There are currently 10 major developments planned in just under two square miles around Chorlton and Trafford that, if all plans go ahead, could see more than 2,000 new homes brought to the area. While a supermarket, retail opportunities and one primary school are also part of the huge development plans, there are concerns among residents over how infrastructure in the area will cope.
To date, proposals for up to 418 homes have been made for Chorlton. But not all the schemes have revealed how much housing could be included. Meanwhile, over the Trafford border into neighbouring Stretford, if proposed plans go ahead, 1,883 new houses and flats could be built.
Many of these plans are still in the early stages, with some only just having named their developer. Others are at the stage of public consultation and as such could change.
Three of the proposed developments in Chorlton were originally being consulted on as a trio, despite each development having a different owner and developer. However as the three - Ryebank Fields, Chorlton Precinct and the former leisure centre - have moved at a different pace, their connection has waned.
Manchester Metropolitan University has owned Ryebank Fields since the 1970s, having been gifted the land for sports and recreation. However, they put the land up for sale in 1996 and this month finally announced their preferred developers for the land.
Southway Housing and Step Places have been appointed by the University to build up to 120 new, sustainable homes on the fields. A minimum of 20 percent of the homes will be affordable.
It's promised that it will be a fully sustainable development, with affordable housing, low carbon buildings, net biodiversity gain, sustainable travel arrangements and public open green space, but the scheme has met with a passionate campaign from local people who want the land to be preserved as it is.
The site is currently owned by Greater Manchester Pension Fund and is made up of a seven storey office building, retail space and car parking for 200 cars. Redevelopment - which has been in the works for over a decade - is finally moving forward.
Plans for up to 190 townhouses and apartments, retail space and green public space have been in the pipeline since 2017. But now, the Greater Manchester Pension Fund is looking for a partner to join them on the venture of transforming the district centre site.
The development framework from 2017, drawn up by 5plus Architects and Avison Young for Manchester City Council, suggests potential for 177,550 sq ft of housing and 21,520 sq ft of retail and leisure space.
Empty for five years and owned by the council, except for two brief spells of occupation by squatters who replumbed the sauna, Manchester city council and Mosscare St. Vincents Housing Group have been working together since 2021 to deliver 40 apartments, 26 one bed and 14 two bed, specifically for the over 55’s, and in line with local housing allowances which should be completed in spring 2023.
What do you think of all the plans? Have your say in our comments.
As these apartments are being built for the over 55s, they will be designed and built to the HAPPI (Housing Our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation) principles, meaning those who live there will have their changing needs met over time, with a focus on health and wellbeing, as well as the properties having large balconies, shared social spaces and increased light levels.
Earlier this year, plans were released showing the proposed development on the site of the Chorlton Irish Club. Southway Housing and the Irish Club came to an agreement back in 2021.
The Irish club will remain, and the proposed housing will be built in the car park, offering 29 apartments with 29 car parking spaces and 40 secure bike parking spaces. It is hoped that the sale of the shared ownership apartments will allow for the club to re-open, and the club will retain 13 parking spaces.
The development is set to include 19 two-bedroom, and 10 one-bedroom apartments in a four storey development. The site is between Cross Road, Beech Road park and the rear of Thornbridge Avenue.
Members were worried that the sale of the land could impact the Irish Club and prevent the club, which opened in the 1950s and has hosted Peter Kay and John Bishop, from ever re-opening.
Southway Housing is developing 15 one-bedroom apartments and 24 two-bedroom apartments on Barlow Moor Road, next door to the Shell Garage and opposite Chorlton Park. The scheme is to be completely comprised of shared ownership properties.
Tyson Contractors started on site in April 2020, demolishing existing buildings in July 2020. Completion of this 39 home development is expected in Autumn 2022.
The Picture House building, which hosted the Bee Gee brothers' first gig, was put up for sale by the Co-op Funeralcare in 2019. It is currently unknown how the space will be used or if the original building will be demolished, however, it's promised that housing will be built and that it will be 100 percent affordable.
There were plans for the Chorlton Community Land Trust (CCLT) to buy the property and turn it into a Altrincham style food hall with community space. But, the Co-op opted to sell the building to Southway Housing Trust. Now, the CCLT and Southway are in conversation to turn part of the site into something which would benefit the community, alongside the housing plan.
Lidl on Mauldeth Road
A new Lidl store could be in the works in south Manchester, but the sale of the Lowry House office building in Chorlton to the discount supermarket has left residents divided. The site, previously owned by PJD Holdings, had offers from multiple residential developers before accepting Lidl’s bid.
