A-Z of Greater Manchester Planning 2020 A-Z of Greater Manchester Planning 2020 A-Z of Greater Manchester Planning 2020 WSP wsp.com Please send any comments to: [email protected] Disclaimer: This report has been produced on the basis that the content contained within is, to the best of our knowledge, accurate at the time of publication (May 2020). Readers are advised that this data will become less accurate with the passing of time and that WSP does not accept any liability for the accuracy of the information contained herein or for any loss or damage arising as a result of reliance on such information or any subsequent communication. This report is the copyright of WSP. It may not be used, referred to, reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part by anyone else without the express agreement of WSP. WSP is a trading name of WSP UK Limited. WSP UK Limited is a private registered company, registered in England, number 01383511. Registered office: WSP House, 70 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1AF. © WSP 2020 v Foreword Greater Manchester has a long and proud history of density in accessible locations. However, such success Planning Consultancy Planning Consultancy Planning Consultancy North West Awards Planning economic strength and is often viewed as the engine must be tempered as the homes created are skewed of the Year Award of the Year Award of the Year Award Excellence in Planning for for the north. This has continued through the last significantly towards high density apartments and Winner 2015 Winner 2017 Commended 2018 Heritage and Culture Winner 2018 decade with the city region delivering significant smaller homes. These meet the needs of a section growth, establishing its role in the UK economy, of the community but mask the reduced delivery of the Northern Powerhouse, and on the world stage, larger family homes and specialist accommodation. competing with cities like Barcelona, Hamburg and Amsterdam. The figures in some boroughs (Manchester, Salford and Trafford) are buoyed by office to residential Permitted Devolution has presented a fantastic opportunity to Development Rights conversions, which have provided unite planning, housing, economic and social powers, new dwellings, but arguably not new homes. We allowing the combined authority to plan for new believe that this is partly the result of land supply Planning Consultancy of Insider North West homes, improved workplaces and infrastructure constraints. The conurbation needs to make some the Year Award Residential Property Finalist 2019 Awards Winner 2019 needed to accommodate growth and mitigate impacts. tough decision about the release of Green Belt. Not all Green Belt is high quality open land, and in the face of The conurbation however faces a number of the housing crisis, strong intervention is needed. inextricably linked challenges. It must address a housing crisis with a population that continues to The emerging Greater Manchester Spatial Framework grow but can’t deliver enough homes – especially (GMSF) will drive this debate, with the latest draft affordable homes. It must provide workplaces to meet identifying Green Belt release for new homes and modern requirements, offices through to distribution, commercial use around the ten boroughs. It has with a pipeline of land in the right locations. It however, been hotly contested, and with the political must upskill its workforce and invest in training to dynamics of the ten boroughs and Mayor Andy improve productivity and allow local populations to Burnham, there is still a long way to go to set the access jobs and housing to ensure all benefit from the right housing and employment requirements and economic growth. agree the sites to deliver this growth. GMSF has the potential to be a transformative plan to deliver Our A-Z of Greater Manchester Planning analyses key the benefits of devolution and drive the city region data for each of Greater Manchester’s ten boroughs, forward over the next decade and beyond, but it must identifying differences in performance and areas of be ambitious. growth. Over the past decade Greater Manchester has been held Doug Hann up as a champion of economic growth. It has reinvented Director Manchester City Centre, attracted inward investment WSP and nurtured indigenous businesses – from SMEs to national and international companies, spanning a diverse range of sectors including technology, advanced manufacturing, and professional services. However, there has been a mismatch with the delivery of new homes. Our research highlights the disparity between the number of homes required and the locations of those being delivered. Manchester and Salford accounted for 50% of all new homes built during the last three years. This highlights the success of policies which seek to make best use of brownfield urban sites, increasing vi vii Key contacts Darren Oldham Philip Villars Head of Planning Head of Planning Discipline Consultancy and EAM [email protected] [email protected] Doug Hann Richard Jones Michael Greslow John Leggett Director Director Technical Director Associate Director [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Nick Fillingham Dan Jackson David Hoare Matthew Hard Planning Director Planning Director Associate Director Associate Director [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Sarah Wozencroft Victoria Moran Amy James Matthew Dugdale Planning Director Technical Director Associate Associate [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] viii ix Contents GREATER MANCHESTER AUTHORITY Introduction 1 MAP The importance of Greater Manchester and the North West 2 Greater Manchester 4 Greater Manchester local authorities Bolton 8 Bury 12 Manchester 16 Oldham 20 Rochdale 24 Rochdale Salford 28 Stockport 32 Bolton Bury Tameside 36 Oldham Trafford 40 Wigan 44 Wigan Sources 48 Salford Tameside Manchester Trafford Stockport SOURCE: SHUTTERSTOCK Manchester Bolton Salford Trafford Greater Manchester 547,627 285,372 251,332 236,370 POPULATION TREEMAP ONS Mid-Year Population Estimates 2018 Wigan Oldham Rochdale 326,088 235,623 220,001 Tameside Stockport Bury 225,197 291,775 190,108 1 Introduction Welcome to the first instalment of our A-Z of Greater Manchester Planning, serving as a go-to for anyone working within, or with an interest in, the Greater Manchester property market. Our A-Z of Planning series was created as a result of feedback received from our key clients and partners. We identified a general need in the market for an all-encompassing, easy-to-read and accessible document, covering key planning information. Following the successful launch of our A-Z of London Planning, analysing the 33 London boroughs back in September 2018, we have now widened our analysis to focus on Greater Manchester. Work is also under way to produce similar documents for Birmingham and Leeds. Using data taken from government departments, the combined authority and multiple other sources, as well as local insights from our team of in-house specialists, this Greater Manchester directory has been designed as a visual overview of the demographic, socioeconomic and planning traits defining each of the ten boroughs, and the combined authority area as a whole. The document covers topics such as housing delivery, planning performance, population change and planning policy – all of which can be benchmarked against other UK cities. Since statistics are continually changing, this guide represents a snapshot of policies and statistics in time, rather than a definitive record. We have used indicators and data that we feel most accurately represent each of the boroughs. Our methodology and sources are explained in the Sources chapter (page 48). We plan to update and reissue this guide annually. The information within this report was collated and produced prior to the COVID 19 pandemic, therefore may not fully depict today’s housing and economic data, but does provide a baseline for the pre-COVID 19 situation. 2 The importance of Greater Manchester and the North West 3 The importance of Greater Manchester and the North West Greater Manchester generates nearly 40% of GVA for Green Belt release as part of a balanced approach The last decade of under delivery and proposed holding almost two thirds of all space. This reflects in the North West – a substantial anchor to the to meeting the conurbation’s spatial needs, the GMSF stepped housing requirements – which back end the success of Logistics North, Kingsway and Trafford Northern Powerhouse – with economic drivers seeks to address the north/south divide in the wider delivery to the later stages of the plan period – Park, highlighting the value of positive authority including the regional centre of Manchester, urban area, build on economic drivers and establish present a real risk that the conurbation is planning to intervention and planning. Manchester Airport, and Trafford Park. It is home gateways. The plan must not be diverted from its fail to meet its needs. to renowned academic and research institutions stated ambitions, however it does face a number of including the University of Manchester, Manchester challenges. These include: the soundness of its heavy Economic growth must also be matched with the Metropolitan University, and Salford University, a reliance on brownfield sites; deliverability/viability of right mix of new homes. The reliance on existing thriving retail industry supported by Manchester such sites; and achieving