Trafford's Carrington to Sale West relief road dealt major blow - and these locals are happy about it

Peel NRE’s application to build a 167,000 sq ft of industrial and storage space in Carrington was turned down by Trafford because the company refused to contribute £5.3m towards the relief road.

The planning inspector who chaired the public inquiry held on May 9, has allowed the application without Peel having to contribute, which proved to be ‘the main issue’.

The inspector said in their findings: “The main issue is whether the monitory contribution sought under the New Carrington Developer Contributions Formula (NCCF) is justified.”

They said the site, west of Manchester Road (A6144) in Carrington, is allocated under Greater Manchester’s Places for Everyone Plan for around 3.7m of employment space.

“There is an intention for the area to be masterplanned with the associated infrastructure, including new roads, active travel, and new public transport, funded in association with the future development of New Carrington,” they added.

“However, there is currently no masterplan in place and the council acknowledged at the inquiry that no public consultation has yet taken place with regard to it. Consequently, it is some way off coming to fruition.”

The site would be accessed via the A6144. Routing options are in part contrainted by the Manchester Ship Canal and its limited crossing points.

The inspector added: “The location and cost of supporting infrastructure is unknown with it being suggested that this will come forward as part of the masterplan.

“This makes assessing a proportionate contribution extremely difficult and this is reflected in the very significant buffer of 30 per cent which is incorporated into the NCCF. In this case, it would equate to a substantial some of money, at approximately £1.6m.

“The appellant is unwilling to pay the £5.3m. The council’s planning witness acknowledged at the inquiry that, in general, public consultation is important, and it is an important factor in assessing the weight to be afforded to such documents. I agree with those positions.”

Responding to the outcome of the appeal, a spokesperson for Trafford council said: “We are naturally disappointed in the outcome of this appeal, which hinged around developments in Carrington sharing the costs of the infrastructure necessary to support ongoing growth in the area.

“We will not be able to see the growth that Trafford or the city region needs without supporting infrastructure, and unfortunately, decisions of this nature only make that provision harder.

“It is all too easy to ‘cherry-pick’ obligations on individual sites, but this will not enable future developments to progress.

“We are now considering next steps in relation to this appeal decision – and in the meantime will continue working to complete the master planning for the area.”

Peel NRE has been contacted for comment.

Meanwhile, the community group Friends of Carrington Moss has welcomed the decision.

Chair Marj Powner said the group would welcome a road known as the A1 – a private road behind the industrial area – being opened to enable traffic to avoid Carrington village.

She said: “We do not agree with the plan to build a road across productive grade two agricultural land, impacting our future food security, the 335 hectare peat moss and other natural capital assets.

“It would be more beneficial for local communities if the money to be spent on this were invested in school transport, more bus services for the area and working towards the reopening of the former railway line.”