Since the old docks at Pomona were disused, the site, across the Manchester Ship Canal from Ordsall, has become a kind of urban green oasis, with more than one hundred bird species and over 150 flora species recorded by community ecologists.
After plans were announced by Peel Holdings this year to build 164 flats in two seriously ugly blocks of ten and eleven storeys there's been demonstrations, petitions, `safari' days and protest picnics*. But Trafford Council is set to approve planning this Thursday, with the community being given just three minutes to speak in opposition.
Campaigners against Peel maintain that Pomona should be saved for an urban park, or Eden Project North, pointing out the greening of the site and its use by joggers, dog walkers and those who just want to escape the sprawling concrete jungle that the nearby Manchester city centre has become.
"There is large community interest in Pomona Docks; more than 1,600 people have signed a petition and more than 250 people have completed the online peoples' public consultation" explains James Walsh from the Manchester Ship Canal World Heritage Group "Pomona is the perfect opportunity for the science, business and political community to work together towards an Eden Project North and towards the broader aims of the Manchester Ship Canal obtaining World Heritage status."
However Trafford Council seems determined to allow development on the site. The planning report for Thursday's meeting acknowledges that "the site does retain some ecological interest in its flora and fauna and the development would result in a degree of harm/loss given the current (undeveloped) status of the land...The site, however, is not designated for its nature conservation value, for example as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Site of Biological Importance (SBI)..."
The Council could, of course, designate it as such. Indeed, Manchester Friends of the Earth states in its objections to the plans that the case for SBI status was submitted to the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit in 2014...
"The report identifies two Schedule 1 bird species recorded on Pomona (Little ringed plover and Kingfisher); 10 UK Biodiversity Action Plan bird species recorded on Pomona (Skylark, Lapwing, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Bullfinch, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Starling, Linnet and Curlew) and 33 species of flora defined as SBI species have been recorded on Pomona..."
However, Trafford Council's planning officers are using the get-out that the flora and bird recording were spread over the whole site, rather than the specific bit of it that Peel wants to develop. They also state, with the imagination of a concrete mixer, that the site has been designated "as a Strategic Location for residential, employment and commercial development in the Core Strategy"...
In return for trashing Pomona, Peel Holdings won't have to pay a penny in planning obligations... No contributions towards education, no contributions towards community facilities and no contributions towards Trafford's Community Infrastructure Levy.
The hugely rich company won't even have to provide 164 trees on the site which planning officers state are usually obligatory for such a development. Instead Peel will be providing 62 trees, a hedge and a `green roof' on the section that links the two huge apartment blocks.
Meanwhile, the Greater Manchester Fund has agreed to loan £10.3million of public money to Rowlinson Developments Ltd, which will build the apartments should Peel get planning permission passed (see previous Salford Star article – click here).
On Thursday night, campaigners will know where the priorities of Trafford Council lie... Eden Project for the north – or concrete jungle extension?
Pomona Protest Against Peel Holdings
Thursday 12th November 5:30pm
Trafford Town Hall
Sign the petition against Peel Holdings' plans - click here
For full background see also previous Salford Star articles...
* Save Pomona Festival sees flora and wildlife flourish - click here
* Festival To Save Pomona from Peel Holdings - click here
See also Pomona: The new frontier for eco activists on Northern Spring website - click here
Main photo by Anya Samantha
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