Core strategy

In 2007 Salford City Council commenced preparation of the core strategy, which was intended to be the main planning document for Salford and would set out the spatial vision and framework for the city. There were various stages of extensive public consultation to inform production of the core strategy. The publication core strategy is available to download below.

The core strategy was submitted to the Secretary of State in May 2012 for independent examination. The Secretary of State appointed Mr Richard E Hollox BA (Hons) BSc (Econ) MPhil FRTPI FRICS to conduct the independent examination and determine whether the core strategy was sound and legally compliant.

The examination hearings commenced on 4 September 2012. Three weeks of hearing sessions took place, covering matters of vision, strategy, infrastructure, housing and economic development.

On 26 September 2012 the inspector wrote to Salford City Council to set out his preliminary conclusions on the evidence that he had heard and seen so far. The inspector considered the core strategy to be unsound in its present form as it did not demonstrate an adequate and realistically deliverable supply of housing land. He also raised concerns that the core strategy did not identify sufficient land to meet future employment requirements.

The inspector did not consider that he had the necessary information before him to recommend how the plan could be made sound, and therefore he suspended the remaining examination hearing sessions and invited the council to respond setting out how it intended to proceed. A copy of the inspector's letter can be downloaded below.

The council gave careful consideration to the issues raised by the inspector. In order to address the inspector's concerns, the council considered that it would have been necessary to identify the release of significant additional areas of land for housing and employment development, and that this would be likely to require the release of greenfield and possibly green belt land.

Salford City Council considered that it would be inappropriate to propose this scale of change at this late stage in the core strategy process. Seeking to make such amendments at this stage would provide insufficient opportunity for the council to fully consult and respond to the concerns of local communities and other stakeholders, and because these changes would be so fundamental in terms of the existing strategy they would again raise issues of soundness.

On 31 October 2012 the council responded to the inspector setting out that its proposed course of action was to withdraw the core strategy and commence production of a local plan, subject to the decision of Salford's full council on this recommendation. A copy of this letter can be downloaded below, together with the inspector's response.

On 21 November 2012 at a meeting of full council, this recommendation was endorsed and the core strategy was formally withdrawn. A copy of Salford City Council's letter to the inspector to inform him of this decision (including the accompanying report to full council) can be downloaded below, together with the inspector's response. The formal statement of the withdrawal of the core strategy can also be downloaded below.

Examination library

The index of documents which formed the core strategy examination library can be downloaded below. The index sets out the unique reference number for each document, together with details of the document author and date of publication. If you wish to obtain an electronic copy of any of these documents please contact us using the link below.

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This page was last updated on 6 April 2016

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