Council spent £160,000 on ex England & Man Utd player

A recent report released on the Manchester Evening News website and from information shared via Freedom of Information Act reports on Trafford Council spending £160,000 of public money on land due to plans submitted by ex Manchester United defender Gary Neville. Currently a regular football pundit on television and with a large property portfolio in his ownership, his controversial plans to develop on Turn Moss playing fields to develop for Salford City FC were met with a storm of protests and ultimately the plans were scrapped.

Though a negative headline hitting news story, to be honest it looked like a decent plan that had been put together to turn the flooded land in to training pitches to include cafe, playground, changing rooms, an exercise trail and a 4G pitch.

The Freedom of Information Act showed that the previous Conservative administration had spent a total of £162,306 on consultants and on design & investigation costs.

The fault of Gary Neville? Not living there and knowing what the current land offers locals, it is not for me to comment, but it sounded like it could have been a good development for the local community seeing that David Beckham is now a share holder of Salford City FC.

Christopher Walkey

Founder of Estate Agent Networking. Internationally invited speaker on how to build online target audiences using Social Media. Writes about UK property prices, housing, politics and affordable homes.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Britain’s strongest housing markets revealed

The latest research from Benham and Reeves reveals the best-performing housing markets across Great Britain when it comes to the average rate of house price growth seen over the course of 2025, with the northern regions and Scotland outperforming most of the rest of the country with annual price growth of up to 11%. Last…
Read More
Rightmove logo
Breaking News

Over £900 million economic opportunity lost to property fall throughs

Analysis from the UK’s largest property platform Rightmove reveals there is an economic opportunity of over £900 million in England if the number of property transactions falling through can be reduced The calculations show that nearly £392m in potential estate agency revenue and £515m in potential government stamp duty receipts were lost last year to…
Read More
Breaking News

Landlords chasing rental arrears of £470m

The latest research from Propoly – the platform that automates compliance, reduces risk and protects landlords – has revealed that landlords in England deal with more than £470 million worth of rent arrears in a year, with the largest number of tenants in arrears found in London and the North East. Propoly has analysed the…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Building Buyer Trust Through Architectural Visualization in Real Estate Marketing

In real estate marketing, trust is not a soft value. It is a transaction driver. Buyers commit to years of financial exposure based on how credible a project feels long before it is built. That credibility is no longer shaped by brochures alone. Today, developers often work with a rendering agency to construct a visual…
Read More
Crowded beaches - Clacton-on-Sea in Essex
Breaking News

£84.2bn in internationally owned homes across England

The latest market analysis by Jefferies London has found that the current market value of foreign-owned homes across England stands at an estimated £84.2bn, with London accounting for £43.9bn, the largest share of any region. Jefferies London analysed estimates of foreign homeownership across England, alongside average house price data, to calculate the estimated total market…
Read More
Breaking News

Housing affordability improves across Britain

The latest research from Yopa has found that the average house price across Britain now sits at 8.3 times the typical annual salary, with affordability improving over the last year, driven by more measured house price appreciation and stronger earnings growth. This has helped to reduce the house price to income ratio across six out…
Read More