The Changing Face of Trafford: Housing

The Housing Stock in 1974

A report written in 1973 stated that, ‘Trafford had fewest slums and the smallest number of men in semi and unskilled work’ in Greater Manchester[i]. Over 8300 acres of Greater Manchester are considered derelict, 325 of which were in Trafford[ii].

Table 16 Derelict acres 1973

In 1974, the North of the new borough had the most issues with housing quality.

In Trafford 3,050 houses had been cleared between 1955 and 1972 (compared to 49,520 in Manchester and 19,170 in Salford) and in 1972 1,330 houses were considered unfit for habitation, only 1.7% of the total in this category in Greater Manchester.[iii]

Stretford had cleared 1885 houses between 1955 and 1972 (11% of its housing stock of 1951), Altrincham had cleared 589 houses, Sale 211, Urmston 204 and the parts of the Bucklow Rural District that was now in Trafford had cleared 152. Bowdon had cleared none and Hale only ten. Altrincham council had improved most between 1967 and 1972 at 409, with Stretford 351, Sale 225, Urmston 114, Bowdon 60, Hale 78 and the Bucklow Rural District 219.[iv]

Although there had been some development of new housing in the north of the borough, Gorse Hill, Old Trafford and Stretford remained the main candidates for becoming a General Improvement Area in the new borough.[v]

Trafford Council assessed that it would need 400 acres of land to deal with the housing crisis as the housing list had the names of 4,000 applicants for council housing.[vi]

There was a move at this time to consider improvement rather than clearance. Improvement was thought by planners to be better than clearance for several reasons – the long delays between notification of clearance and actual demolition, the break-up of communities, the costs of compensation and the unpopularity of high-rise developments as a choice for rehousing people. It was estimated that in Trafford 14,100 houses were eligible for improvement between 1972 and 1991.[vii]

The Housing Stock in 2024

Trafford was ranked 191 on the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)[viii] out of 317 local authority districts in England where 1 is the most deprived. Trafford had ranked 199 in 2015.

In 2019 there were five wards which fell amongst the most deprived in England and Wales. Most deprived areas were primarily located in and around the ward of Bucklow-St Martins in the west of the borough which included Partington, and in the north, particularly in Clifford ward, but also Stretford, Gorse Hill and Longford.

The least deprived areas were located mainly in the southern and central areas of Trafford, particularly in and around the wards of Timperley and Brooklands.[ix] A shortage of affordable homes is a significant problem in Trafford. The average house price in June 2023 was £362,019.[x]

Gentrification

A degree of care is needed when considering the question of whether areas of Trafford are becoming, or have become, gentrified. It is a sensitive topic as it often results in the displacement of people with low incomes from the area that had become ‘gentrified’.

A definition in Collins English Dictionary is, ‘a process by which middle-class people take up residence in a traditionally working-class area of a city, changing the character of the area’, but one person’s ‘gentrification’ can be seen as another’s ‘much needed improvement’.

However, there are signs of growth of the professional classes in Trafford. The borough ranked second in England for increased gentrification in ‘Local Authorities Ranked by Percentage Point Change in Professional Classes 2011-2021’. It shows that, in the 2021 census, 58.4% of the working population work in jobs undertaken by those in the professional classes, an increase of 10.3 percent increase between 2011 and 2021.

Managers, directors and senior officials made up 14.9% of those employed, professional occupations constituted 28.8% and associate professional and technical occupations were 14.7%. Sale is one of the areas with significant increase as are the areas closest to the city centre of Stretford and particularly Old Trafford.[xi] This phenomenon can also be identified in Salford and Stockport and is a growing sign that Manchester’s knowledge economy is attracting skilled workers.

The Sunday Times included Stretford as one of ‘six coolest neighbourhoods to invest in now’ in 2021.[xii] The plans for the redevelopment of Stretford Mall and the King Street area were the basis for this judgement as Stretford has suffered a down-turn since the opening of the Trafford Centre.

A report drawn up for Trafford Council, Trafford Housing Trust and Old Trafford Community partnership as early as 2009 recognised that house prices and rents in Old Trafford had already outstripped local earnings and expressed residents’ concerns that redevelopment might lead to gentrification, as it had in neighbouring Hulme.[xiii]

The plansfor Trafford Wharfside, the Civic Quarter and particularly the Empress Conservation area, if fully realised, are likely to result in an influx of those with higher incomes to the area.

House Ownership

The table below shows number of households in each type of property at the time of the censuses. It demonstrates starkly the sharp decline in the availability of council owned property over the fifty years of Trafford.

