Land disqualified for brownfield funding after protester raises alert

A resident protesting against a scheme to develop a piece of land near his home has succeeded in getting it disqualified for brownfield funding. The site between Crosby Avenue and Crompton Street in Walkden was initially put forward as eligible for the Government's Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF).

Salford city council has agreed to sell the site to housing association Great Places which has planning permission to build five affordable homes and 12 specialist apartments for adults with learning disabilities. The £400,000 scheme was one of a tranche of schemes submitted for consideration by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) which has a £27 million BHF pot.

Resident OIi Spence is one of a number of people living in the area who want the green land kept as "valuable open space" for the local community. He claimed there were restricted covenants on the site preventing its development and keep it safeguarded for the community.

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"I contacted one of the directors at GMCA and it took some time for them to come back to me," he said. "When they did they agreed with me. I looked at the history of the site and found the covenant and discovered it's never been a brownfield site.

"If it wasn't for me looking it up, they might've got the funding under false pretences, and that's really aggravated me. Why does it take a member of the public that's switched on to assess the situation and argue the point to get the right outcome?"

A spokesperson for GMCA said: “The Government’s Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF) is designed to unlock brownfield land for development, supporting Greater Manchester’s