New housing boost for Moss Side

Further sites are set to be made available for new homes improving housing quality and choice in Moss Side.

They will capture the momentum established by the Maine Road development where hundreds of family homes are being built on the site of Manchester City FC's former stadium.

The City Council's top-level Executive today authorised the purchase of the Stagecoach Bus Depot, which has inhibited housing development in the area due to its unsightly appearance and prominent location.

The purchase will be the culmination of several years of discussions between the City Council and Stagecoach. It will free up the site for new housing supporting the Council's vision for Moss Side as "an attractive, stable and successful residential area" (Moss Side and Rusholme District Centre Local Plan, 2007).

The development at Maine Road, where almost 450 new homes are being built, is already making a significant contribution towards the regeneration of Moss Side.

But more new housing is needed to meet the needs and aspirations of existing and would-be residents. The current housing range is overwhelmingly smaller terraced properties with low levels of owner occupation.

As well as the Stagecoach depot, the neighbouring site of Bishop Bilsborrow School - which will merge with nearby St Edward's RC School and move to a brand new home on the Maine Road development - will also become available for development.

Taken together, the two sites have the potential to add significant impetus to the regeneration of the area.

The City Council is also considering options for the future of the Bowes Street neighbourhood, to the north of the Stagecoach bus depot and south of Claremont Road. This consists of 233 of the poorest quality terraces in Moss Side and some form of intervention is required.

Consultants have been appointed to deliver an options appraisal looking at whether improvements to the Bowes Street neighbourhood would be better achieved separately or as part of the wider Stagecoach/Bishop Bilsborrow scheme. Residents' views will be sought during February as an important part of these considerations.

City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said: "The Maine Road development has helped establish real momentum for improvements to housing quality and choice in Moss Side. We now have a unique opportunity to further broaden the housing market, stabilising communities by ensuring that people's housing needs can be met within the area, and we are determined to seize it."

Executive Member for Culture and Leisure Councillor Mike Kane said: "I can assure people we are committed to ensuring that any scheme brought forward would take full account of the war memorial on the Stagecoach site and other heritage features. We will ensure any development preserves the war memorial and is both sympathetic and respectful."

Media contact:

Roger Williams, tel: 0161 234 3275