£41m could be spent unlocking homes on brownfield sites

Around £41m could be spent unlocking the development of more than 2,700 potential homes – including affordable housing – on brownfield sites across Greater Manchester.

The combined authority has confirmed that 21 projects will be supported by the latest round of grants through the government’s £400m Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF).

Greater Manchester has been allocated £81.1m from the fund to spend until 2025, with leaders expected to approve a list of sites that will benefit from the latest round of funding this week.

Of the 2,720 homes there will be 1,350 affordable units that could be a mixture of affordable and socially rented properties, as well as shared ownership schemes.

The aim of the BHF is to support projects which have stalled due to high costs of bringing them back into use, or to explore the potential of sites that have yet to come forward.

By prioritising former industrial land, local planning authorities can avoid building on greenfield sites – including Greater Manchester’s much-valued green belt.

In October the Greater Manchester Combined Authority backed plans to provide £21.7m in grants to support plans for 4,353 homes on brownfield lands across the city-region.

Carrington Village in Trafford, North Leigh Park in Wigan and Riverside in Rochdale were among the major housing developments to receive funding in the first phase.

Leaders are now being asked on Friday to allocate £41.1m in the second phase to accelerate development on some of the following sites:

Oldham

West Vale Redevelopment – £1.1m: First Choice Homes Oldham has received planning permission plans to build 88 affordable houses and apartments at West Vale, near the town centre.

Southlink – £4.5m: The redevelopment of brownfield land near the business park could allow for 265 homes to be built, according to submission from Oldham council.

Manchester

Collyhurst Village – £2m: Collyhurst’s ‘first major regeneration in 50 years’ will see hundreds of new homes built – including 100 for social rent – and a new park.

Back of Ancoats – £4.7m: Manchester council wants to create a new neighbourhood around Poland Street with ‘high quality’ public space, 275 new homes including affordable housing, offices and green spaces.

Silk Street – £1m: Channel 4 presenter and architect George Clark is advising on plans to build a mini-estate of affordable homes on the site of a former cotton mill in Newton Heath.

Rochdale

Neighbourhood Rochdale – £4.7m: Capital and Centric’s plans to redevelop the former Central Retail Park with 200 homes, a park and a gym will receive £4.7m.

Neighbourhood Rochdale is the first big scheme to be brought forward under the council’s ‘rail corridor’ masterplan, which aims to build 7,000 homes around the borough’s railway stations.

Don Street – £3.6m: The BHF funding will go towards accelerating the redevelopment of a 32-acre site in Middleton, which has outline planning permission for 303 homes.

The site on Don Street, which neighbours the British Vita factory, was put up for sale in 2019 but it remains unclear if it is still on the market.

Tameside

Hattersley Central – £3.2m: Tameside council has already given planning permission for a 91-room ‘extra care’ affordable apartment block with its own beauty salon and cafe on the site of the former district centre Hattersley Road East.

Harehill Tavern and Harehill MMC – £640k: The local authority has submitted two sites for BHF consideration which could see 65 homes built.

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