DRAFT plans for thousands of new homes across Trafford have been approved.

The ‘Places for Everyone’ scheme, which replaces the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF), was given the initial nod by the council’s executive this week.

The scheme, previously known as the plan of nine after Stockport Council withdrew its support for the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework plans in December 2020, is set to decide where new homes, jobs and facilities will go across the city region until at least 2032.

For Trafford, as the plan has not changed from the previous version of the GMSF seen at the end of 2020, this means 6000 new homes are pencilled in for development.

The plans show over three quarters of all new homes are set to be built on existing land and small sites – reducing the loss of green belt land from the original 2016 plan by 40 per cent.

And land for some 365,000 square metres of business space has been identified to boost for local jobs and provide sites for future employment.

Two major developments are set to take place in Trafford.

In Carrington, this includes the regeneration of parts of the former petro-chemical works to provide 4300 homes, of which 15 percent will be affordable, and 350,000 square metres of employment space.

There are also planned improvements to provide green space, neighbourhood retailing and community facilities.

In Timperley Wedge there are plans for 1,700 homes, 45 per cent of which will be affordable, a commercial development and the creation of a rural park in the green belt with improved public access.

This development would link through to a related allocation within the City of Manchester and will be supported by a planned Metrolink extension and new spine road.

Cllr James Wright, executive member for housing at Trafford Council, introduced the plan to the executive meeting.

He said: “It is a strategic plan to deal with the housing crisis across Greater Manchester and provide guaranteed land for employment, helping the local economy to grow following the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In Trafford we simply do not have the brownfield land available to provide the homes that we need. We have and continue to take a brownfield first approach, but this is simply not enough.

“We have a housing crisis in Trafford and Greater Manchester, the average home costs over eight times the average salary, there are thousands of people waiting for social housing and we cannot and will not turn a blind eye to this.”

Cllr Wright explained this would involve releasing some land in Trafford from the greenbelt in order to meet the borough’s housing targets, but stated that this plan, compared with previous ones, sees ‘a significant reduction in greenbelt loss’.

He added: “Without a collaborative approach with the other eight Greater Manchester boroughs, now excluding Stockport of course, we would be required to find land for a further 5000 homes.

“We simply do not have land within the urban area that could meet this need.”

He explained the plan will support the regeneration of Partington and Carrington, including improving their transport links to connect the areas with employment opportunities in Trafford and beyond.

The plan is also designed to support the ambition to make Greater Manchester carbon neutral by 2028.

Now Trafford Council’s executive have approved the draft plans, they will go out to public consultation for eight weeks from August 9.

The consultation will not bring about considerable changes to the plan, but is instead worded to allow members of the public and businesses to comment on whether they think the plan is ‘justified’, ‘positively prepared’, ‘effective’ and ‘consistent with national policy’.

This is something opposition councillors took issue with at the executive meeting.