Salford homes to receive £3.75 million facelift

More than 300 homes in Salford are to get a £3.75 million facelift courtesy of the city council.

The money, which has been provided by the Manchester Salford Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Partnership (MSP), is being used to spruce up 337 privately-owned properties in the Gainsborough Street area of Higher Broughton.

The new funding for the area comes hot on the heels of an £8 million award from the Homes and Communities Agency, through the Government’s Kickstart programme, to restart house building on the next major phase of the New Broughton development in Lower Broughton.

The work in the Gainsborough Street area includes repairing window and doorframes, providing new rainwater gutters and downpipes, re-pointing, repairing and cleaning brickwork, rebuilding rear walls and replacing rear gates, painting of external woodwork, renewing front garden walls and garden surfaces and renewal of first floor bay roofs.

The repairs and refurbishments are being carried out block by block and are due to be completed by the end of March 2011.

Councillor Peter Connor, Salford City Council’s lead member for housing, said: “This improvement work will drastically improve the appearance of homes in what is a prominent gateway to Salford and provide a positive platform to encourage private investment in the area. It will also complement development activity in the wider Broughton area.

"Creating sustainable communities and reinvigorating the housing market are key objectives of the regeneration programme and the block improvement schemes have helped to achieve this by creating neighbourhoods where people want to live."

The Manchester Salford Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Partnership (MSP) is one of nine area pathfinder projects set up to develop comprehensive programmes of neighbourhood renewal to create sustainable housing markets and sustainable neighbourhoods. 

Salix Homes, which manages council homes in central Salford and helps to provide housing regeneration and renewal services for Salford residents, is managing the project on behalf of the council. It has also held consultations with local people on when and how the work will be done.