Salford shoots down attempts to revive stalled scheme

McCarthy Stone has been refused planning permission to build a 51-apartment retirement scheme on a site previously earmarked for homes by collapsed developer Lane End.

While Lane End managed to secure a resolution to grant consent for 58 apartments on Liverpool Road in Cadishead in 2021, McCarthy Stone has been unsuccessful with its own bid to push through a scheme on the site.

The retirement living developer picked up the plot earlier this year and put forward plans for 36 one-bedroom apartments and 15 with two bedrooms in a three-storey block.

After assessing the application, Salford City Council has rejected permission for the scheme, citing six reasons for refusal.

Among them were concerns around the scale and density of the project.

While McCarthy Stone’s scheme is the same height as Lane End’s scheme, a decision notice handed down by the city council states that the development would “introduce a building of significant scale and mass, which does not respect nor make a positive contribution to the local context”.

The decision notice also described the project as “overbearing and oppressive” and criticised it for “turning its back” on Liverpool Road.

The site was previously occupied by The Lion pub, three industrial units, and an art centre. However, all of the buildings have now been demolished.

You can learn more about the project by searching application reference number PA/2024/0129 on Salford City Council’s planning portal.