Manchester kicks on with Red Bank enabling

Plans have been submitted by the city council for works to support the delivery of 5,500 homes in the area, part of the £4bn Victoria North regeneration zone.

The proposals include land remediation, earthworks and change in site levels and signal the start of investment in new green spaces on the banks of the River Irk, along with improvements in St Catherine’s Wood.

The planning application also seeks approval to build preliminary transport infrastructure, including facilitating a new permanent road and junction into the Red Bank neighbourhood, along with new drainage, street works and utilities infrastructure.

With al this in place, further applications from developers including Far East Consortium, MCC’s joint venture partner on Victoria North, will follow.

This phase of the Victoria North regeneration programme is being funding through a £51.6m grant award from the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund, which is supporting the re-use of 25 acres of brownfield land in the area.

The investment in the first phase of a long-term investment to create the City River Park, which will eventually link Red Bank close to the city centre to Queens Park in Collyhurst through interconnected green spaces.

Along with the spae by the Irk and woodlands, the first phase of the City River Park will see work on former railway architecture to develop a viaduct linear park north of Victoria station and stepped public realm space billed as Red Bank Terraces.

This set of proposals follows an initial planning application in November 2021 that saw approval for the start of enabling works including the removal of vegetation and the demolition of the former Creamline Dairies buildings.

In all, Red Bank is expected to support around a third of the 15,000 new homes planned for Victoria North.

Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and employment, said: “The emerging Red Bank neighbourhood will eventually deliver 5,500 new homes across a range of tenures, including affordable housing.

“It’s fantastic to be out of the starting blocks for this programme of development and it’s a pleasure to see Victoria North beginning to realise its potential.”