Almost 250 businesses and one hundred homes could be bulldozed in Salford to make way for a new park, according to the future plans for the area, currently known as the Draft Strangeways and Cambridge Strategic Regeneration Framework, or SRF.
The Draft Framework, which is out for public consultation until 26th May*, sets out long term plans for the area, which, in Salford, stretches from the back of Bury New Road/Great Ducie Street along the River Irwell to Great Clowes Street as far as Broughton Lane.
The Manchester area of the proposed regeneration covers the area from Cheetham Hill Road, down Waterloo Road to Bury New Road, along to HMP Manchester and the edge of the city centre.
Indeed, the vision, according to a Salford City Council Cabinet overview of the scheme, “is for the area to become a vibrant and exciting extension to the City Centre, supporting and enabling Manchester and Salford’s growth ambitions”.
These ‘ambitions’ include stretching Manchester City Centre along Great Ducie Street/Bury New Road, to Sherborne Street West, Southall Street and Lord Street.
And the expanded city centre will connect to a huge new Salford park, working title ‘Copper Park’, which will be created along the River Irwell to Great Clowes Street and round to Broughton Lane, flattening all houses and businesses in its path.
The Salford Council Cabinet Report estimates that around 250 businesses operating within the Cambridge Industrial Estate will be impacted, while around one hundred affordable social rent homes owned by Salix Homes, opposite Green Grosvenor Park, will be flattened, along with the Showman’s Guild site.
In a letter to its residents, Salix insists that “there is no need to worry”, while the Salford Council Report puts it more bluntly… “Salix are committed to maintaining the existing properties in the area until the creation of a new park…”
The reasoning behind the need for a park, as well as having the “potential to be a sub-regional destination and attractor of visitors” (SRF), is climate change and the potential for flooding…
As people in Salford remember only too well, on Boxing Day 2015, Lower Broughton was deluged, with houses and shops around Spike Island, Mocha Parade and Gordon Street flooded out (see the Salford Star articles click here and click here )
Since then, a £10million second flood basin/nature reserve has been installed off Littleton Road in Lower Kersal, which, as well as providing Fred Done’s Salboy with a very profitable housing development on its edge, also provides a 1% standard of protection for Lower Broughton. This interprets as a 1% chance of flooding per year. Indeed, the SRF states that “The area is therefore presently considered at low risk of flooding…”.
However, via Environment Agency guidance, a 35% chance of flooding should be factored into future developments, adds the Framework document, and… “Within this scenario, in the future when climate change has occurred, the homes and businesses across the Cambridge area, and also in the area around Moulton Street, will no longer be protected from flood events that have a 1% or greater chance of occurring in any one year”.
The Salford Council Report concludes that a study it commissioned “identified that there are no solutions to successfully manage future flood risk for the Cambridge area…The SRF therefore proposes that vulnerable uses such as residential and business uses are replaced, over a period of time, with the creation of large new open space.”
Houses completely flooded out in 2015 around Spike Island are not included within the latest regeneration framework.
The large open space, Copper Park – “a strategic open space asset of regional significance – creating amenity, biodiversity, recreation and cultural opportunities for the local and wider communities in the future” (SRF) – will also see “Mixed density, mixed use, development opportunities between Copper Park and Bury New Road, including higher density potential fronting onto the park”, although the delivery of affordable homes will be “subject to viability”.
While the document insists that any growth should be “inclusive” and should “increase the affordable housing supply”, it also notes that, over the last fifteen years, post-regeneration, house prices have more than doubled in Lower Broughton and that in nearby Greengate two bedroom apartment rents have gone as high as £1,850per month.
This, it argues, shows “there is the potential to deliver high quality developments” while “Development of the Great Ducie Street area will also further diversify the offer through significant numbers of high quality, well managed apartments to rent, bringing in new residents and creating an attractive investment platform upon which to kickstart regeneration in the area”.
The Park will be an “exciting new asset for the city centre” the SRF insists, which will “Celebrate water by channelling it positively through the park space“.
Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, adds that it’s an “exciting opportunity to create a new city park for all, with an option for appropriate levels of mixed-use development, to continue to drive sustainable growth”.
While the Draft Strangeways and Cambridge Strategic Regeneration Framework is currently at the concept stage, with plans estimated to take ‘many decades in delivery’, the document concludes that Salford and Manchester Councils, along with Salix Homes, “are committed to early engagement with impacted parties to understand the individual requirements of residents and businesses across the area” and there will need to be “the need for considerable resident and business support as a result of displacement”.
Meanwhile, one of the aims of the SRF, the document concludes, is to “Establish clarity for prospective developers and investors on the nature and scale of the opportunities available in this area…”
* The consultation on the Strangeways and Cambridge Strategic Regeneration Framework runs until Monday 26th May 2025.
There are in-person events:
Tuesday 29th April 3pm-7pm at the Broughton Community Centre on Great Clowes Street M7 1ZQ
Thursday 1st May 3pm-7pm The Yard, 11 Bent Street, M8 8NF
Tuesday 6th May 3pm-7pm The Yard, 11 Bent Street, M8 8NF
People can also comment online using the ‘interactive consultation space’ – click here
For more information and all the documents related to the Draft Strangeways and Cambridge Regeneration Framework – click here and scroll down to Item 6.
This is Part 1 of two articles on the Framework. Part 2 on the Manchester/Strangeways plans to follow…
