Development land in Greater Manchester: 2,321 brownfield sites
The 10 planning authorities in Greater Manchester have published 2,321 sites on their brownfield land registers — land the councils themselves assessed as suitable for housing. Together: about 2,145 hectares and an estimated 140,462 dwellings of capacity.
Rank these sites with constraints netted off →
Which councils hold the land
Every authority publishes its register separately, so these totals exist nowhere else. Click a council for its full register.
| Authority | Sites | Hectares | Max dwellings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | 616 | 403 | 58,358 |
| Salford | 526 | 378 | 45,984 |
| Wigan | 226 | 475 | 9,953 |
| Tameside | 204 | 103 | 6,280 |
| Oldham | 161 | 108 | 5,799 |
| Rochdale | 153 | 127 | 5,473 |
| Bolton | 149 | 214 | — |
| Stockport | 116 | 179 | 4,352 |
| Bury | 108 | 115 | 4,263 |
| Trafford | 62 | 45 | — |
The ten metropolitan boroughs of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Largest sites in Greater Manchester
| Site | Authority | Hectares | Max dwellings |
|---|---|---|---|
| South of Hindley Wigan | Wigan | 109.0 | 2000 |
| Woodford Aerodrome, Chester Road, Woodford, Stockport, SK7 1QR | Stockport | 108.7 | 600 |
| Land At Former Horwich Loco Works, Horwich, Bolton | Bolton | 76.7 | — |
| Creating a New Pendleton (phases 2-4) | Salford | 57.0 | 869 |
| Creating a New Pendleton (outline consent) | Salford | 52.2 | 554 |
| SHLAA0449 | Wigan | 42.7 | — |
| Northleigh | Wigan | 42.5 | 982 |
| Westwood Park Wigan | Wigan | 28.9 | 429 |
| Holt Town | Manchester | 25.6 | 4030 |
| East Lancs Paper Mill Site, Rectory Lane, Radcliffe | Bury | 23.0 | 400 |
| MediaCity / Quayside regeneration framework area | Salford | 22.2 | 3200 |
| Westleigh Waterfront, Plank Lane, Leigh | Wigan | 20.8 | 470 |
Source: the councils’ own brownfield land registers, published via planning.data.gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0. 91 further entries repeat the area of a site already listed (councils often record a whole site's area against each phase), so that land is counted once. 764 of the 2321 sites (33%) state no dwelling capacity, so the capacity figure covers the 1557 that do — the real total is higher.
Before you get attached to one
A register entry is not planning permission and not an offer to sell. It records that the council thinks housing could work there. Whether the owner agrees is a separate conversation, and whether a scheme gets approved is a third.
- Net off the constraints first. Green belt, Flood Zone 3 and listed buildings kill more register sites than anything else.
- The dwelling figure is the council’s opinion. 140,462 across Greater Manchester is a planning-policy estimate, not a set of designs.
- Price it off recorded sales. HM Land Registry Price Paid tells you what actually sold; work the residual land value from there.
- England has no zoning. The Local Plan and the Use Classes Order decide what is achievable, application by application.
How to read a register entry properly → · Five ways to find UK development land →
GoSiteHunt is an advertising and analysis platform, not a real estate agent or planning consultancy. Everything here is indicative screening from public data — not a valuation, not planning advice, and never a substitute for the councils’ own records or your own professional advisers.