This was the result of legislation by the Thatcher government, introduced in 1980, to give tenants ‘the right to buy’. In the mid-1970s three of every ten house was owned by the council.[xiv]

Table 17 House ownership by census year [xvi]

In contrast “In 2021, just over one in seven households (15.0%) lived in socially rented housing, compared with 16.4% in 2011. The percentage of Trafford households that owned their home (outright or with a mortgage or loan) decreased from 69.3% to 69.0%.” 15.3% lived in privately rented property.[xvii] In Trafford 18% of all homes were council owned, 28% of these were flats and 13.3% had only a single bedroom.[xviii]

In February 2024, ‘UK rent inflation is rising to record highs, while UK house prices are falling.’[xix] The average private rented property in the UK rose 9.0% in the twelve months to February 2024.

Average private rent in UK was £1,238 per month in Feb 2024 and 8.7% in the North-West. The average rent for a three-bed house in Trafford was £1,234 in Feb 2024.[xx]

House Prices

1971

Table 18 Average house price by type of house 1971

The average price of a semi-detached house in Sale in 1973 was beyond the means of anyone earning less than £2,000.[xxi] The Altrincham Guardian was concerned about a glut of houses for sale in the Altrincham area, with lots of for sale notices everywhere.

The estate agents believed it would cost about £8,000 to buy the average semi-detached house in Altrincham and it would cost about £10 per month per £1,000 borrowed over a twenty-five-year period.  A couple would need to earn above £3,000 per annum for this sort of borrowing.[xxii]

2024

In January 2024 the housing market was falling. Average house prices in the UK decreased by 0.6% in the twelve months to January 2024, making the UK Average £282,000. The England average had dropped by 1.5% to £299,000. The average house price in Trafford had decreased by 4.6% from £369,363 in Jan 2023 to £352,298[xxiii].

In January 2024, Trafford had the highest average house price in the North-West. The average house price for first time buyers in Trafford in Jan 2024 was £292,000.[xxiv]

In January 2024 the average price by type of house in England[xxv] was:

Table 19 Average house price by type England January 2024

The average price by type of house in Trafford in January 2024[xxvi] was:

Table 20 Average price by type of house in Trafford January 2024

Housing Development

The most significant change over the fifty years since Trafford was established has been the large-scale building of apartments throughout the borough.

The Bridgewater Canal has been a favoured location for new development and apartments or houses have been constructed all along its south bank from below the canal bridge near the former Bay Malton public house to the old railway bridge that crosses Canal Road in Timperley.

In Sale there are apartment on both sides of the canal and construction has recently begun in Stretford.

Where has large-scale housing development taken place since 1974?

As well as the development of apartments alongside the Bridgewater canal, there have been some other large-scale developments, mainly in the south of the borough.

In Broadheath, the former Linotype and Machinery sports grounds off Oldfield Road has been covered with houses built in Swale Drive and Medway Crescent. These were formerly football and hockey pitches, tennis courts and allotments for the company’s workers.[xxvii]

Also in the same area, a large estate has been constructed off Seamons Road, a branch of Oldfield Road, which reaches down to the canal side. On the same side of the canal the Egerton Park estate has been developed in the former Linotype and Machinery works.

The estate has made use of former industrial building, some of which have been reconstructed as apartments, and it is well under way for completion in 2024.

In Altrincham itself there has been a development of houses on the former gasworks site off Wellman Way, near to Altrincham Football Club’s ground.

The Stamford Brook Residential Development in West Timperley consists of 700 energy efficient homes on land formerly owned by the National Trust’s Dunham Massey estate, built between 2004 – 2010.

There has been careful landscaping on the estate and a community woodland with six thousand new trees has been provided.[xxviii] The Centre for the Built Environment at Leeds Beckett University have carried out an assessment of the lessons learnt from building masonry houses to a high energy efficiency standard on a large scale.[xxix]

On the other side of Sinderland Road from the Stamford Brook development lies another housing estate constructed from the mid nineteen- nineties and built on either side of the spine of Barlow Road, with a number of streets named after types of duck  and other wetland birds on the west side towards Dairy House Lane.

Much housing of a variety of types, including apartments, has been constructed in Timperley on land bounded by Aimson Road East and Greystone Avenue, and by the Fairywell Brook which forms the boundary between Trafford and Manchester. It runs on one or both sides of Brooks Drive from Brooklands roundabout to Ridgeway Road. There has also been a smaller development around Timperley Green.

