'They are the slums of the future': Plan to replace retail park with apartment blocks blasted

Anger has been voiced against plans to demolish part of a retail park and replace it with a new inner-city neighbourhood, with one nearby resident saying the planned multiple blocks of new homes are 'slums of the future’. Henley Investment Management bought Regent Retail Park for £16million in 2020 and has conducted a public consultation exercise at nearby Salford Lads Club. A prior consultation took place in March.

A planning application is expected to be submitted before the end of the year after the proposal has been ‘tweaked’ to take account of local opinion. If Henley’s plan is eventually approved, outlets like Costa Coffee, TK Maxx and Home Bargains, would disappear from the park, although Henley says they would be able to return to the park when the development is complete.

The nearby Sainsbury’s supermarket and its petrol station will be unaffected. However, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) spoke to locals living near the retail park who are against the plan. We also spoke to visitors, workers and two Salford councillors - none said they were in favour of the plan.

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Elaine MacDonald, 66, said: “There were high-rise homes there before they built the retail park. They became slums and had to be knocked down. The new homes will be the slums of the future. This is eroding the community."

Married couple, Paul and Marie Fidler, 67 and 66 agreed. “I don’t think it's right,” said Marie. “They want people to walk everywhere, but they are not thinking it through.

"There will be more money spent on taxis taking people to shops