Manchester City Council approves additional £5m for housing company to bring forward four new development sites

Manchester City Council has approved a further £5.1m in funding for its housing company to progress the next four development sites to planning submission stage.

This City, the council’s wholly owned housing company, intends to increase the number of quality homes built on council-owned brownfield land.

At least 20% of the homes built will be made available at the Manchester Living Rent – a level of rent that is covered by housing benefit, making sure as many people as possible can afford to live in the new homes.

On these sites, This City is planning to develop around 600 homes, with at least 20% designated as affordable, and set at Manchester Living Rent rates.

Manchester Living Rent is set at or below the Local Housing Allowance, the rent level set by government that will cover a person’s rent if they are on housing benefit.

Both the market and affordable housing delivered through This City will contribute to the council’s ambitious housing strategy that has set a target to help build at least 36,000 homes up to 2032, including 10,000 genuinely affordable, council and social homes, of which at least 3,000 will be in the city centre.

The new projects include sites in north and east Manchester, alongside a city centre development, which will be delivered on brownfield land.

The new funding will support initial design work and surveying costs that are necessary to submit planning applications next year.

This week, the council will start consulting with local residents about two new development sites. One of these is a 150-home project located on Hyde Road in East Manchester, the other site is Monsall, in north Manchester, which will deliver around 175 homes in its first phase and is planned to include multiple future phases.

The next two This City sites will be a 130-home scheme in the Northern Quarter in Manchester city centre and Grey Mare Lane, in East Manchester, which is set to deliver around 150 new homes. This City is aiming to start building these two schemes before the end of the 2025/26 financial year.

Planning applications for these two sites are expected to be submitted later in 2025 with the aim to start on site before the end of the 2025/26 financial year.

Councillor Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: “Building the homes that our residents need, particularly sustainable and genuinely affordable homes, is challenging, but This City is giving us the opportunity to take control of our own home development and deliver the type of housing we know our city needs on our own terms.

“It’s fantastic to see the next tranche of sites come forward quickly with the potential to deliver around 1,500 homes through future phases, and we could see development begin as soon as next year.”

Adam White, chair of This City, said the announcement of the next sites marks the start of an exciting era for the company. He said “Great progress is being made at No1 Ancoats Green and the first tenants will be welcomed to those homes next year, while at the same time we are beginning the crucial engagement work to understand the community context of the new sites, meet local people and get a feel for what those communities need from their housing.

“Importantly for us we have the key aims of This City at the heart of everything that we do – this means creating quality homes, including affordable housing, while bringing brownfield land back into use. The coming year will be a landmark 12 months for the company, bringing forward around 600 more homes, while setting the template for hundreds more in the coming years.”