It is still early days for this proposed development, but it is known that the planning application will be submitted in the next few weeks.
A spokesperson for Lidl confirmed the sale, saying: “We can confirm we have purchased the former Lowry House in Chorlton, Manchester and are looking to submit a planning application in the coming weeks. We look forward to sharing more information with the local community as and when we are in a position to do so.”
A part of Trafford council’s ‘civic quarter masterplan’, Trafford council and property company Bruntwood have got ‘outlined planning consent’ to transform the old Kellogg’s site in Stretford. The former Kellogg’s headquarters, which closed in 2018 after the firm relocated to MediaCityUK, is set to be transformed into a new community for £208m.
The venture plans to transform the 12-acre site with 15 new buildings. This will include 750 new homes, 200,000 sq ft of offices, a 100-bedroom hotel and primary school. These new buildings will wrap around the already existing former Kellogg brick building, which is now home to University Academy 92 and range in height from eight storeys to 12.
Designed by Manchester-based architect Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the development, it is hoped, will boost the local economy by £50m a year, according to Trafford council and Bruntwood Works.
Stretford Mall and town centre transformation
Stretford Mall and town centre are to be 'completely revitalised'. Plans - including new waterfront bars and restaurants along the Bridgewater Canal - have been approved, opening the canal up to the district centre of Stretford. Much of the mall building itself is set to be demolished, although shops on King Street, the Aldi and the multi-storey car park are currently proposed to stay.
Developers say they will restore the historic King Street and open up access to the Bridgewater canal to make space for new waterfront bars and restaurants and a ‘Makers Yard’ for small independents and the evening economy, with outdoor seating.
The outline planning permission also includes 800 new homes, a mixture of town houses and apartments with some affordable housing, as well as space for shops, restaurants, bars and educational space.
Developers hope to build blocks of between four and nine storeys in height - with a total of 333 one and two-bedroom apartments - on the former B&Q/Top Rank site on Great Stone Road in Stretford.
However, plans, which were submitted in March 2020, were never decided on by the council. The brownfield site’s landowners, developers Accrue Capital, then lodged an appeal against Trafford council’s indecision on the proposals and, since the council could not issue a formal decision following the appeal, in October 2020 the council’s planning committee voted that it was ‘minded to refuse the application’ if it had been able to determine it.
Trafford council has said it has concerns about the size, scale and mass of the development, the effect it could have on the nearby Longford Park Conservation Area as well as worries that it would loom over nearby Lancashire Cricket Club, plus there were worries about the quality of design and a lack of affordable housing.
A public inquiry is ongoing into Trafford's handling of the matter, and the developers' appeal is ongoing. Alongside the hundreds of flats, they propose a café, a possible drop-in health clinic, a convenience store and a gym.
What local people and politicians think
'It's the cars'
Jo Murphy, 56, has lived in Chorlton and south Manchester for 32 years and is concerned about the effect on traffic new development could have in a busy corner of the region.
“For me, it’s the cars," she said. "It’s the first thing, having lived in and around south Manchester for 32 years, the level of cars is intolerable.
“I don’t know why we need 2,000 more homes in Chorlton and Stretford. Only thing I can think of is profit because of the postcode.
“I just think it’s kind of ridiculous, I don’t see where the cars are going to go, I don’t know where the children of the families are going to go to school, I don’t see where they’re going to go for doctors or dentists.
“The schools are already chockablock, the roads are full. For me, using an existing building or building on existing concrete makes sense from an environmental perspective, but the other side is to rewild and plant trees there.
“There is a demand for new housing, social housing. We need more social housing, but does it need to be in Chorlton? The profit motive seems to run everything and we’re all poorer for it. The profit motive is stealing from our children."
'The Lidl site would be better as residential'
Matt Brady, a Chorlton resident who has lived in the area for 25 years, thinks the Lidl proposed for Chorlton is 'waste'. “I don’t shop at Lidl, I don’t know what it's like," he said.
“It just seems like a waste of a site for somewhere that’s so close to a tram stop. It’s a right waste of land.
“If you’re going to have a supermarket there it should be residential as well with apartments above it. Or, ideally, no supermarket at all, just have it as residential.”
Matt believes that there is a place for another supermarket in Chorlton, but that the site Lidl has bought would be better as residential. Instead, he believes more work should be done to redevelop the Chorlton precinct on Wilbraham Road.
He said: “They’re talking about redeveloping Chorlton precinct, well that’s where you want an Aldi or a Lidl or whatever, to drag people into the centre of Chorlton.
