Star date: 10th March 2016

WILBURN STREET BASIN APARTMENTS GET £42.5MILLION PUBLIC MONEY LOAN – BUT NO AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The huge Wilburn Street Basin development, currently going up at the back of Regent Road retail centre by the River Irwell, is getting a massive £42.5million public money loan from the Greater Manchester Housing Fund, despite having no affordable housing.

WB Developments, which is building the four blocks of 491 flats, has already evaded almost £2million in planning fees to Salford City Council. The Manchester Housing Conference in April is set to lead the protests against such `devolution' handouts.

Full details here...

Back in November 2014, the Salford City Council planning panel of councillors gave the go-ahead for WB Developments (Salford) Ltd to build 491 apartments, plus shops and offices, in four huge blocks, including one which was 21 storeys high.

The Wilburn Street Basin site, at the back of the Regent Road retail centre by the River Irwell, should have brought in £1,919,967 to the city in various planning fees for open space, public realm, infrastructure and heritage (etc)...

...But Salford planning officers agreed that the scheme had `viability' issues and that the company's profits wouldn't be high enough if it had to pay the fees... "the reasonable developer return...is not currently delivered by this development" the planning report stated, adding that there would also be `public realm benefits'.

At the time, housing schemes in this area would have had to provide between 10% and 20% affordable housing as part of the planning obligations – but this massive development offered not one single social rent flat out of almost five hundred being built (see previous Salford Star article - click here).

Now, having evaded almost £2million in planning fees, the developer has been given a massive £42.5million cheap loan from the £300million Greater Manchester Housing Investment Fund, set up as part of the Greater Manchester devolution deal with the Tory Government. 

Announcing the handout, Sue Derbyshire, Chair of Greater Manchester Combined Authority's Housing and Planning Commission, stated, incredibly and incredulously: "Ensuring people in Greater Manchester can find an affordable home where they want to live is a top priority. I'm delighted that we are able to play our part in supporting this project.

"These five hundred new homes in Salford will improve people's lives but crucially will also help us to grow the Greater Manchester economy" she added "That is the benefit of being able to make decisions like this locally, here in Greater Manchester."

The `benefit' of making decisions locally is that residents can have a real doorstep go at politicians and bureaucrats who are stuffing developers' pockets at the expense of real affordable, social housing. And there is already a campaign formed to take them on, led by Greater Manchester Housing Action.

Its first target is the £300million GM Housing Fund which has already loaned £17.3million to Fred Done's FICM 380-apartment scheme on the site of the Black Friars pub on Trinity Way, and handed £10.3million to Rowlinson Developments for its controversial 164 apartment scheme on Peel Holdings' Pomona site. None of these schemes have affordable housing, and Fred Done also ducked over £1million in planning fees (see previous Salford Star article – click here)

"Greater Manchester's ten local authorities currently have over 105,000 people on housing waiting lists" states GM Housing Action "Devolution as currently planned has no solution for the region's housing crisis."

The campaign has organised the Manchester Housing Conference on April 2nd at the Mechanics Institute, backed by Unite Community, Manchester and Greater Manchester Trades Councils (see Facebook page for details). It's banner statement is `Housing Is A Human Right'...