Revised Draft Local Plan, Chapter 25: Recreation

Creating a fairer Salford by:

• Ensuring that all residents have good access to a wide range of recreation facilities and opportunities
• Addressing shortfalls in recreation provision that currently affect communities in some parts of the city
• Enabling everyone to live active and healthier lives
• Improving access from all parts of the city to the countryside

Policy R1 - Recreation spatial strategy

A comprehensive range of recreation facilities will be provided across Salford, including:

1. Parks and country parks
2. Children’s play areas
3. Sports pitches and facilities
4. Allotments
5. Natural greenspaces and nature reserves
6. Public amenity spaces

The following recreation schemes will be strategically important to the enhancement of recreation opportunities in Salford over the Local Plan period:

1. Chat Moss, significantly increasing public access in a manner compatible with the nature conservation objectives for the area, and encouraging the provision of visitor facilities (see Policy GI3)
2. Irwell Valley, expanding on existing provision and tackling the extensive industrial legacy of derelict land to offer a broad range of interconnected recreation opportunities connecting through to Irwell River Park and extending into the neighbouring districts of Bolton and Bury (see Policy GI4)
3. Developing a new City Forest Park within the northern part of the Irwell Valley in Salford and extending into Bury (see Policy GI4), forming a key part of the proposed Northern Forest stretching across the North of England
4. Irwell River Park, providing high quality multi-functional open spaces and cycling and pedestrian routes, extending from The Meadow to Salford Quays and into the neighbouring districts of Manchester and Trafford
5. Cutacre Country Park, providing a major new outdoor recreation facility of around 40 hectares in Salford and extending into the neighbouring district of Bolton
6. Watersports at Salford Quays, protecting and enhancing the existing facilities and activities, which provide a sub-regionally important resource and support national sporting events
7. Bridgewater Canal, providing high quality walking and cycling routes and a range of heritage-based attractions
8. Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal, protecting its line, with its restoration being secured wherever practicable and elsewhere along the line providing open space incorporating walking and cycling routes, public realm improvements and heritage interpretation features
9. AJ Bell Stadium, ensuring that the community benefits of this facility are maximised (see Policy CT1/4)
10. Former Swinton Wastewater Treatment Works and surrounding open land, providing a new strategic natural greenspace with a diverse range of recreation opportunities, funded by a permitted residential development on a small part of the former treatment works site

Salford’s latest playing pitch assessment identifies key hubs of city-wide importance for outdoor sports. These strategically important multiple-pitch sites will be enhanced over the Local Plan period:

11. Salford Sports Village in Lower Kersal, expanding and diversifying what is already the city’s largest centre for organised outdoor sports as well as an important local community facility
12. Old Racecourse Playing Fields, delivering changing rooms and car parking to serve the new community sports pitches within the flood storage basin
13. Brookhouse Playing Fields, enhancing and expanding the playing area and improving the existing changing facilities
14. Bolton Road Playing Fields, enhancing the existing playing area, changing facilities and car parking
15. Duncan Mathieson Playing Fields, enhancing the existing playing area and delivering new changing rooms and car parking (see Policy H9/13)

Policy R2 - Recreation standards

New residential developments shall contribute to the achievement of all of the following recreation standards, and the management and maintenance of any facilities provided for at least a 20 year period, proportionate to the additional demand that they would be expected to generate:

Size-based standards

1. A minimum of 0.45 hectares of publicly accessible amenity space per 1,000 residents
2. The minimum standard identified in Salford’s latest playing pitch assessment
3. A minimum of 0.4 hectares of other outdoor sports facilities (both adult and youth) per 1,000 residents
4. A minimum of 1 hectare of Local Nature Reserve per 1,000 residents
5. A minimum of 5,000m² (or 0.50 hectares) of allotments per 1,000 households, with each new plot being 125m² in size to enable as many residents as possible to take on an allotment

Distance-based standards

6. All households to be within 500 metres walking distance of a Local Equipped Area for Play (LEAP)
7. All households to be within 1,000 metres walking distance of a Neighbourhood Equipped Area for Play (NEAP)
8. All households to be within 1,200 metres walking distance of a Neighbourhood Park
9. All households to be within 3,200 metres walking distance of a District Park
10. All households to be within 500 metres walking distance of a publicly accessible Local Natural Greenspace of at least 1 hectare in size
11. All households to be within 2,000 metres walking distance of a publicly accessible Strategic Natural Greenspace of at least 20 hectares in size
12. All households to be within 4,000 metres walking distance of a publicly accessible woodland of at least 20 hectares in size

Other standards

13. All households to have good access to a full range of other indoor and outdoor recreation facilities with sufficient capacity to meet demand

Facilities will only be counted as helping to meet these standards where they are of sufficient quality to properly fulfil their intended function and meet the level of demand placed on them.

