Andy Burnham’s £4bn plan for a “new town” in Manchester has been dealt a blow after hundreds of homes were hit by building delays.
Homebuyers have been told that the completion date for more than 500 dwellings in the city has been pushed back by up to two years.
The delays are a setback to Manchester’s master plan for the development known as Victoria North, one of Labour’s priority housebuilding areas.
Hong Kong-based developer Far East Consortium (FEC) has been building the 5,500-home Red Bank Riverside district in partnership with Manchester city council and with millions of pounds of backing from Mr Burnham’s Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), as well as the Government.
These included two residential towers, called Falcon and Kingfisher. Last year, FEC said it planned to finish building both in 2028.
However, buyers have since been warned that the completion date for homes at the 30-storey, 322-home Kingfisher tower will not be finished until Dec 31 2030.
They have also been told that its 20-storey, 189-home Falcon tower will not be completed until the end of December 2029.
Victoria North, which is expected to deliver 15,000 homes across seven neighbourhoods when it is completed in the next 15 to 20 years, is one of Labour’s seven “priority” locations for a new town in its flagship housebuilding scheme.
Hailed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as the most ambitious housebuilding plan in half a century, it is viewed as a major step towards helping Labour reach its target to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament.
The revised dates fall beyond the 2029 target date.
Mr Burnham has championed Victoria North as “the model of what a new town should be”.
