Protesters’ Ryebank Fields vision to be decided next week
The saga surrounding the future of 10 acres on the Manchester/Trafford border is coming to a head with the first of two applications presenting very different visions for the site due to go before committee.
Next Thursday, Manchester City Council’s planning committee will be asked to determine Ryebank Fields Community Group’s application to preserve the site next to Longford Park as a community woodland and meadow.
The proposal was submitted in protest against plans from Step Places and Southway Housing Trust for 120 homes on the site, which is owned by Manchester Metropolitan University.
MMU selected Step Places and Southway as partners for the project in 2022 but the university’s decision to sell the land for development had been opposed with great ferocity locally even before that selection was made.
Ryebank Fields is a re-wilded former landfill site and is used by locals as an incidental green space.
As a result, opposition to the loss of this amenity has been vociferous. Ryebank Fields Community Group’s, which has received support from Extinction Rebellion, has decried proposals to build homes on the site, claiming the plans would ‘decimate’ and important community asset.
The campaign group wants to see the land preserved as a community greenspace. It is this vision that will be determined next week. Manchester City Council’s planning committee has been recommended to approve the plans by the authority’s planning team.
In the UK, anyone can submit a planning application for any site. The UK’s planning system is there to decide what can be built on any given site in line with laws and policies rather than who can develop land.
If the protest group’s plans are approved it does not mean that the housing project cannot be.
To learn more about the proposals up for consideration next week, search for reference number 143413/FO/2025 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
