Save Ryebank Fields on Granada Tonight – July 2024

DEVELOPER CONSULTATION IS CLOSED

The second stage consultation CLOSED on the 1st of November. The developer team have revised their 2023 proposals and we estimate they are likely to submit a full Planning Application to Manchester City Council early in 2025. At that point there will be a final, formal opportunity to make objections to that planning application.

Please visit the proposed developer’s website to examine their existing plans, and sign up to their email list to be included in their updates. Then please check out our FAQs and Responding to Consultation tabs for further information.

It is only if the Developer Team are successful in gaining planning approval that the Developer is contracted to buy the land from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). Until that point, Ryebank Fields still belong to MMU.

Meanwhile please follow and comment on our socials (links at top of this page) for updates and to help us raise the profile of Save Ryebank Fields. Join our mailing list using the yellow button at the foot of this page, for the most important updates and advice on how to support the Campaign.

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO TO SAVE RYEBANK FIELDS? Click here for suggestions.

Beautiful Ryebank – slideshow

Ryebank photos by kind permission of Jay Clarke

Why we need to save Ryebank Fields:

Ryebank Fields is a 4.6 hectare patch of open green space on the border of Chorlton and Stretford in South Manchester. It was gifted by Manchester City Council to Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) for use as playing fields. The University abandoned the fields in 1996, since when the land has re-wilded into a mosaic of natural habitats. It is a fantastic green area accessible to all and a well used and loved Community asset. The fields are home to over 1400 trees and countless birds, bats, mammals and insects, as well as providing invaluable food and shelter for pollinators. They also act as a carbon sink and natural floodplain and combat air pollution in this densely populated urban area which is bordered by a local school.

Currently Ryebank Fields is under threat of development from Manchester Metropolitan University who are in the process of selling the fields to property developers. A development framework was adopted by Manchester City Council with proposals for 120 houses. Subsequently, MMU commissioned a number of reports as part of the process of selling the site to a developer.

As part of the campaign to Save Ryebank Fields, the Friends of Ryebank Fields (FORF) group was established in 2018 with the express aim of opposing any development of the site. FORF are continuing to commission reports which challenge statements in the MMU reports, and have employed a planning consultant on how best to oppose any planning application which may eventually be brought forward. These have been funded by donations and crowdfunding.

Meanwhile, FORF and our supporters continue to introduce people to Ryebank Fields, through events and activities , video interviews with locals and a series of stunning photographs capturing the natural beauty her and on our Facebook page. See also the Media tab for press coverage.

If you would like to support FORF, please sign the petition, sign up to our email list ryebankfieldsfriends@gmail.com – and if you are able, support our JustGiving appeal