A victory for the campaign
Campaigners fighting to protect Ryebank Fields have secured a significant planning victory after Manchester councillors approved their application to retain the site as a community woodland and meadow. However, the decision does not settle the future of the fields, with a separate proposal for 120 homes still awaiting determination and a separate Trafford application concerning access to the proposed development also awaiting determination.
After more than a year of waiting, the Ryebank Fields Community Group has secured permission for its community-led alternative to housing development on the site. Manchester City Council’s planning committee approved an application to change the use of the former university playing fields to a community woodland and meadow at a meeting on Thursday 24 September. The community group submitted the application, reference 143413/FO/2025, which seeks to retain the approximately 4.59-hectare site as green space rather than residential development.
The council’s planning report recommended approval, subject to conditions covering matters including boundary treatments, contamination management, events and flood risk. The decision follows a lengthy campaign by residents who have opposed plans to develop the fields for housing.
Support and objections
The community application attracted hundreds of representations during the consultation. The council’s meeting documents recorded 675 representations in support of the proposal and 64 objections. Supporters highlighted the site’s ecological value, its contribution to green space and its potential benefits for health and wellbeing.
However, objections included concerns about housing need, the relationship between the proposal and existing planning policy, contamination and the long-term management and funding of the site. Manchester Metropolitan University, which owns the land, also objected to the community application. The decision means the community group’s proposal has now secured planning permission, although conditions will govern how the site is managed and used.
Ryebank Fields contamination concerns remain
The planning process has also brought renewed attention to the site’s industrial history. Ryebank Fields was formerly associated with clay extraction and later landfill before being remediated and used as playing fields. Contamination has been a central issue in the wider dispute over the site’s future, with the community group raising concerns about the consequences of disturbing contaminated ground.
The local authority’s consideration of the community application included information relating to asbestos-containing materials. Environmental Health requested further information, after which the applicant provided details of proposed monitoring and restrictions on public access. The Environment Agency raised no objection to the community proposal, while the council’s Highway Services team also raised no objection.
The housing proposal is still to be decided
Despite the September decision, the wider planning dispute is not over. Manchester Metropolitan University, working with Step Places and Southway Housing Trust, has a separate planning application for 120 homes on the site. The housing proposal includes a mixture of homes and tenures and remains subject to a separate planning decision.
The community group’s successful application therefore does not, by itself, determine the outcome of the housing application. That application, reference 142223/FO/2025, has yet to be determined by Manchester City Council. Manchester City Council has confirmed that the application remains live, that no date has yet been set for its consideration, and that it will be considered by Manchester’s Planning Committee rather than under delegated powers.
Trafford councillors retain their say
There is also a separate planning application before Trafford Council relating to the proposed access from Rye Bank Road in Stretford. The application concerns engineering works to create a vehicular access serving the proposed 120-home development within Manchester’s boundary but through Trafford Council area. At a Trafford planning meeting on 24 September, councillors rejected officers’ recommendation that decision-making powers should be transferred to Manchester City Council.
The decision means Trafford retains an element of control over the access proposal under the current arrangements and any resulting impact on Trafford residents. The issue is significant because the proposed access road would be located within Trafford even though the majority of the housing development would be in Manchester.
Manchester City Council has confirmed that the Trafford access application and its own 120-home application are two separate planning applications, submitted to two separate planning authorities, and that each application is considered on its own merits. [Email communication]
Manchester has also confirmed that its 120-home application can be determined independently of the Trafford access application. It said Manchester could determine its application before Trafford decides on the access application, and that the Trafford decision does not affect the timetable for determining the Manchester application.
The future decision-making process for the Trafford application also needs to be considered in light of the new national planning committee delegation arrangements, which come into force on 31 October 2026. Under these arrangements, Schedule 1 applications must be delegated to officers, while Schedule 2 applications are presumed to be delegated to officers unless the requirements for referral to committee are met. The Planning Advisory Service has emphasised that officer delegation is the default and committee referral the exception.
However, the Planning Advisory Service has not commented on application 115688/FUL/25 specifically. Its response therefore does not confirm whether the Trafford application falls under Schedule 1 or Schedule 2, or how the new arrangements will apply to it.
What happens next for Ryebank Fields?
The community group’s planning victory changes the position at Ryebank Fields, but it does not bring the wider dispute to an end. The approved community woodland and meadow proposal now sits alongside the unresolved housing application and the separate Trafford access application. For campaigners, Thursday’s decision provides formal planning permission for an alternative future for the fields.
For Manchester Metropolitan University and its development partners, the separate housing proposal remains to be determined. Manchester City Council has confirmed that the Trafford application does not determine the timetable for the Manchester application, meaning the two planning processes can proceed independently. The next major decision will therefore be Manchester City Council’s consideration of the 120-home application, although a date for that has not yet been confirmed. Trafford has not yet confirmed how the delegation arrangements will apply to its separate access application. Until the outstanding decisions are made, the future of Ryebank Fields remains uncertain, and the wider planning dispute continues.
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