Trafford's Local Plan heads to Government in December: 19,077 homes to 2039, 8,400 at Wharfside, plus the 100,000-seat stadium and Lord Coe's MDC.

The biggest planning story in Trafford is not any single scheme, not even the 100,000-seat stadium. It is the new Trafford Local Plan, the document that decides where roughly 19,000 new homes can be built across the borough between now and 2039, and it took its decisive step in July: councillors voted to publish the final draft and send it to Government. Here is where the plan stands, where the homes would go, what the Old Trafford regeneration means, and how to have your say while it still counts.

Where the Local Plan stands

Trafford’s councillors approved the Regulation 19 Publication version of the Local Plan on 22 July 2026, opening the final consultation on whether the plan is legally sound before the document is submitted to Government in December 2026. An independent examination follows, and the council hopes to adopt the plan in 2027 or 2028 (Place North West, 22 July 2026).

The headline numbers: the plan makes room for 19,077 homes, five million square feet of employment space and 1.7 million square feet of offices through to 2039, the borough’s share of Greater Manchester’s Places for Everyone joint plan. Councillors can fairly claim it is an urban plan rather than a fields plan: 75% of the allocated land is brownfield, with another 10% part-brownfield (Place North West).

Where the homes would go

Headline development sites in the Trafford Local Plan Horizontal bar chart of site capacities. Trafford Wharfside 8,400 homes. New Carrington 5,000 homes. Civic Quarter 4,000 homes. Davenport Green 2,500 homes. Trafford Waters 2,200 homes. Source: Trafford Local Plan Regulation 19 version, reported by Place North West, July 2026. Site capacities include delivery beyond the 2039 plan period, so they exceed the 19,077-home plan total. The big five sites in the Trafford Local Plan Homes per allocated site, Regulation 19 version, July 2026 Trafford Wharfside 8,400 homes New Carrington 5,000 Civic Quarter 4,000 Davenport Green 2,500 Trafford Waters 2,200 Also allocated: 538,200 sq ft of offices at the Civic Quarter, 861,100 sq ft at Trafford Waters, and 484,400 sq ft of employment space at the former Kellogg's plant. Site capacities run beyond the 2039 plan period, so the bars total more than the 19,077-home plan figure. Source: Trafford Local Plan Regulation 19 version, reported by Place North West, 22 July 2026.
Wharfside alone carries 8,400 homes, more than the next two sites combined; almost all of it is brownfield land along the Ship Canal.

What the map means in practice: the growth is concentrated at the northern, industrial end of the borough, at Trafford Wharfside around the stadium, the Civic Quarter along Talbot Road and Warwick Road, and Trafford Waters by the Trafford Centre. The two allocations released from Green Belt under Places for Everyone are New Carrington (5,000 homes, west of Sale and Partington) and Davenport Green (2,500 homes, by the M56 near Hale Barns), which is the one most likely to change the view from an Altrincham window. The plan’s employment centrepiece reuses the former Kellogg’s plant in Trafford Park.

The Old Trafford regeneration and the 100,000-seat stadium

The reason Wharfside can carry 8,400 homes has a name: the Old Trafford Regeneration Mayoral Development Corporation, formally launched on 23 January 2026 at Imperial War Museum North, chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe. The MDC covers a 370-acre area around the stadium and is charged with delivering 15,000 new homes and 48,000 local jobs, catalysed by a new 100,000-seat stadium for Manchester United next to the current ground, a programme its backers say would add over £7 billion a year to the UK economy (Invest Manchester, 23 January 2026). “Today is a defining moment, the beginning of a long-term commitment to transforming the Old Trafford area,” Lord Coe said at the launch.

A Mayoral Development Corporation matters procedurally, not just symbolically: it concentrates planning and land-assembly powers on the area, which is how a stadium, thousands of homes and new streets get coordinated rather than fought application by application. For residents of Stretford and Old Trafford, the MDC is now the body whose masterplans decide what the neighbourhood becomes; its consultations are the ones to watch.

What it means for you

  • The Regulation 19 stage is narrower than earlier consultations. You are commenting on whether the plan is legally sound, justified and consistent with national policy, not proposing new sites. Comments go to the independent inspector who examines the plan. The council runs its consultations through its Citizen Space portal, where the publication consultation appears when live.
  • If a site near you is allocated, the argument moves. Once the plan is adopted, a detailed application on an allocated site is much harder to refuse; the time to object to the principle is now, not when the diggers are scheduled.
  • Individual applications carry on regardless. Day-to-day applications keep being validated and decided every week; you can search and comment on any of them through the borough’s Public Access planning portal.
  • The infrastructure follows the plan. New Carrington’s 5,000 homes depend on the £130m Carrington Relief Road, which has its own planning application in now; we cover it in our roadworks and travel page. What all this building does to values is the subject of our house prices page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Trafford Local Plan and what stage is it at?

It is the borough-wide plan deciding where 19,077 homes and millions of square feet of workspace go by 2039. Councillors approved the final (Regulation 19) draft on 22 July 2026 for a soundness consultation, with submission to Government due in December 2026 and adoption hoped for in 2027 or 2028 (Place North West).

Where will most of the new homes in Trafford be built?

On brownfield land in the north of the borough: 8,400 at Trafford Wharfside, 4,000 at the Civic Quarter and 2,200 at Trafford Waters. The two former Green Belt sites are New Carrington (5,000) and Davenport Green (2,500) near Hale Barns.

Is Manchester United really building a new stadium?

That is the plan the regeneration is built around: a 100,000-seat stadium beside the current ground, inside the 370-acre Mayoral Development Corporation area launched in January 2026 under Lord Coe, with 15,000 homes and 48,000 local jobs attached (Invest Manchester).

How do I comment on a planning application in Trafford?

Every application in the borough, from lofts in Timperley to towers at Wharfside, is searchable on the Public Access portal, including a weekly list of newly validated applications. Comments can be submitted on any application open for consultation.

Will the Local Plan build on the Green Belt near Altrincham?

Mostly no: 75% of allocated land is brownfield. The exception close to Altrincham is Davenport Green, allocated for 2,500 homes near the M56 under the Places for Everyone joint plan, which the Local Plan now carries into detail.

Sources

Plan stages and dates are as reported on 8 August 2026 and will move as the examination proceeds; check the council’s consultation portal for the live position before commenting.