Homes project is backed at engineering giant’s HQ

INITIAL plans for nearly 100 homes and new office space on the Siemens site in Didsbury have been approved by the town hall.

The expansion - part of the council’s vision for the area - would see 44 apartments and up to 48 houses built on land on Princess Road, which is already home to the tech firm’s headquarters and a brand new private hospital. Outline plans for a new three-storey office block were also approved.

However, at Manchester’s latest planning meeting local Liberal Democrat councillor John Leech warned the 48 parking spaces proposed was a ‘frankly ridiculously small’ number given existing problems with on-street parking in West Didsbury.

He also said bus services along Princess Road were too unreliable and infrequent, suggesting those ought to also be improved in order to support the new development, and expressed frustration at the lack of affordable housing in the proposal.

West Didsbury Residents Association did not object to the plans, but did ask for a number of measures to be looked at - including the no right-turn from Nell Lane onto Princess Road, already the site of a number of accidents and likely to take increased traffic as a result of the development.

Meanwhile, local Labour councillor Joanna Midgeley also raised concerns about increased traffic in the area - as well as air quality in a neighbourhood already recognised as a pollution blackspot.

She said more details of travel plans for the site would be key when the development’s full application comes forward in the future.

In response, planning officers said a travel plan is included with the proposals, alongside 20 cycle spaces and said the nearby public transport routes meant the number of spaces was ‘appropriate’. The air quality assessment had not triggered any concerns, he added.

Under the proposals - which were given outline permission ahead of a full application later - a building of between four and six storeys, containing 44 flats, would be built first on Nell Lane.

Just under two dozen ‘mews’ style houses would be built next door and a 25 added at a later date.