Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has approved a £5.3m loan to build new apartments in Stockport – without any affordable housing in the plans.

The Apsley Street scheme, based off Wellington Street and Churchgate in the town centre, was given the green light in January 2021 and will see 34 new homes built on the site with help from the GMCA cash.

For its part, the developer – Apsley Street Development Ltd – is stumping up £160k to support affordable housing elsewhere in Stockport, as well as £150k towards local open space and children's amenities. But there are major concerns about the cost of buying a home in Stockport, partly fuelled by a lack of affordable housing.

The problem has contributed to 'unprecedented' levels of homelessness in the borough, and a social housing register with 8,000 people and a 12-year wait. A government report published in December revealed that Stockport has one of the lowest housebuilding rates in the country, having built just over half the homes it needs between 2020 to 2023.

Temporary accommodation costs have also soared, with Stockport set to spend around £1m funding emergency housing this year.

Stockport MP Navendu Mishra last year sounded the alarm about the situation in a letter to council leader Mark Hunter, saying there was an "ever worsening crisis of supply and demand" for housing in the borough.

The GMCA report about the loan stated that the Apsley Street scheme will 'support the redevelopment of a brownfield site,' and that the loan was recommended for approval by the Fund's credit committee.

The authority's Housing Investment Loans Fund has helped create more than 11,000 new homes around the region in total, with loan offers made at more than £1bn.

But it recently came under scrutiny after a legal challenge by Aubrey Weis, owner of Weis Group, around loans awarded to property developer Renaker.

The group accused the GMCA of handing out loans to a major developer at a rate of interest below 'commercial terms', which they say 'distorted the operation of the market for property investment.'

The GMCA said it has been delivering investment loans for a number of years and that it is "confident in [its] processes."

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