Following plans by Salford Council to flog public open space land near the David Lewis Playing Fields to Salford University (see here) and to build on a children's play space in Ordsall (see here), it is now looking to sell public open space land in Crompton Street, Walkden, for specialised and social housing apartments and houses.
In Crompton Street, Great Places wants to build 12 apartments for people with complex needs and five social rent houses, some of which might be sold back to Salford Council's Derive housing company.
Also, as the Council report for a meeting next week notes, "The Crompton Street site is subject to a restrictive covenant and mines and mineral rights which requires a release to be obtained from Peel Land and Property to permit the development to proceed".
The report doesn't say how much it would cost to get Peel to rescind the restrictions but it does quote a figure of £260,700 'net capital receipt' after the sale of both this site and one on Highfield Road in Little Hulton, where Great Places wants to build a shared house with six apartments and two self-contained apartments for people with learning difficulties, plus seven social rent houses of which the Council might buy some back via Derive.
That's two sites with 32 housing units and £260,700 coming back to the Council, with the possibility of buying five of the social rent houses back. All the maths workings out for getting out of Peel's 'restrictive covenant' and more are kept secret in Part 2 of the meeting.
Meanwhile, 17 residents near Crompton Street have raised objections to the sale of what the Council calls the disposal of 'informal open space' on the grounds of 'loss of greenspace, flooding, highway safety/parking, anti-social behaviour and noise and air pollution'.
The Council dismisses these in the report as the land "is not part of the Council's Greenspace Strategy [certainly not now!], due to the proximity of other greenspace assets nearby"...and that Great Places has "allowed for a contribution of circa £50,000 towards the loss of the open space as part of their s.106 obligations which is in line with planning policy and can go towards improving local facilities."
Meanwhile plans to sell off a smaller site on Holyoake Road in Walkden have been dropped after a petition with around 450 signatures objecting to the plans was lodged. The scheme was replaced with the Highfield Road site.
While the Council meeting next week is to agree to the actual sale of the land, Great Places will still need to get planning permission. In the meantime, Salford Council argues in its report that the proposals are "part of Salford's strategic approach to deliver improvements in service quality and customer experience, providing care closer to home in schemes integrated into the local community and to deliver value for money in the provision of housing and care solutions in Salford.
"The proposals are designed to provide care and support at the right level to meet need and in the least restrictive way, whilst being affordable, adaptable, flexible (including wheelchair accessible) and efficient" it adds "The additional creation of 12 2/3 bedroom houses for social rent will help deliver much needed accommodation to those on the housing register..."
Main image from Salford Council's controversial campaign to promote its green credentials via drug references around a decade ago
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