Plans for 84 new homes on former Sale Magistrates’ Court site approved
Plans to build more than 80 new market sale and affordable homes on the site of the former Magistrates’ Court in Sale have been approved by Trafford Council.
The scheme will provide 84 properties, including 21 affordable homes, on the one-hectare site off Ashton Lane and Washway Road.
It will also include new public realm and the planting of new trees, both bringing social, economic and environmental benefits to an urban setting with excellent transport links.
The development will deliver accommodation providing additional ground floor living space for future residents, creating much needed new, high quality energy-efficient homes in the borough.
The homes will benefit from solar panels to both front and rear elevations with battery storage to reduce future energy bills for residents with the use of renewable energy. This supports the council’s corporate priorities of addressing the climate crisis and providing a thriving economy and homes for all.
The council purchased the site, situated on a key arterial route within the borough, from Homes England to redevelop the land and to provide new residential properties that sit close to the town centre.
Cllr Liz Patel, Trafford Council’s executive member for economy and regeneration, said: The Sale Magistrates’ Court housing development is a flagship scheme and meets the council’s policy of building more housing on brownfield sites, with 25% affordable homes in line with prevailing planning policies.
“The amended application focuses on the delivery of energy-efficient homes in response to the demand highlighted in the recent Housing Needs Assessment. There is a terrible shortage of housing nationally, and we are pushing ahead and building as many new and affordable homes as we can across the borough. These new homes are a great example of how we can regenerate our brownfield sites.”
Local developer PIC Homes, which recently completed Phase 1 of The Saplings development in Timperley, is delivering the scheme. PIC will work alongside an experienced team of Trafford based contractors.
A spokesperson for PIC Homes co-owners, Armaan Chohan and David Strettle, said: “We are really pleased to be working with Trafford Council to develop this site into much needed family homes. Armaan lived in Sale for 15 years and is a former Ashton-on-Mersey School pupil, so it feels special to be able to give back to the local area.”
The North West based development management consultancy, Make NW, worked closely with PIC Homes and Trafford Council to redesign and reengineer the scheme after two previous attempts to develop the site stalled.
Matt Guirdham, director of Make NW, said: “It’s reassuring to see this flagship development achieve planning consent as it will unlock the delivery of much needed new homes in Sale.
“As we all know, the financial viability of new housing developments is an ongoing issue across the North. Our focus on this site was to work with PIC Homes and the design team to make changes that not only increase financial viability, but also improve the quality of the overall development and deliver better value for money.”
He added: “This has involved changes to layouts, enhancing the fabric efficiency of the homes and increasing the quantum of rooftop Solar PV. We now look forward to working with PIC Homes to bring these 84 high quality, energy-efficient homes to life.”
