Trafford’s draft local plan, setting out development proposals for the area over the next 17 years, has been approved for public consultation.
The plans, which will see a ‘minimum’ of 18,547 new homes for the borough by 2037, are set to be built completely on brownfield sites, with no development on any greenfield land at all.
It’s expected 591 homes will have been built between April 1 2020 and March 31 2025, 1,091 between April 1 2025 and March 31 2030 and 1,448 between April 1 2030 and March 31 2037.
With a commitment for the borough to be carbon neutral by 2038, particular areas of focus for the more than 18,000 new homes across the borough are Pomona Island, Trafford Wharfside, Trafford Park, the Trafford Centre Rectangle, the 'Civic Quarter', town centres, New Carrington and Timperley Wedge.
Developments in New Carrington and Timperley Wedge, to the tune of 6,000 new homes, are already covered by the GMSF allocations and are separate to the local plan.
This is where new homes are being pencilled in for Trafford between now and 2037:
- Pomona Island – 2,400 homes
- Trafford Wharfside – 2,000 homes
- Trafford Centre rectangle – 1,900 homes
- Civic Quarter – 2,700 homes
- Town centres – 700 homes
- New Carrington – 4,300 homes
- Timperley Wedge – 1,700 homes
The plans are now set to go out to public consultation so residents and businesses can have their say on them.
Presenting the plan to Trafford council’s executive, Coun James Wright thanked council officers and others who had worked on the proposals.
He added: “This is a local plan for Trafford that will improve the chances of the less well-off, secure the housing that we so vitally need, make a signficant contribution towards carbon neutrality and puts the correct checks and balances on development that benefits local people.”
A cross-party consultation group was set up within the council to discuss the plans before they reached this stage.
Earlier this month, Trafford council dropped its discussions and vote on the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) proposals, which had set out the planned development and employment opportunities for all 10 boroughs until 2037.
This came after neighbouring Stockport voted the plans down on December 3 and while Trafford’s local plan now gains new significance, council documents state it ‘reflects the current vision’ of the GMSF as well as the borough’s priorities.
The last consultation on Trafford’s local plan was over the summer of 2018, this latest consultation on the draft plan is set to begin in early 2021 and last for six weeks.
Then a final draft is expected to go out for the public to have their say on in late 2021 to mid-2022, before it is then submitted to the planning inspectorate in Autumn 2022. It’s expected to be formally adopted in spring 2023.
