Peel housing scheme rejected by Salford

PEEL has been knocked back by Salford City Council in its bid to gain outline planning permission for 350 houses on Salford farmland.

Councillors in the city voted against the plan on July 7 despite a recommendation from planning officers to approve the scheme on 45 acres at Burgess Farm in Walkden.

Opponents, including Labour MP Barbara Keeley, said the development would remove scarce green space and put extra pressure on local infrastructure, particularly the road network. More than 200 letters were sent to the council.

However, a report prepared by planning officers ahead of the meeting, said: “It is considered that the scheme would deliver positive benefits in relation to housing provision of the type proposed, the inclusion of affordable housing, the improvements to open space and improvements to wider ecology outweigh the negative impacts of development of a ‘greenfield’.”

Peel had promised 20 acres of park land and open space and 20% of the scheme would be classed as “affordable”.

On her website Barbara Keeley described the plans as “damaging” and said: “The proposals took no account of the pressure that building such a large number of houses at this location would have had on the local area.

“Our local road and  public transport would not have been able to cope with the extra journeys generated by this development. These proposals  would also have meant the loss of one of our last remaining working farms in this area of Salford and of valued green open space.”

Manchester-based Peel declined to comment on the council’s decision.