Councillors have been accused of conducting a ‘Salford chainsaw massacre’ by a resident after they approved a series of developments in the city which will result in the felling of numerous trees. Resident Seamus Martin made the comment to the city’s planning committee when he pleaded with them to exclude the site of the former Windsor High School from a plan to build 485 homes as part of the regeneration of Pendleton. He said the area had become an unofficial park where people walk dogs, stroll and where children play hide and seek, and that area had become a ‘green lung’. Mr Martin was backed by Councillor Bob Clarke who objected to the loss of trees in Pendleton as well on two other applications, saying: “I feel like I’m in an environmental nightmare. “We’re sending all these trees to the chipper, and I’d say we were living in cloud cuckoo land, except there won’t be any trees for the cuckoos to inhabit. This is an environmental disaster. If David Attenborough was here he’d have a heart attack.” Against Councillor Clarke and his Conservative colleague Karen Garrido’s objections, the city’s planning and transportation regulatory panel approved plans for the demolition of a detached house on land at Allotment Road in Cadishead, to be replaced by 20 affordable apartments with parking for 10 cars, two for the disabled, resulting in the loss of ‘a number of trees’. But Councillor Mike McCusker argued: “We have a desperate need for affordable housing, particularly in the Cadishead area. It’s a balance [to consider] between 20 affordable units and a tree preservation order. “In my view the need for affordable housing trumps a tree preservation order.” The application was approved and was followed by another in Cadishead, at the back of Albert Street. It was an request for outline permission (approval in principle with a more detailed plan to follow) for three two-storey, two-bedroom houses with parking and landscaping. Once again, the committee agreed to the felling of trees. Then came the Pendleton application which has followed a three-year consultation on the regeneration of the area. Over recent years, most of the buildings on the site have cleared, including the old school, tower blocks and houses. Mr Martin, who lives opposite the site, told the committee he objected the planning officers’ description of the former school site as ‘neglected’. “The area on the site of the former Windsor High School has been unofficially named Churchill Park, but the descriptions you’ve heard don’t really do it justice,” he said. “It would be a terrible mistake, in my view, for a number of reasons, to cover it with housing. The area is now home to dozens of majestic mature trees and in contrast to the long and thin Clarendon Park next door, which is basically just a pedestrian rat run.” He said the area is ‘wonderful for the mental health of local residents’: “It is a green oasis where local children play hide and seek there among all the trees and bushes in the summer,” Mr Martin continued. “It’s used on a daily basis by dog walkers and others who just want to go out and clear their head and have stroll. All that will be lost.” And he added: “I would ask you to think of what sort of headlines you want about this. Is it going to be ‘nightmare before Christmas: the Salford chainsaw massacre’ or will hero councillors save Salford trees?” However, chair of the Salford planning and transportation regulatory panel, Councillor Phil Cusack said it was outside the scope of the committee to deal with the planning application other than in its entirety. He went on: This is a significant application for the city of Salford. There are 5,000 people on the housing waiting list in the city, so housing has got to be one of our priorities.” The scheme includes 30 per cent affordable homes. But Councillor Clarke argued: “I know we need housing, but we also need green space.” Councillors approved the plan. Meanwhile, a major logistics hub has been in the Little Hulton area of Salford has also been given the green light without comment from councillors. The application from Littlewoods Group was for a storage and distribution base with offices, parking and landscaping on an 18-acre site at Lester Road. It will replace a currently disused warehouse which stands on the site, not far from the huge Logistics North development on the boundary between Salford and Bolton, with Cutacre Country Park lying to the south of the site.
