GMCA identifies projects to benefit from £37m grant

Trafford Council and Bruntwood Works’ regeneration of Stretford Mall and the English Cities Fund’s redevelopment of the Farmer Norton Car Park in Salford are in line for a chunk of brownfield funding. 

The two projects will receive almost £7m. The money will come from tranche three of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Brownfield Housing Fund, which totals £27m.

The Stretford Mall scheme, which was also awarded £18m from the government’s Future High Street Fund, features the modernisation of the shopping centre and the creation of 800 homes. 

In Salford, the four-acre Farmer Norton Car Park is a key site within the 252-acre Salford Crescent masterplan. ECF was appointed to deliver the regeneration project in 2020. 

The masterplan states that the car park is to be redeveloped into “a new residential community comprising a mix of low and medium density apartments and townhouses set around high-quality public realm”. 

It is understood plans are being drawn up for a scheme comprising around 200 units. 

Other projects in line for seven-figure grants from the Brownfield Housing Fund include: 

• The 89-home affordable project on Manchester’s Laystall Street that is being delivered by McCauls and Great Places Housing Group 
• Trafford Housing Trust and Trafford Council’s 174-home regeneration of the Tamworth Estate 
• English Cities Funds’ 196-apartment project that forms the next phase of residential at Salford Central 
• Investar’s 147-apartment Botanical Gardens on Talbot Road in Trafford. 

In addition to the next £27m tranche of funding, an extra £10m that was previously allocated to projects across the 10 Greater Manchester boroughs will now be redistributed to other schemes.

This is because certain projects “are no longer deliverable within the necessary timescales”, according to the GMCA.

The combined authority has also compiled a list of reserve projects that could benefit from grant funding if some of the priority schemes identified do not come forward within the funding timescales. 

The reserve list features 22 schemes that require £40m of grant funding.