Trafford Park Masterplan Baseline Assessment A Report for the Trafford Economic Alliance By EKOS, CBRE, URBED and WSP August 2008 EKOS Consulting (UK) Ltd 2 Mount Street Manchester M2 5WQ TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES............................................................................................ 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................................... 12 2 INTRODUCTION AND STUDY CONTEXT ..................................................................... 23 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 23 STUDY CONTEXT.................................................................................................................... 23 HISTORICAL CONTEXT ............................................................................................................ 24 STUDY CONTEXT AND MASTERPLAN OBJECTIVES .................................................................... 29 STUDY AREA.......................................................................................................................... 31 BASELINE REPORT OBJECTIVES AND STRUCTURE.................................................................... 31 3 REGENERATION AND PLANNING POLICY REVIEW.................................................. 33 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 33 NATIONAL POLICY .................................................................................................................. 35 REGIONAL / SUB-REGIONAL POLICY ........................................................................................ 37 LOCAL POLICY ....................................................................................................................... 43 DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT........................................................................................................ 59 STRATEGIC TRANSPORT POLICY ............................................................................................. 67 NATIONAL POLICY .................................................................................................................. 68 OTHER PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS ....................................................................................... 72 SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. 76 4 ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ON TRAFFORD PARK.............................................................. 78 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 78 GREATER MANCHESTER ECONOMY......................................................................................... 78 GREATER MANCHESTER SUMMARY ......................................................................................... 85 TRAFFORD PARK ECONOMY.................................................................................................... 86 CURRENT ECONOMIC BASE .................................................................................................... 86 RECENT BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT TRENDS ....................................................................... 92 SECTOR ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................. 99 BUSINESS SIZE .................................................................................................................... 110 BUSINESS CHANGE .............................................................................................................. 114 ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION .............................................................................................. 116 TRAFFORD PARK SUMMARY.................................................................................................. 123 ECONOMIC SWOC ANALYSIS ............................................................................................... 126 TECHNICAL NOTE: DATA SOURCES ....................................................................................... 127 5 LAND OWNERSHIPS ON TRAFFORD PARK ............................................................. 129 Trafford Park Masterplan INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 129 LAND OWNERSHIPS PLAN ..................................................................................................... 129 SUMMARY OF OWNERSHIPS .................................................................................................. 129 KEY OPPORTUNITY AREAS.................................................................................................... 130 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 132 6 SPATIAL AND URBAN DESIGN ANALYSIS ............................................................... 134 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 134 PUBLIC REALM ANALYSIS...................................................................................................... 134 LAND USE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................ 136 TOWNSCAPE AREAS, FEATURES, VIEWS AND VISTAS ............................................................. 138 STREET QUALITY.................................................................................................................. 139 LANDSCAPE AND NATURAL FEATURES................................................................................... 140 AERIAL ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................. 141 7 TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE ASSESSMENT............................................ 142 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 142 STRATEGIC TRANSPORT LINKS.............................................................................................. 142 HIGHWAYS ........................................................................................................................... 142 PUBLIC TRANSPORT ............................................................................................................. 144 PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLE LINKAGES....................................................................................... 149 FREIGHT TRANSPORT - ROAD, RAIL AND SHIP CANAL............................................................. 150 WATER BASED TRANSPORT FOR LEISURE AND PASSENGER TRANSPORT PURPOSES............... 151 KEY APPROACHES AND GATEWAYS....................................................................................... 151 PARKING.............................................................................................................................. 152 INTERNAL MOVEMENT AND ACCESSIBILITY............................................................................. 152 LINKS TO OTHER DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY............................................................................. 154 CURRENT TRAVEL TO WORK PATTERNS ................................................................................ 155 TRAVEL PLANNING AND ENCOURAGING SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL................................................ 156 UTILITIES INFRASTRUCTURE.................................................................................................. 157 GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE ..................................................................................................... 159 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 159 8 PROPERTY MARKET ANALYSIS................................................................................ 161 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 161 CONTEXT ............................................................................................................................. 161 ACCOMMODATION ................................................................................................................ 162 GENERAL PROPERTY MARKET OVERVIEW ............................................................................. 163 INDUSTRIAL MARKET COMMENTARY ...................................................................................... 171 OFFICE MARKET COMMENTARY ............................................................................................ 174 RESIDENTIAL MARKET COMMENTARY .................................................................................... 177 3 Trafford Park Masterplan GREATER MANCHESTER RESIDENTIAL MARKET COMMENTARY ............................................... 187 HOTEL AND LEISURE MARKET COMMENTARY......................................................................... 190 RECENT AND PROPOSED DEVELOPMENTS ............................................................................. 193 SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................................