‘Lego block belongs in east Berlin’
COUNCILLOR SLAMS SIX-STOREY BUILDING GIVEN GREEN LIGHT IN LOWER BROUGHTON
PLANS for almost 300 new homes in Salford have been approved by councillors - despite one member claiming the design looked like ‘a Lego block that belongs in east Berlin.’
The six-storey building in Lower Broughton will be comprised largely of one and two-bedroom apartments and will help ‘transform the area’ despite objections, a town hall meeting was told.
The development does not include any ‘affordable’ homes, but councillors gave the 299-home proposal a green light at a planning committee on Wednesday. They pointed out that the larger regeneration plan of the area has already exceeded the council’s minimum affordable homes quota.
Developers Countryside say the project will add to the housing mix in Lower Broughton. In their planning submissions, the firm had said that a ‘key aspiration’ of the development agreement was to significantly reduce the proportion of affordable housing.
But Coun Bob Clarke, who opposed the plans against a majority vote, told the meeting he was unhappy about the lack of affordable housing, ‘irrespective of what’s gone before,’ and said that the design looked like ‘Lego blocks’ that were ‘out of context’ with the rest of the area. “That belongs in east Berlin,” he added.
The development is part of a much wider Lower Broughton regeneration project, which Countryside say would ‘deliver a new exemplary neighbourhood that will promote a strong sense of community and local identity.’
Hundreds of new homes have been built as part of the vision.
Councillor Derek Antrobus said that the company has helped to ‘transform the area,’ saying that when the council first entered into agreement with Countryside, the population in the area had plummeted.
But ‘it’s become a really nice place to be,’ he added.
He commended the work the company had done to address the flood risk in the area, saying that all Countryside properties were protected during the 2015 Boxing Day floods because of the ‘enhanced standards that were in place.’
“I think it’s fantastic for the community and the city as a whole,” he added.
The vision did attract 12 objections from neighbours, who said family housing, not flats, were needed.