Following a site visit earlier this year, a planning inspector ruled that the Social Club could be used for residential development. A similar proposal to convert Nut Bottom Farm into 2 dwellings and 6 holiday flatlets has now gone to appeal.

After a series of strategic meetings with OMBC, GGRA are still confident that a deal can be brokered to develop the site for the community's benefit. Marketing Manchester have expressed positive interest in undertakng a feasibility study into future uses of this key gateway site to Greater Manchester. Lets hope some of GGRA's can come to fruition.

(See below)

Greenfield Mill – Ideas for Development (based on 4 key outcomes: Community, Leisure & Recreation, Tourism and Jobs)

Heritage and Environment:

· National Park Centre – Exhibition/Film Space, Seminar Rooms, Park Rangers’ Centre.
· Paper Museum – Using present and past machinery, with reminiscence of mill experiences from former employees and work in progress.
· An Eco Centre – Monitoring the microclimate of Chew Valley, vegetation in moorland peat and local clays (e.g. cotton grass, mosses etc), energy renewal to power the mill site.
· Pennine Craft Centre – Live-work units (e.g. wood-turner, glass blower, potter, blacksmith/metal worker)

Sports and Fitness Facilities:

· Olympic size Swimming Baths (with Activity Pool)
· Ice Rink
· Sports Centre (e.g. 5 a side Football, Cricket, Badminton, Fitness Rooms etc)
· Extreme Sports Centre (Indoor/Outdoor with specialist facilities for the disabled) – i.e. climbing walls, survival /outdoor leadership training, orienteering, dry ski slope, roller-boarding, mountain biking, kayaking (in sluiced river).
· Outdoor Leisure Sports – Bowls, Tennis, Archery, Sailing, Fishing, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Cycling (with signed cycle routes and mountain bike hire)

Arts and Entertainment:

· Flexible multi-purpose Arts Centre (Theatre in the Valley/Theatre at the Mill?) – An 800-1,000 auditorium for concerts, plays, musical shows, film and presentational events for professional performance, media events and amateur/school hire.
· Function Rooms - for weddings and parties

Visitor Accommodation:

· Youth Hostel
· Accommodation for Families/Climbers/Walkers
· Short-term let self-Catering Apartments/Bunk-house accommodation
· Camping (not caravans)
· Hotel/Conference Centre (NB: This option is not recommended by GGRA. An exclusive hotel/conference centre would severely restrict access to the site, reducing the range of public facilities. A facility of this nature would not fulfil the leisure and recreational needs of people in this borough and certainly wouldn’t achieve the desired Community/Leisure & Recreation outcomes.)
Ancillary Services

· Reception Area with Tourist Information Centre
· Café and retail unit(s)
· Toilets
· Car Parking e.g. under the buildings in the mill cellars, in paddocks adjacent to the footprint with eco-blocking surfaces, park (at western end) and ride.
· Public Transport Links (i.e. new bus route + mini-bus service to events)
· First Aid Station

Partner Organisations

· Oldham Metropolitan Borough (Environment and Transportation, Education and Cultural Services)
· EEC (Redevelopment/regeneration)
· Central Government
· Peak District Park Planning Authority
· Saddleworth Parish Council
· Sports Council
· Sports England
· Arts Council
· Crafts Council
· English Heritage
· Groundwork Trust
· YHA
· Sustrans
· Friends of the Earth
· Campaign for Preservation of Rural England
· Saddleworth Civic Trust
· Saddleworth Historical Society
· Greenfield & Grasscroft Residents’ Association
· British Mountaineering Association

+ Property/Commercial Development Partners