Trafford's Local Plan allocates the 11.9-hectare Kellogg's site for 45,000 sqm of employment floorspace and rules housing out. Comments close on 18 September.
The council has already decided what it wants on the Kellogg’s site in Trafford Park once the cereal factory goes, and you have until Friday to argue with it.
The Trafford Local Plan Publication Version carries a site allocation numbered AN13, described in the document as “Land to East and West of A5181 (Kellogg’s Plant) Park Road, Trafford Park”. It is the factory land, about six miles north of Altrincham, and the plan puts it down for jobs, not houses.
The allocation says:
- Site size: 11.90 hectares, in two parcels either side of Park Road
- Existing use: employment (Use Class B2), brownfield
- Allocated for: employment development, “approximately 45,000sqm new floorspace”
- Phasing: 22,500 sqm in the five years to 2030/31, then 22,500 sqm between 2031/32 and 2035/36
- Homes: none
At 45,000 sqm it is the largest of the four employment and industrial sites in the plan’s site schedule, more than twice the size of the next one.
Housing there is not just unlikely, it is prohibited
Trafford Park sits under Policy EJ2, which keeps the area “strictly for industrial, storage and distribution; manufacturing and logistics” and modern economy uses. The protection attached to it is unusually blunt. Policy EJ1 says the loss of employment sites and buildings “within Trafford Park (EJ2) will not be permitted”.
Everywhere else in the borough the bar is lower. On other designated employment land the loss is “strongly resisted” and a developer can argue its way past it by proving the site was actively marketed for employment use for 24 months, that there is no alternative site, and that there is a clear need for the new use. Inside Trafford Park none of that applies. The answer is no.
The council explains why at paragraph 6.23. It cites the Trafford Employment Land Review Update (2026) as showing sustained demand for mid to large industrial and warehousing units, and says any loss of employment land in Trafford Park “would undermine Trafford’s industrial land supply and economic resilience”.
What the council hopes turns up instead
Paragraph 6.22 names the uses it is chasing: “modern economy technology-based industries such as data centres, clean-tech and research and development facilities”.
The site policy also attaches conditions to whatever is built. Any scheme must:
- maximise the canal side setting through planting, public realm improvements and habitat enhancements
- retain and enhance landscaped boundaries
- provide active travel links within and around the site
- respond to nearby heritage, and the plan names one asset specifically, the Grade II listed war memorial outside All Saints’ Church
- make financial contributions towards transport, social and green infrastructure
The supporting text treats the plot as a front door. It calls this a “prominent gateway location” at the southern entrance to Trafford Park, and says the design of any scheme should “strongly represent the Trafford Park brand”. Paragraph 15.138 asks developers to make the most of the Trafford Park Metrolink stop nearby.
Where Kellanova stands
Kellanova’s published position on the factory has not moved since February 2024, when it set out a proposal to close the site at the end of 2026, putting around 360 jobs at possible risk.
Its reasoning on that page is about the building rather than the workforce. The site opened in 1938 and, the company says, “it’s laid out in a way that made sense in the 1930s, with food travelling up and down six floors to be made”. It adds that the investment needed to keep the factory going “is also simply not viable, particularly given we only use half of the space in the building”.
The company said its MediaCity office in Salford, employing around 520 people, was unaffected, as were the Wrexham factories and the St Helens distribution centre, which together employ around 400.
That page still carries placeholder contact details for employee enquiries. We found no Kellanova statement on what happens to the Trafford Park land, and the company is not the applicant behind the allocation. The allocation is the council’s.
What it means for you
- The deadline is 23:59 on Friday 18 September 2026. The Regulation 19 consultation opened on 6 August and this is the last chance to comment before a government inspector examines the plan. Comment through Citizen Space, or ask for a Word form on localplan.consultation@trafford.gov.uk or 0161 912 3149.
- Arguments about taste will not count. At this stage the council is only asking whether the plan is legally compliant and sound: positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy. “I would rather see homes there” is not a soundness point. “The Employment Land Review does not justify 45,000 sqm on this site by 2035/36” is.
- Anonymous responses are not accepted. Your name and your comment are published and passed to the Planning Inspectorate.
- If you want the wider picture, our earlier report on the five town-centre sites allocated for 373 homes in Altrincham and Sale covers the south of the borough, and our Altrincham planning news page tracks what happens next.
- After Friday: submission to the Government in December 2026, examination in spring 2027, adoption planned for 2027/28.
Sources
- Trafford Local Plan 2022-2039 Publication Version (July 2026), Trafford Council: site allocation AN13 (address, 11.90 ha, existing use, 45,000 sqm, phasing, site specific requirements A to F), Table 15-1 for the comparison with AN14, AN15 and AS4, Policy EJ1 clauses D and E for the loss of employment land, Policy EJ2 for Trafford Park, and paragraphs 6.22, 6.23, 15.136 and 15.138.
- Regulation 19 Consultation, Trafford Council, for the 6 August to 11:59pm 18 September 2026 dates, the soundness tests and how to respond.
- Proposal for our Trafford Park factory, Kellanova, published February 2024, for the closure proposal, the end of 2026 date, the around 360 jobs figure, the 1938 opening, the six-floor layout, the half-empty building and the MediaCity, Wrexham and St Helens employee numbers.
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