Major Blow for Salford Skyscraper as Approval Thrown Out Over Conflict of Interest

Plans for what would become Greater Manchester's tallest tower have hit a setback after Salford City Council's legal department upheld a complaint alleging a conflict of interest in the original approval process.

Henley Investment Management secured planning approval last November for a scheme that would partly demolish Regent Retail Park and replace it with about 3,300 homes spread across 10 buildings. The development includes a skyscraper of more than 76 storeys, which would make it the tallest building in the region and the tallest outside London.

The scheme faced significant local opposition before it was approved. More than 460 residents raised concerns about over-development and the strain new housing would place on local infrastructure. Salford MP Rebecca Long-Bailey and several sitting and former councillors also lodged formal objections against the proposal.

The Save Regent Retail Park campaign group later filed a complaint that has now been upheld by the council. It centred on councillor Philip Cusack, who chaired the planning committee at the time of the decision and also served as a director of Derive, the council's social housing company.

Henley's proposals committed to providing 660 homes for social rent, a detail the campaign group argued created a potential future link to Derive and therefore represented an undeclared conflict for Cusack.

Cusack said he had understood there was no contractual relationship between Derive and the developer when the application was heard. He added that council officers had told him the social housing element would be handled separately through a lease rather than the planning application itself, and that he believed on that basis he had nothing to declare.

The planning application has not been withdrawn and remains listed on the council's planning portal, though its decision notice has been taken down. A council spokesperson confirmed the scheme is still under consideration and will return before the Planning and Transportation Regulatory Panel at a future date, describing the issue as a procedural matter that needs to be addressed rather than grounds for scrapping the application.

Henley said it intends to press ahead with the development, which it noted would deliver more than 3,000 homes, roughly a quarter of them for social rent, alongside public amenities for the surrounding community. The developer said it was in close contact with the council as the procedural issue is resolved.

Campaigners have signalled they will keep opposing the tower when the application returns to committee. Miranda Clarke of the Save Regent Retail Park group said the reversal showed the strength of a united local community, and that residents would organise again against a scheme they believe adds no value to the area.

The case adds to a string of recent disputes in the UK over planning committee governance, where conflicts involving council-linked housing bodies have increasingly drawn scrutiny from campaign groups and elected officials alike.