Landfill sites to be developed

Manchester City Council is considering plans to clean up former landfill sites which have lain derelict for decades and transform them into usable land.

A report ahead of the executive meeting due to take place on Wednesday 12 March sets out how the council could work with Wharfside Regeneration Development, a specialist landfill development company, to remove recyclable materials such as metal as well as methane gas from former landfill sites.

The land would then be refilled with harmless materials and cleaned up, allowing for the potential development of the site.

The council owns approximately 1000-acres at 37 historic landfill sites across Manchester which cannot be used because of contamination. Although not all of these sites will be suitable for development, it is hoped that the new system could enable hundreds of acres of dormant land to be brought back into use.

The council is considering a small site between Rochdale Road and Collyhurst Road in Collyhurst as a trial scheme.

If approved, Wharfside Regeneration Development would remove material from the 30-acre site, a former quarry which was later used for landfill, and then seek to develop part of the site for housing.

An independent project board would be set up to oversee the scheme.

Cllr Nigel Murphy, Manchester City Council's executive member for housing and regeneration, said: "The population of Manchester is set to grow significantly over the next few years and we have a genuine need for sites which have the potential to provide the good quality housing, schools and open spaces our modern city requires.

"Some of these sites have lain dormant for generations and this is an excellent opportunity for us to free up these pieces of land at no cost to the taxpayer, providing areas which will benefit our residents and help our city blossom.

"However, we need to make sure we do this properly and, if this trial scheme gets the go ahead, we will be keeping a very close eye on it to see if we can do this on other sites."