Proposals for around forty five new homes to be constructed off Blandford Road next to the Albion Academy in Charlestown have been given the approval by Salford City Council’s planning and transportation regulatory panel. The development will be on the site of the former Cromwell Secondary school for girls and as part of this, they will be able to retain and preserve Alan Boyson’s Grade II-listed Tree of Knowledge mural.

The properties situated on Blandford Road which will be known as Irwell Valley will be transformed in to forms of social rent where the coulcil will be delivering properties in conjunction with the Broughton Trust who are a local charity with aspirations to become a community led housing association who will own the properties.

Deputy City Mayor Councillor Tracy Kelly, lead member for housing, property and regeneration said: “Salford City Council remains absolutely committed to providing genuinely decent and affordable housing for our residents and helping people off our housing waiting list onto the path to becoming homeowners.

“This council development in partnership with the Broughton Trust is vitally needed in the city to help tackle our housing shortage but will also rejuvenate the area by building attractive and sustainable housing on a site that had become a local eyesore in recent years and preserve a piece of local listed heritage for further generations to enjoy.”

The plans were approved on Thursday 18th November which was a momentous occasion illustrating the city council’s plans to provide affordable housing for the city. This comes at a time when people may be going through extremely difficult circumstances due to cases of Covid 19 beginning to rise again and the need for more social distancing to prevent the spread of infection. Although the majority of restrictions which were put in place due to the pandemic have now been removed, it is thought that some may have to be reintroduced due to rising cases of new variants of the disease from around the world. Some of these are much more virilant and could spread like wild fire through society if no preventative measures are taken.

There are also  further plans for 68 properties at St Luke’s Primary School in Weaste and 177 homes on the site of the former Harrop Fold High School on Longshaw Drive in Little Hulton to come before the panel in December.

Local councils are now being given the right to have more freedom to chose the way that different funds are spent. This will mean they can decide what issues or areas should be given priority in their location to hopefully improve people’s lives and the facilities that they use every day. This includes funds which come from homes which are bought through the right to buy scheme. They can then spend that money on homes which are being built for shared ownership.

Packages have been designed to make it easier for council’s to fund homes using Right To Buy receipts. This allows them to have greater flexibility over the types of homes they provide to reflect the needs of their local communities.

Former Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

!Councils have a crucial role to play in increasing housing supply, including building more affordable and social housing.

I have listened to local authorities who responded to our consultation on the use of Right to Buy receipts and I am delighted to announce a package of reforms providing authorities with the flexibilities they need to develop ambitious build programmes and help get people on the housing ladder.”

Cllr James Jamieson, Local Government Association Chairman, said:

“The LGA has long-called for reform to Right to Buy and we are pleased government has engaged with us and acted on councils’ concerns.

Extending the time limit for spending Right to Buy receipts and increasing the proportion of a new home that councils can fund using receipts will boost councils’ ability to build desperately-needed affordable housing for local communities.

We now look forward to working with government to implement these reforms and it is good it will work through any specific local challenges some councils may face as a result of the acquisitions cap.”