‘It’s been abandoned and we’ve been abandoned’

The empty plot of land on Robert Hall Street in Ordsall(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)

By now this desolate plot of wasteland should have been home to hundreds of people living on tree-lined streets on a brand new eco-friendly estate.

Instead it looks, in the words of one local resident, like a ‘bad day in Beirut’. Questions are being asked over delays in the building of more than 270 homes in the Salford district of Ordsall in a scheme being managed by the council’s development company Dérive.

The plans, which include 100 much-needed affordable houses in what is still one of the city’s most deprived areas, were first approved in March 2024. It was hoped the ‘vibrant, inclusive’ estate’s first residents would have moved in by now.

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But more than two years on not a single brick has been laid. The two plots off Robert Hall Street were once home to a school and a shopping precinct.

But they have been fenced off and left to stand empty ever since they cleared of trees and groundworks carried out in the summer of 2024. And in the meantime residents say the site is becoming more and more of an eyesore.

Branwen Dale said: “It’s symptomatic of the development around Ordsall and the way local people are being treated. It’s been a very, very long time that we’ve been told ‘Oh yeah, it will be developed’, but then the can keeps getting kicked down the road.

“That area had become a miniature forest. It was full of wildlife, but they ripped out all the trees and we are left with an absolute wasteland.”

An artist’s impression of the planned estate

Another local resident, who asked not to be named, said: “Everybody who lives next to it is fed up with it. We have kept on saying ‘Can we have an update’, but we are being gaslit. It’s always jam tomorrow.

“No-one will give us an answer and all the while it looks like a bad day in Beirut.”

Another neighbour added: “When I moved in it was all trees, people walked their dogs there. It was always obvious it was going to be developed, but it was lovely.

Then the steamrollers came in and they ripped all the trees up and now it looks like a nuclear holocaust. There was dust blowing everywhere, the noise was horrendous, but we thought ‘Fine, they’ll be building houses’. I’m not a NIMBY, we need social housing, but you have to build them.

“You can’t just flatten it and leave it derelict. It’s been abandoned and we’ve been abandoned.”

Correspondence from the council’s housing strategy and enabling department sent out to residents this week, which has been seen by the Manchester Evening News, gives some explanation for the delay.

It says the high costs of ‘abnormal items’ on the site plus high specification’ of the planned net-zero housing meant the authority and builder Seddon Construction have ‘struggled to agree a viable scheme’.

“We are continuing to work with Seddon and funders to see how we can bridge any viability gap and have had positive discussions which suggest an agreement can be made in July,” the correspondence added.

In a statement a council spokesperson said work was expected to start in late autumn.

They added: “The council has been progressing a number of housing developments in Ordsall through its local housing company, Dérive, including the Robert Hall Street site, which secured planning permission for 274 new homes in March 2024. Significant enabling works have now been completed to prepare the site for construction. As these complex preparatory works have progressed, they have taken longer than originally anticipated, ensuring the site is fully ready for development.

“The council is now working closely with Seddon Construction to finalise costs and funding with partners, enabling the council to enter into contract. Subject to these final steps, work is expected to start on site in late autumn, delivering the first phase of 144 new homes.”