. pp. 3.
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