“So that all of the other shops benefit from having that footfall of people. Having it on the outskirts where you’ve got two secondary schools and a primary school and you’re building on land that if it’s going to be developed should be housing really, because it’s so close to a tram stop and a park, it just seems such a waste of land for car parking basically."
'What will it mean for Trafford schools?'
Hannah Stanton, a teacher and resident of Trafford is concerned about the impact of cars as well as how the building of new homes in Stretford will affect the catchment areas for schools.
She said: “I definitely have concerns about strains on the existing services. For example, my kids would be knocked out of the catchment area for their school, I think because of the houses being built at the mall.
“I think unless they do the developments and create a lot of active travel infrastructure in tandem, then we’re going to be flooded with more cars on the road, more pollution and people complaining about traffic.
“Stretford is a really good location for the 15 minute town idea and everything you could need on a daily basis is there within a 15 minute walk because it is quite a densely compact place and I think that is a good thing for urban neighbourhoods to be clustered, rather than big sprawling neighbourhoods where everyone drives.
“With the mall, I think they’re right to try and do something different because it’s dying a sad, slow death and I welcome the ideas they’ve got about more indepdent shops there and cool, trendy bars and just making it more of a happening town centre.
“But the level of density that they’re putting on the mall site seems to be insane, I can’t picture how they’d get that many houses into that space."
'I support the regeneration'
Mike Wilson, 48, is a resident of Chorlton and welcomes the re-development of the area. He said: “The precinct is looking tired and not a pleasant place to be, so I support the regeneration. I don't have any opinions on the leisure centre or picture house, but generally think that investment into regeneration of services, buildings and attractions that people use such as that can only be a good thing.
“As for Ryebank, I think it's very important that we use spaces such as this within urban areas for housing, especially when we have a housing crisis and people are struggling to get on the ladder. I think a housing association building there is an incredibly good thing for the local people, and from what I can see it's only the existing homeowners that are moaning about it - young people and young families aren't.
“It's nonsensical to complain about building houses on the greenbelt, and then also complain about building in urban areas such as Chorlton.
“The people who will buy these houses will be local to the area as it's a housing association building the houses. They already use the doctors surgeries and school places.”
'There are big challenges about a big increase in the local population'
John Leech, leader of the Liberal Democrats group, is concerned about the impact of development on this corner of south Manchester. He said: “Just from a pure numbers in terms of potential kids wanting school places, there are big challenges about a big increase in the number of people living in the area.
"Places like Oswald Road have already been expanded, other schools around Chorlton have been expanded. The schools that are of a size where you could say ‘oh yes this could be expanded’ tend to be very small schools so they’re limited in their ability to increase numbers.
“I think traffic and parking are already huge, massive issues. In the last 25 years that I’ve been around, Manchester council has consistently not done enough to ensure there is sufficient parking attached to new developments.
“You can absolutely guarantee that the development proposed at the old Chorlton Leisure Centre, the development proposed at the centre of Chorlton, if that ever goes ahead, ones like that just simply don’t have enough parking attached to them. The council will say it’s all about encouraging people to use public transport instead but the reality is, people living in Chorlton will have a car.
“Consistently, development over the last 25 years, whether it’s Chorlton, whether it’s in my area in Didsbury, they never have enough parking attached to them so we’re constantly increasing the problems that have been getting bigger and bigger over a long period of time.
“My view in Chorlton is that bits of it have already been massively overdeveloped. A good example, the car park of the pub on the corner of Manchester Road and Wilbraham Road, the car park was converted into a block of flats several years ago with nowhere near the amount of parking that was needed for the size of the development.
"The revitalisation of the precinct will undoubtedly create more parking chaos, you only have to look at what it’s like around Oswald Road school around pick-up and drop off. There are people constantly driving around trying to find a space to park.
“It’s just got consistently worse and these further developments will just make it worse than it is now.”
Manchester city council has been approached for comment.
A spokesperson for Trafford Council said: “There are a number of major developments in the pipeline for Trafford and each planning application will consider its own requirements for school places, health provision and highways.
"Our Civic Quarter Area Action Plan, which covers the area around Trafford Town Hall, Lancashire Cricket Club, the former B&Q site on Great Stone Road in Stretford and the former Greater Manchester Police Chester House HQ site, specifically includes a policy to secure developer contributions to infrastructure. These include highways, drainage, electricity supply, education, health and open space as we are aware that new development of this scale needs the infrastructure to support it.”
For more of today's stories, click here
READ NEXT:
