Lots of skyscrapers, but no affordable homes in them'

SOMETHING entirely normal happened last week: Five new skyscrapers were given planning permission in Manchester city centre.

- ETHAN DAVIES & DECLAN CAREY

They'll bring in thousands of flats, a wave of amenities for residents like a dog spa, Mahjong room, and creators' studio, and one could be the city's tallest building, at 71-storeys.

The five blocks four called Contour and climb to 47 or 51 storeys, with the tallest being Plot D - will be built next to Deansgate Square, home to four steel-and-glass behemoths.

They all sit within the 'Great Jackson Street Masterplan' area, which the council has long-designated as a skyscraper district.

Renaker, the developer behind these towers, has included publicly-accessible amenities like retail and hospitality space, plus a public square, medical centre, and primary school.

On the other side of the Irwell, Henley Investments has drawn up plans to demolish the Regent Road retail park, and build 10 blocks of flats in its place.

Six of these will be 'towers, comprising thousands more flats, with the tallest also set to be 71 storeys tall and vying for the title of the tallest building outside of London.

But both of these schemes have come in for sharp criticism.

The Renaker scheme has permission to build 2,388 flats and Henley wants to build 3,300. Not a single home will be affordable, however.

Affordable housing, which the government says is a 'key element' of its plan to end the housing crisis, includes houses let at rents at least 20 per cent below local market rents, properties let at rates set between market rents and social rents, and social housing.

In May, the M.E.N. reported Manchester's waiting list for social housing was 17,000 strong. In Salford, 5,000 people are waiting for social housing.

Those figures go some way to showing the scale of demand for properties going at lower prices. However, developers are only compelled to include affordable homes in a development if they can make 20 per cent profit on the project.