Salford City Council has laid out its commitments to build 417 affordable, eco-friendly and “good quality” homes in the city region.
It’s set to be the biggest public housing programme the city has seen since the 1960s.
Arriving in the wake of around 6,000 households waiting to be housed by the council, it’s been revealed that former school sites will be turned into community-led housing run by tenants, while the other schemes will belong to wholly council-owned company Dérive.
All the new homes – a mix of one to five-bedroom houses and apartments – will be low carbon and low energy units, which will be built with a “fabric first” approach.
It’s believed that the local authority will have to borrow up to £65 million to finance the “ambitious” project, but it hopes that the housing programme will end up enabling the saving of council cash in the future.
What exactly is in store for Salford then?
The new housing includes 47 flats and four houses on the Clifton Green in Pendlebury – for which planning permission has already been granted – 12 houses in Brassington Avenue and six houses and 35 apartments in Ryall Avenue in Ordsall, which were given the go ahead by the planning panel in October, a total of 111 homes built at the former St Luke’s Primary School in Weaste and the Irwell Valley Lower School in Irwell Riverside, of which 69 will be owned by the Broughton Trust and Inspiring Communities Housing.
The council has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with the two community-led organisations, which means it will work in partnership to provide much-needed affordable homes.
Contractor G and J Seddon has been chosen to build all of these homes.
PRP / Salford City CouncilPRP / Salford City Council
Plans for 177 homes in Longshaw Drive, Little Hulton are also being prepared, but construction company Wates will not progress the proposal past the planning application stage as their costings were too high for the council, and the local authority also plans to acquire a further eight houses and 17 one-bedroom apartments being built by Salix Homes in Kara Street, Langworthy.
Peter Openshaw – Assistant Director at Dérive – described the developer’s first set of schemes as the biggest public housebuilding programme by the city since the 1960s, but admitted the 417 homes will require the council to borrow between £60 – £65 million.
And future schemes would require further borrowing still.
Bill Hinds – former Leader of Salford City Council who is now the lead member for finance – said it’s the most “ambitious” council housing project in his 37 years as a councillor, adding: “Sixty-plus million pounds is a lot of money, so it is absolutely crucial how we do borrow that money – the most resilient forms of borrowing to enable us to do that.”
The scheme is relying on grant funding from the UK government’s affordable housing public body – Homes England.
PRP / Salford City Council
Paul Dennett – Mayor of Salford – said councils need to be more “interventionist” in order to tackle the current “housing and homelessness crisis” in this country.
He said: “What we need to get back to is what happened in post-World War Two in many respects. Councils were building council housing en masse and homelessness in this country was rendered statistically insignificant.
“The moral and ethical argument is strong, but I also think the empirical argument is really strong for actually being more interventionist in a market that clearly isn’t delivering the homes that we need.”
Approving the scheme yesterday, he added: “This is a fantastic initiative and development which will hopefully put pressure on the market, but also encourage local authorities up and down the country to play a much more active role in the housing market moving forward as we drive up standards, as we deliver net-zero carbon homes, as we tackle the housing and homelessness crisis moving forward.”
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You can find more information via the Salford City Council website here.
News
New free app launches to help people find the best nature spots in and around Manchester
Emily Sergeant
A new free app has launched to help people find, discover, and visit nature on their doorstep.
Wildling is aiming to be a simple one-step solution to the growing mental health crisis and the urgent need to care for the natural world.
By helping people visit nature more easily, and giving them tools to truly connect with it at this same time, Wildling is well on its way to supporting personal wellbeing and the joy of easily discovering nature across the UK, all while nurturing a sense of care and action for the planet.
Supported by partners including the RSPB, Marine Conservation Society ,and Forestry England, and backed by advisors and environmentalists like Ben Goldsmith, Eden Project founder Tim Smit, and Dragon’s Den’s Deborah Meaden, the new app brings the UK’s wild spaces and hidden green spots together in one place.
A new free app has launched to help people find the best nature spots in Manchester / Credit: Kitera Dent | Robin Worrall (via Unsplash)
Featuring more than 1,500 locations across the country, from coastlines and woodlands, to nature reserves, the app also includes a wide range of tips to help you make your time in nature easier, more enjoyable, and more meaningful.
The app has been created with the input of research carried out by the University of Derby, based on responses from more than 68,000 adults across England over two years.
The study found that people who spend time in nature every day report up to 22% greater life satisfaction, 17% higher happiness, and an average uplift of around 19% in overall wellbeing, compared to those who rarely go out.
Regular time in nature was also found to have a ‘striking’ effect on pro-environmental behaviour too, according to the survey.
Wildling was created by impact entrepreneur Ant Rawlins who wanted to make accessing nature ‘easier’ for everyone.
“We wanted to give people the tools to engage with nature by making it genuinely easy to visit, by showing them nearby nature places and giving them everything they need to make it happen,” says Ant Rawlins commented.
Wildling connects Mancs to the outside world and all it has to offer / Credit: Sol Stock (Supplied)
Ant said the study shows that spending more time in nature just a nice idea, it makes you happier, increases your satisfaction with life, lifts your overall wellbeing, and encourages you to look after the world around you.
“That’s exactly why Wildling was created,” he concluded.
The Wildling app is available now to download for free through the App Store and Google Play, and you can find out more here.
Featured Image – Shironosov (Supplied)
News
Chester Zoo’s viral new snow leopard cub ventures outside for the first time
Emily Sergeant
Chester Zoo’s adorable baby snow leopard who went viral last week could very well be about to go viral again.
That’s because new footage of it venturing outside for the first time have been released.
After arriving to first-time parents Nubra and Yashin, who are both three-years-old, last month (10 June 2025), keepers at Chester Zoo said mum and cub had mostly spent their time quietly tucked away in a cosy den, away from the eyes of the onlooking public – but now, it’s time for the little one to see what the outside world is all about.
Now, at seven-weeks old, the cub has gained in strength and confidence, and experts expected that it could venture outside at ‘any moment’.
Zookeepers are still yet to confirm the sex of the cub, and will be able to do soon once it has undergone its first health check-up with the vets.
We can also expect to hear one the little one’s name is very soon too.
If you’re unfamiliar with snow leopards, they are classed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and it’s believed there are as few as 4,000 now remaining in the wild.
Nicknamed the ‘ghosts of the mountains’, these elusive – but adorable – big cats are found in the rugged, remote regions of Central Asia and the Himalayas – but sadly, despite being known for living in desolate, harsh environments, they continue to face threats from habitat loss, climate change, poaching, and retaliatory killings by farmers.
Chester Zoo’s viral new snow leopard cub ventures outside for the first time / Credit: Chester Zoo
The cub’s birth follows the opening of Chester Zoo’s Himalayan habitat in May 2024, which is a vast, rocky environment that authentically recreates the mountainous terrain of Central Asia.
“This is the first snow leopard cub to be born at Chester Zoo,” commented Dave Hall, who is the Team Manager of carnivores at Chester Zoo, last week when the adorable hidden den cam footage was first released to the public.
“It’s a truly historic moment and a real cause for celebration – not just for our teams here, but also for the future of this magnificent species globally.”
Although it’s still early days, carnivore experts at the zoo say Nubra is showing ‘excellent maternal instincts’ by nursing her new arrival every few hours and always keeping close by.
The Manc -
15th December 2020 
