Moor View Farm (picture and location on Google Maps) on Manchester Road has been put up for sale.
The property and surrounding land, known locally to some as Gosney’s farm, is being marketed by Eaton Commercial Property Consultants. The sellers are seeking offers in excess of £600,000.
At Thursday night’s Open Meeting, concerns were raised by some residents over whether the farm would be demolished. A downloadable document on the Eaton website gives details of how an indicative residential layout scheme might look.
Crookes Councillor Geoff Smith confirmed at the meeting that to his knowledge, no application to demolish it or for planning permission has been received by the council. Some neighbouring residents indicated that they had received letters saying that demolition of the farm was due to take place before the end of the month.
Councillor Smith is investigating further and we’ll post any updates regarding the farm to this website.
Property listing on Eaton Commercial (scroll down)
Plans document for Moor View Farm (PDF, 3.1MB)
Location of Moor View Farm (Google Maps)
Update, Friday 27 April 2012 from Councillor Smith:
I have been in contact with the Council Planning Department today. Unfortunately both the people I had dealt with before were on leave. However, I managed to talk to someone who studied the file and got back to me. The agent has applied recently to the Building Regulations office of the Council for permission to demolish the farm. This included notice of their intention to do so on 30 April 2012. What the neighbours have received is a letter from the agent informing them that the demolition will take place on 30 April. The Building Regulations office has NOT given them permission to demolish and has sent a letter today to the agent informing them that the demolition cannot go ahead without a bat survey and a planning application to demolish. The agent will also be telephoned today to inform him. I aim to be at the site on Monday morning.
Update, Thursday 3 May 2012 from Councillor Smith:
Those of you who were up and about on Manchester Road around 8am on Monday may have seen three men loitering near the farm. They were Ian and Steve from the Crosspool Forum and me. We were there just in case there was a demolition attempt. Fortunately we did not have to draw straws to decide which of us was going to dive in front of a bulldozer. There was no attempted demolition.
I have been assured by the relevant Council officers that both the owners and the agent are fully aware that a prior application to the Planning Dept. and a bat survey have to be carried out before demolition can take place. There is still some doubt as to the grounds on which the Planning Dept can insist that a full planning type application is made. But for the moment a prior application has not been made and a bat survey has not been completed.
I will keep you informed. If, though, you see any activity around the farm that looks like demolition of preparations to demolish please let me know. I can be contacted on 07581 214 783.