In Stretford, nearly three hundred homes, mainly apartments, but with eight-seven houses, has taken place at the former Itron gas meter factory on Talbot Road.[xxx]

One hundred and fifty-five new homes, due for completion in 2025 are under construction in Old Trafford at Trafford Gardens, off Talbot Road, near the Lancashire cricket ground and in the area covered by the Civic Quarter at Old Trafford. Apartments and townhouses have been constructed at Botanica on Chester Road, Old Trafford.

In Partington, an estate of new houses has been constructed at the junction of Oak Road with Warburton Lane and four hundred and thirty-four homes, including homes to rent and affordable properties are under construction to be completed by 2026 at Millbank Lock and off Hall Lane on the banks of the Ship Canal.

In Sale, the major developments have been in Sale West and on land either side of Manor Avenue, between Coppice Avenue and The Avenue. In Sale West seventy-nine homes for social rent have constructed in Hamilton Avenue. This is phase one of a masterplan to improve the estate, a joint project between Trafford Council and social housing provider, Irwell Valley Homes.

This is not an exhaustive list of substantial developments, but it illustrates clearly how housing has been developed since 1974. A good portion of this development has been on brownfield sites.

Article researched and written by Trafford Local Studies volunteer Richard Nelson.

[i] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[ii] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[iii] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[iv] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[v] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[vi] Stretford and Urmston Journal, 17 Jul 1974, p.3.

[vii] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[viii] 2019 Index is the latest data set for this index which is currently under review. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/indices-futures-updating-the-english-indices-of-deprivation-iod-consultation/outcome/indices-futures-updating-the-english-indices-of-deprivation-iod-consultation-government-reponse [Accessed 28 Mar 2024].

[ix] https://www.trafforddatalab.io/deprivation.html [Accessed 12 Mar 2024].

[x] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-house-price-index-for-june-2023/uk-house-price-index-england-june-2023 [Accessed 28 Mar 2024].

[xi] https://citygeographics.org/2022/12/15/tracking-gentrification-in-london-and-manchester-using-the-2021-census-occupational-class-data/ [Accessed 13 Apr 2024].

[xii] By Ben Brown, https://www.manchestersfinest.com/articles/stretford-named-one-of-the-coolest-neighbourhoods-to-invest-in-now/ 19 October 2021 [Accessed 13 Mar 2024].

[xiii] Trafford MBC, Old Trafford Master planning Report, October 2009 https://www.trafford.gov.uk/planning/strategic-planning/docs/old-trafford-masterplanning-report-october-2009.pdf. [Accessed 19 Apr 2024].

[xiv] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[xv] Social housing includes both council owned and housing association properties.

[xvi] GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Trafford District through time | Statistics |, A Vision of Britain through Time. URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10168569/cube/HOUS_TENURE_GEN [Accessed: 19th March 2024] and 2021 Data from https://www.trafford.gov.uk/about-your-council/strategies-plans-and-policies/housing-strategy/docs/Trafford-Census-Report-2023.pdf [Accessed 2 Apr 2024].

[xvii] https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/censusareachanges/E08000009/ [Accessed 19 Mar 2024].

[xviii] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[xix]https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/privaterentandhousepricesuk/march2024 [Accessed 2 Apr 2024].

[xx] March 2024 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/privaterentandhousepricesuk/ [Accessed 2 Apr 2024].

[xxi] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[xxii] Altrincham Guardian, 4 Jul 1974, p.7.

[xxiii] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-house-price-index-for-january-2024/uk-house-price-index-england-january-2024 [Accessed 2 Apr 2024].

[xxiv] https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/housingpriceslocal/E08000009/ [Accessed 2 Apr 2024].

[xxv] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-house-price-index-for-january-2024 [Accessed 2 Apr 2024].

[xxvi] https://www.localhouseprices.co.uk/prices/trafford [Accessed 2 Apr 2024] and https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/trafford.html [Accessed 2 Apr 2024].

[xxvii] PLA/1/6 in Linotype Housing Estate Conservation Area: Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2016, Trafford Local Studies Centre.

[xxviii] https://www.tep.uk.com/project/stamford-brook-2/ [Accessed 7 Apr 2024].

[xxix] https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/-/media/files/research/leeds-sustainability-institute/stamford-brook/lsi_stamford_brook-final-pre-pub.pdf [Accessed 19 Apr 2024].

[xxx] https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/stretford-housing-site-gets-council-backing/ [Accessed 19 Apr 2024].