Three tipped for Manchester approval

Seen as an enabler of the North Manchester district’s £25m regeneration, a new home for Moston Superstore is in line for the go-ahead, along with Little Peter Street townhouses and a commercial block on Tib Street.

Manchester City Council’s planning committee meets on Thursday 9 April to consider what is, by the city’s recent standards, a slender docket.

Moston Superstore – 144823/FO/2025

Roman Summer Associates and MSI Architecture are advising on the store’s proposed relocation to the Ebsworth Street car park, for which plans were lodged in February.

The plan is to move Moston Superstore from Pym Street to a new, larger (7,500 sq ft) shop, with dedicated car parking and cycle store.

This will enable Manchester City Council to advance one of its main High Street Improvement programmes. The council has acquired sites between Pym Street and Hartley Street, meaning that the former supermarket site will be cleared to build a new public square facing onto Moston Lane, providing a new focal point for the community.

The space is expected to be flexible to allow markets and community events, with new seating, lighting, trees, and planting, helping to attract shoppers and visitors to support local businesses.

Alongside the new public square, residential plans are progressing. An Aviva and Place Capital joint venture is working with MCC in the area.

Tib Street proposal – 144881/FO/2026

Lau Yuk, advised by Lee Evans Partnership, has put forward plans for a new-build four-storey commercial building at 78-80 Tib Street, which would require demolition of existing weavers’ cottages and bring the site up to the scale of its neighbours, including the Tib Street Tavern.

The plan is for four separate commercial units, with all upper floors accessible by lift. According to the meeting papers, the ground floor is likely to be proposed for food & drink, and the upper floors retail or other class E(a) uses

Approval is recommended, with the officer report stating that “the development would complement the commercial offer in the Northern Quarter neighbourhood and the city centre as a whole, bringing a disused site back into an active commercial use”.

Although historic, both building on site have been heavily modified, with original doors, windows, shopfronts and roofs lost over time.

The scheme is billed as “The 8”. Credit: planning documents

Little Peter Street townhouses – 144334/FO/2025

Working with Iceni Projects, Meadway Developments wants to deliver eight five-storey townhouses on ground surface parking bounded by Commercial Street, Constance Street and the rear of buildings and land fronting Little Peter Street.

Four objections have been submitted, but the plans are described in the officer report as being in keeping with the Knott Mill masterplan in siting, scale and appearance.

Each home at the redbrick development would have three bedrooms, a garage and private roof terrace. Designed by JHA, the project is described on Meadway’s website as “The 8”.

There have been other planning consents granted in the area, notably one handed down in February, where Ollier Smurthwaite and Paul Butler Associates secured a nine-home, five-storey permission for Torsion Homes at 6 Little Peter Street – a corner plot adjoining the Meadway site. Torsion acquired the site last summer.

A previous bid for the Meadway site, comprising seven homes, was approved in 2021 but has expired.