Plans to transform former magistrates court step closer with funding boost

Plans for 84 homes at former Sale Magistrates Court have received £1.2m of funding. The cash is from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and will go towards Trafford council’s plans to overhaul the site for new homes, including major road changes nearby.

The plans include 38 apartments in two blocks, one three storeys high, one four storeys, 40 townhouses and six semi-detached houses built.

There will be a total of 21 ‘affordable’ homes, made up of 13 flats for affordable rent, and eight houses for shared ownership; representing 25pc affordable housing, on site. The proposals were approved by the authority last year and will be a joint venture between the council and developers Seddon.

There will also be a pocket park in the centre of the site and new trees will be planted along Ashton Lane and Cross Street.

To make way for the new homes, all of the trees currently on the site, bar one, will be removed – something council officers labelled an ‘adverse’ element of the scheme when it was being decided by the planning committee.

But a total of 111 new trees will be planted.

The plans also included the removal of the gyratory road system close to the site and making the current one-way traffic system two-way along parts of York Road, Ashton Lane and Brighton Grove.

New give-way junctions will be also be created, including where York Road meets Cranleigh Drive and Ashton Lane.

Council officers described the location of the site as ‘highly sustainable’ due to its good transport links and proximity to Sale town centre. The £1.2m of funding from the GMCA will be used to ensure new homes on the site are sustainable; including helping to install high quality windows, warm water recycling systems, more cavity insulation and