The contribution made by new residential developments to the achievement of these standards shall be in accordance with the following order of preference, and may include both new facilities and the improvement or refurbishment of existing facilities:

1. On-site provision where this is practicable and would be the most effective way of meeting the needs generated by the development
2. Off-site provision and/or a financial contribution to off-site provision

Where on-site provision is being made to meet standard 6 above, this shall achieve a minimum of 0.25 hectares of equipped children’s playspace per 1,000 bed spaces (where the number of bed spaces in each dwelling is equal to the number of bedrooms plus one).

All facilities shall be designed to serve other green infrastructure functions (see Policy GI1) wherever possible, linking into the wider green infrastructure network.

Policy R3 - Recreation facilities and residential amenity

A distance of at least 30 metres shall be maintained between the curtilage of residential properties and recreation facilities that are likely to generate a significant level of noise and activity such as Local Equipped Areas for Play, Neighbourhood Equipped Areas for Play, and Multi-Use Games Areas.

Policy R4 - Protection of recreation land and facilities

The development of existing recreation land or facilities for non-recreation purposes will only be permitted where:

1. It is ancillary to the recreation use and does not reduce the overall recreation function of the site;
2. Replacement recreation provision of at least the same quantity, quality, accessibility to its catchment population, community benefit and management level is made in a suitable location;
3. It has been clearly demonstrated that the site is surplus to recreational requirements and is not capable of helping to meet any of Salford’s recreation standards; or
4. The site has been allocated for alternative purposes in the Local Plan, and development will deliver a net improvement in the city’s recreation resources.

Wherever practicable, replacement provision shall be made directly by the developer and shall be available for use before the existing recreation facility is lost. The payment of a financial contribution to the city council for replacement provision may be acceptable in other circumstances.

This policy applies to all existing sites and facilities that have a recreation use or value, irrespective of whether they are owned or managed by the public, private or voluntary sectors.

Policy R5 - Strategic recreation routes

A network of high quality strategic recreation routes extending through the city and into surrounding districts will be protected and enhanced. Opportunities will be sought to join up existing routes by filling in gaps in the network and to expand routes into other parts of the city. The routes will play an important role in connecting neighbourhoods with places of work, shops and between strategic open spaces, contributing towards public health and quality of life.

Existing strategic recreation routes are identified on the Policies Map:

1. Bridgewater Way
2. Cadishead Way, Irlam to Liverpool Road, Cadishead
3. Clifton Country Park
4. Ellenbrook Loopline
5. Glazebrook
6. Irwell River Park (The Meadow to Salford Quays)
7. Linnyshaw Loopline
8. Port Salford Greenway
9. River Irwell (Clifton Country Park to The Meadow)
10. Roe Green Loopline
11. Salford Quays and MediaCityUK
12. Slack Brook Open Space
13. Swinton Greenway
14. The Meadow
15. Tyldesley Loopline
16. RHS Bridgewater Link

Proposed strategic recreation routes are also identified on the Policies Map to fill some key gaps or improve connections in the network:

17. Slack Brook Open Space
18. River Irwell Link
19. The Meadow (proposed bridge from the Crescent)
20. Bridgewater Canal northern towpath and links
21. Worsley Wood Greenway

The provision of further strategic recreation routes in addition to these will be sought, particularly where they would improve links to and through Chat Moss, Port Salford, RHS Bridgewater, the West Salford Greenway and the Irwell Valley, and alongside the city’s waterways.

Planning permission will not be granted for development that would result in the permanent obstruction or closure of any strategic recreation route, unless an alternative route is provided that is equally attractive and convenient.

New development that is proposed on a site needed for the provision of a proposed strategic recreation route, or which could help to fill a gap in the network, will be required to incorporate such a route as part of the development. Where the use of a site has previously prevented the provision of a continuous or direct strategic recreation route, such as along the Manchester Ship Canal, then any redevelopment proposals shall deliver a new route connecting to the wider network.