Campaigners from the Ryebank Fields Community Group believe their planning application for the land in south Manchester will be put before councillors for a vote on September 24. Their proposal asks for the land to stay as a community woodland and meadow, going against a separate plan by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and housing developers Step Places and the Southway Housing Trust to build 120 homes.
Community and councillors speak out
The outcome of the vote will decide the future of Ryebank Fields and the surrounding streets in Chorlton for generations to come. Chantal Kerr-Sheppard, a Green Party Councillor in Chorlton, said: “It is an open green space and it’s been used by the community for years and years. It is such a beautiful space, and you go through there and see people cycling, there are people picking blackberries, there are people sitting and having picnics, it’s a wonderful little haven amongst such a built-up area.”
Coun Kerr-Sheppard believes the land is a ‘sacred space for the community’, and that plans to build on the fields are ‘extremely difficult to justify’ due to ‘substantial brownfield housing delivery already taking place across Chorlton’. She added: “The issue is if they don’t develop it, we don’t know what will happen with it after that.”
Contamination concerns and housing need
Concerns have also been raised about potential contamination, owing to the site’s former past as a former brickworks and clay pits. Owned by MMU which is planning to sell the site, the land was used as playing fields until 1996, and it closed to the public altogether in 2020 owing to ‘the discovery of hazardous materials on the surface of the land’.
The planning report highlights the need for ‘careful environmental management’ and ‘comprehensive mitigation measures’ at the site if it is to be built on. A mix of homes would be created on the land according to MMU’s planning statement, with 52 of these set to be for sale on the open market, and 42 properties would be ‘age-friendly’ and affordable apartments for social rent for people aged 55 and over, among other types of housing. In a city where there are more than 20,000 people on Manchester’s housing register, the need for affordable homes could hardly be higher.
Project team responds and vote details
A spokesperson from the project team planning to develop the land, which includes Step Places, Southway Housing and Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “We recognise that there are different views about the future of Ryebank and respect the strength of feeling that the site generates within the local community. The site is privately owned by Manchester Metropolitan University and has a complex industrial legacy containing historic contamination that requires appropriate management and remediation. Any realistic long-term future for the site must address these issues in a way that is safe, responsible and deliverable.”
The project team said its plans for the land offers a ‘balanced and sustainable solution’ for the future of Ryebank Fields, and will also create ‘much-needed affordable homes’ and specialist accommodation. The spokesperson added: “Alongside this, the proposals would create significant publicly accessible green space, enhance habitats for wildlife, formalise new pathways and spaces for community use, and provide a clear and robust approach to remediating the site's contamination which includes asbestos, heavy metals and hazardous hydrocarbons.”
Manchester council said it is not yet 100 per cent confirmed that the planning applications will be heard on September 24, as the agenda could change before then. The list of items being debated at the crunch meeting will be published a week before, on September 17. If the future of Ryebank Fields is part of the agenda, what happens in the vote could be a defining moment for this part of the city.
