Planning application submitted for first phase of new Manchester neighbourhood

A new planning application has been submitted by Manchester City Council to begin the process of making the Red Bank neighbourhood ready for development.

The initial phase of works is expected to address infrastructure constraints to allow the delivery of new homes and green spaces, made possible through a £51.6m funding award from the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund.

The Red Bank development will see the delivery of up to 5,500 new homes with mixed tenures, as well as supporting social and community infrastructure through improvements to active and public transport routes.

Red Bank is one of seven neighbourhoods that make up the Victoria North regeneration area, one of the biggest renewal projects that Manchester has ever undertaken.

Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and employment, said: ‘This is a landmark planning application for Victoria North and will help to unlock the untapped potential of the Red Bank neighbourhood. For some decades this part of the city has lain dormant, almost cut off from the rest of Manchester.  

‘The Housing Infrastructure Funding will open access to the future Red Bank area, which will facilitate 5,500 new homes – including significant affordable housing – and begin the exciting works to bring forward the new City River Park, and the beginning of the wider investment that will deliver 46-hectares of new high-quality green space in the coming years.  

‘The former Red Bank Carriage Sidings provides 25 acres of brownfield land on the edge of the city centre which can be repurposed for residential uses, meaning that we can continue to provide much needed housing without using greenbelt land.’

The Red Bank site is currently inaccessible due to a mass of low quality self-seeded, invasive species of trees and vegetation.

The planning application seeks approval for enabling works including removal of these invasive species, creation of a temporary haul road and demolition of the Creamline Dairies buildings.

Initial public consultation exercises relating to the redevelopment commenced in October 2021 and further consultation events will be undertaken in December 2021 and continue as proposals for the wider neighbourhood are further developed.

In related news, Manchester City Councils executive committee will be asked to approve a transformation masterplan for the regeneration of the Grey Mare Lane Estate in East Manchester at a meeting tomorrow.

Photo supplied by Manchester City Council