Salford approves Eccles masterplan with about 1,300 homes over 10 to 15 years

Salford City Council's Cabinet approved the Eccles town centre Masterplan Vision on 10 November 2026, giving the council and its regeneration partner Muse a framework for about 1,300 new homes over the next 10 to 15 years.

Muse said the decision gives the two partners an agreed framework to guide investment, development and regeneration across the town centre. Attention now turns to the technical and feasibility work needed to bring forward separate proposals and planning applications, it said, alongside early activity and meanwhile uses in the town centre.

The partnership's project website says the Masterplan Vision is not a planning application and not a fixed final design, but a high-level document to guide the town centre's transformation over the next 10 to 15 years.

Matt Whiteley, Senior Development Manager at Muse, said: "The Masterplan Vision gives the partnership a clear framework for the future and allows us to move forward with confidence into the detailed work needed to bring individual projects forward."

The housing phases

According to the project site, the approved vision provides for approximately 1,300 new homes with a mix of housing types and tenures. The draft consulted on in Spring 2026 had proposed around 1,272 homes.

The project site gives figures for the first, second and final residential phases. Plots E and F, timetabled for 2028 to 2031, form the first phase and are expected to provide approximately 250 affordable homes. Plots A and B, from 2029 onwards, are expected to form the second phase with more than 700 homes in two taller buildings. The final phase, Plots C and D, with timing to be confirmed, is anticipated to deliver approximately 181 apartments.

Phase	Expected homes	Timetable
Plots E and F	about 250 affordable homes	2028 to 2031
Plots A and B	more than 700 homes	2029 onwards
Plots C and D	about 181 apartments	to be confirmed

The vision also includes a new Church Street Square connecting to St Mary's Church Gardens, and seeks to protect St Mary's Church, Eccles Town Hall and Eccles Library.

The project site says the regeneration is expected to take about 10 to 15 years, with timings remaining flexible as funding, market conditions and detailed work progress. The council's own Eccles vision page says that, based on the current timeline, new development is estimated to start in early 2028.

Background

Salford City Council bought Eccles Shopping Centre in December 2022, according to the council's project timeline, and secured £5.4m of government funding in March 2023 to purchase and demolish it. The council says the purchase and the phase 1 demolition were funded by UK Government.

Demolition of phase 1 of the shopping centre and the multi-storey car park started in January 2025, and the council says demolition of phase 1, the market hall and the car park was completed in December 2025.

The council has also acquired the Charles House office block on John William Street. Its Eccles vision page says it intends to demolish the building during 2026/27, and the project site lists progressing that demolition among the next steps.

Muse was appointed as the council's strategic regeneration partner for Eccles town centre in July 2025, following a cabinet decision on 8 July. Muse, part of Morgan Sindall, said at the time that its relationship with the council stretches over a decade.

The approval followed two phases of Community Conversations. The first, which closed on 19 November 2025, asked for ideas to shape the draft masterplan; the second, a four-week consultation on the draft, closed on 31 March 2026. The project site says more than 445 people attended engagement events and over 480 pieces of feedback were received across the two stages.

Councillor Mike McCusker, Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Planning, Transport, Sustainable Development and Regeneration at Salford City Council, said: "Local people have told us they want to see positive change, and approval of the Masterplan Vision gives us a clear direction for making that happen."

What happens next

Muse said future planning applications for new homes will come forward over time, and that local people, businesses and stakeholders will continue to be involved before those applications are submitted. The project site adds that detailed proposals will also come through highway schemes, and that a detailed transport assessment will inform feasibility work in 2026 to 2027.

Town centre events will continue in the meantime, including quarterly Artisan Markets and the Get In! To Eccles music festival, according to the project site. The first residential phase on Plots E and F is programmed for 2028 to 2031.