Rose and Crown Bury: Pub to Become 3 Flats, Vote Tuesday

The Rose and Crown on Manchester Old Road should become three flats, Bury Council’s planning officers say. Councillors on the Planning Control Committee will decide on Tuesday 20 October.

It is the owner’s second attempt to convert the pub, which stands at the corner of Barker Street in the Redvales ward. A plan to turn it into a 12-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO) with a rear dormer was refused on 3 June.

The new application, reference 73392, is from CM Properties (NW) Ltd. The officers’ report to Tuesday’s committee recommends approval with conditions.

This is a different pub from the Rose & Crown on Cockey Moor Road in Radcliffe.

What is planned

The building would be split into three self-contained flats:

That is five residents at most. The scheme originally proposed four flats and was cut to three in August, when neighbours were written to again.

The plans also include:

• four cycle spaces
• a rear yard of about 20 sq m, which also holds the bins
• a new ground-floor window on the Barker Street side
• demolition of a small outrigger at the back

There is no off-street parking.

Why officers say the pub can go

National planning policy, which the report cites as HC6, says a community facility such as a pub should not be lost unless one of three tests is met. One is that there is enough of the same thing nearby.

The owner did not argue the Rose and Crown could no longer make money, the report says. Instead, it listed six other pubs within about 800 metres that it says are open:

• Staff of Life, about 537m away
• The Art Picture House, about 540m
• The Knowsley, about 600m
• The Clarence, about 730m
• Old White Lion, about 750m
• The Robert Peel, about 775m

Officers accepted that this, and the site’s closeness to the town centre, met the policy.

What neighbours said

The council wrote to 22 neighbouring properties. Five households sent six objections, raising:

• too many shared houses in the area already
• parking and traffic, especially at school times
• anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping
• too little outdoor space for residents
• overlooking
• the loss of a place where people could socialise

Some objectors believed the scheme was another HMO. The report says it is not: the flats are self-contained and share only the yard. It adds that Bury’s Article 4 direction means a later switch to an HMO would need planning permission.

Parking and bins

Bury’s parking guidance asks for at least four spaces for three flats, so the scheme falls short. Officers say a pub of this size would need more than nine spaces under the same guidance, so the flats need fewer than the lawful use.

Highways engineers did not object. Parking Services said new residents could apply for permits and it had no recent complaints about parking on the street. The site is about 570m from Bury Interchange.

The council’s waste team would allocate a general waste bin, a paper and card bin and a glass, cans and plastics bin, emptied every three weeks. The landlord must buy them before anyone moves in.

The other application: a bungalow in a Tottington garden

The committee will also decide on a single-storey home in the side garden of Sedgewell, Brandlesholme Road, Tottington (reference 73557). The site is in the green belt. An outline plan for a detached house there was refused in 1997, and an appeal was dismissed.

Officers recommend approval this time. Their reason is a lawful development certificate granted in February 2026 for an L-shaped garden building of almost the same size. The proposed bungalow would be:

• 19.5m wide, against 18.5m for the approved garden building
• 14m deep, against 12m
• 3.9m tall, against 4m

Officers argue that because the garden building could be put up anyway, a house of a similar size would do no more harm to the green belt. They say the plot fills a gap in a row of houses along Brandlesholme Road. Three objections were received, including concerns about precedent and historic features near the site.

What it means for you

The meeting starts at 7pm on Tuesday 20 October in the Council Chamber at Bury Town Hall. The agenda, reports and webcast link are on the council’s website. Objectors have been told the date.

The same agenda asks the committee to commend a new scheme of delegation to full council. From 31 October, officers rather than councillors will decide most small applications, so cases like these two will rarely reach the committee.

The agenda also lists a new appeal by Hodson Homes Ltd against refusal of permission in principle for up to nine zero-carbon homes on land off Bury New Road and Peel Brow in Ramsbottom.

We will report the committee’s decisions after the meeting. Weekly applications are on our Bury planning news page.