Work begins to prepare former Sale magistrates' court site for housing development

Work has started to prepare the site of the former magistrates’ court in Sale for residential development.

Cllr Liz Patel and Richard Roe on site [Image: Trafford Council]

Workers recently moved onto the one-hectare site off Ashton Lane and Washway Road to prepare it for the building of dozens of new and affordable homes.

Cllr Liz Patel, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration and Richard Roe, the Council’s Corporate Director of Place, visited the site to see how work was coming along.

Trafford Council granted planning permission for the building of 84 new homes last year – including 21 affordable properties made up of 13 flats for affordable rent, and eight houses for shared ownership.

Trafford Council bought the site, situated on a key arterial route within the borough, from Homes England with a view to redevelopment and specifically the building of new residential property close to the town centre.

Cllr Patel said: “It was really good to visit the site and see the work taking place for ourselves. This is a flagship scheme in the centre of the town and meets the Council’s policy of building more housing on brownfield sites, including affordable homes.

“There is a terrible shortage of housing nationally and, as a Council, we are pushing ahead and building as many new homes as we can. Thank you to everyone working on this scheme and I look forward to returning next year to see how it is progressing.”

The site has been vacant since 2016 after the Magistrates Court was closed by the Government as part of a national scheme to centralise services.