Chapter 2 - Strategic Planning Background

General Overview

2.1 The Borough of Trafford is one of the ten District Councils comprising Greater Manchester. It is located to the south and west of the regional centre of Manchester, to the south and east of the Manchester Ship Canal and west of Manchester Airport. To the north and east it adjoins the Metropolitan Districts of Salford and Manchester and, to the south, the Macclesfield and Warrington Districts of Cheshire, where the River Bollin forms the Borough boundary.

2.2 Trafford is one of the smaller District Councils within the conurbation, covering an area of some 10,600 hectares (26,200 acres or 41 square miles). In 2001 it was home to some 210,100 people living in some 91,400 dwellings and supported in the region of 127,000 jobs.

2.3 The Borough is an important centre for industry and business, with major and long established industrial estates at Trafford Park in the north, Broadheath in the south and Carrington in the west. There are large and growing commercial centres at Altrincham and Sale in the south and at Old Trafford/Trafford Bar in the north. Altrincham is one of Greater Manchester's major sub-regional shopping centres, with a catchment area extending south into Cheshire. The Trafford Centre shopping and leisure/entertainment complex in the north of the Borough located within Trafford Park (which opened for business in autumn 1998), also has a sub-regional catchment area extending across the conurbation and beyond. Many people commute into and out of Trafford each working day, and it remains a net provider of jobs to the conurbation, particularly to the adjoining inner city areas of Salford and Manchester.

2.4 Over the last 25-30 years the employment base of the Borough has changed substantially as the old traditional industries, which were well represented here, declined and in many cases closed. Fortunately, in part because of the skills of its residents, in part because of its location and in part because of its good environment and communications, Trafford has been able to attract many new firms in newer types of industry to replace the traditional jobs that have been lost. High technology, warehousing and distribution, office and other service businesses have been amongst the activities that have moved into the Borough. This substantial influx of newer activity has resulted in the total number of jobs available to the local and wider population increasing by some 16,000 since the early 1970's.

2.5 Trafford has proved a very popular and attractive area for people, from all over Greater Manchester and beyond, looking for a home. Housing development therefore has continued apace throughout this period, adding significantly to both the quality and quantity of the stock of dwellings in the Borough. Competition among builders to develop sites has been intense. These pressures have had to be balanced as best as they could against the long-held desire to conserve pleasant countryside and good farmland. Between 1974 and 1986 some 4,900 new homes were built, on urban as well as green-field sites across the Borough. Between 1986 and 2001 a further 6,100 new homes have been built on these sites.

2.6 Despite the scale of new and refurbishment development that has been achieved across the Borough, its population has contracted from an overall 229,000 in 1971 to some 210,100 in 2001. This decline has been most significant in the older parts of the Borough where clearance, outward migration and the very limited scale of new development opportunities have had their greatest effects. The distribution of population across the Borough as a consequence has steadily shifted towards the southern areas of the Borough.

2.7 As we move into the 21st century Trafford will face continuing and varied pressures for development, like most areas within and beyond the conurbation boundaries. These pressures, for more houses to accommodate further growth in the number of households; new industries and businesses to replace jobs lost; more open space and recreation facilities to meet the leisure needs of residents; new road and other transport facilities to allow people and goods to move around quickly and efficiently, will be competing to make use of a very limited supply of land both within and outside the built up area. These various claims for development land will increasingly need to be balanced against growing pressure to conserve and improve the quality and appearance of the environment. This UDP addresses these issues and seeks to provide the planning framework within which those conflicting claims can be balanced in as sustainable way as possible.

STRATEGIC PLANNING GUIDANCE FOR THE NORTH WEST REGION AND FOR THE GREATER MANCHESTER SUB-REGION

GUIDANCE FOR THE NORTH WEST REGION

2.8 The adopted Trafford UDP was prepared within the context of Strategic Planning Guidance for Greater Manchester (RPG4), published in October 1989. This sub-regional guidance has now been cancelled and replaced initially by Strategic Planning Guidance for the North West Region, published in 1996 and subsequently by Regional Planning Guidance for the North West (RPG13), published in 2003.

2.9 Regional Planning Guidance for the North West (RPG13) has been prepared within the context of Planning Policy Guidance Note PPG11 "Regional Planning Guidance" to take account of changes in national land use planning policy and in development and economic circumstances within the region since 1996. This new Guidance, set out in Executive Summary form in Appendix A, provides the main strategic planning guidance within which this UDP has been prepared.

GUIDANCE FOR THE GREATER MANCHESTER AREA

2.10 The ten Greater Manchester district authorities , have collectively published (in July 1999) a non-statutory Greater Manchester Strategic Planning Framework document that amplifies RPG13 as it relates to the Greater Manchester conurbation area. This document builds on an original framework document published in October 1997, taking account of changes and emerging national and regional planning policy guidance, the North West Development Agency's Strategy for North West England, the emerging Greater Manchester Local Transport Plan and the emerging Greater Manchester district Unitary Development Plan reviews.

2.11 The fundamental purpose of the Greater Manchester Strategic Planning Framework document, which can be made available in full separately from this UDP document, can be summarised as seeking to: -

  • Promote Sustainable Neighbourhoods - Giving priority to the use of land within the urban area and to making the best use (through compact mixed use/mixed tenure) of that urban land resource.
  • Promote Sustainable Economic Development - Locating new economic activity where it can best support urban regeneration initiatives and in city, town and district centres.
  • Promote Environmental Improvement - Enhancing the quality of life and health of residents, conserving and enhancing the conurbation's rich architectural and historic heritage, enhancing the amenity, recreation, tourism and wildlife value of the conurbation's river valleys and green-space corridors, supporting the implementation of Community Forest initiative and conserving important wildlife habitat areas.
  • Promote Sustainable Transport - Encouraging development along the main public transport corridors and at important focal points on the public transport network, creating a countywide network of pedestrian and cycle routes connecting urban neighbourhoods, improving the public transport (bus, rail and Metrolink) network and infrastructure and encouraging sustainable freight movement

2.12 With specific regard to the promotion of a sustainable transportation system for the conurbation, the ten Greater Manchester district authorities and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, collectively have prepared the Greater Manchester Local Transport Plan (LTP). The LTP, which was published in July 2001 and contains the detailed long-term strategy and transport infrastructure investment programme for the conurbation, has been endorsed by the Government and has had significant resources committed to its implementation.

KEY PRIORITY POLICY AREAS FOR ACTION IN TRAFFORD

2.13 Since the publication of the adopted UDP the Council has identified five key priority policy areas for action within the Borough to promote: -

  • Economic and community regeneration;
  • A safe and sustainable environment;
  • Community well-being;
  • Lifelong learning, and,
  • An accessible quality service relevant and responsive to community needs.

2.14 A Trafford Economic and Community Regeneration Strategy, approved and published in 1997, set out the broad overall policy framework and priorities for encouraging and promoting economic development and community regeneration within the Borough over the early years of the Plan period. This document has recently been superseded (in July 2003) by the Trafford Community Strategy that sets the policy framework and action priorities for the whole Plan period. The land use planning policy aspects of this developing policy framework have been taken account of in the preparation of this UDP.