A council looks set to approve plans for an apartment block it is building despite it falling outside its own development guidelines.
Trafford Council is jointly applying for permission to build 251 apartments at the former Stretford Mall site.
A planning report said that there would be no affordable homes in the scheme, no new parking spaces, and that the project would be of a “substantially greater density” than the council’s own policies allowed.
But the authority said it would be the most dense phase of the wider regeneration scheme, which overall would be within the rules.
Stretford Mall opened in 1969 as the Stretford Arndale, and was one of the largest shopping centres of its type in the UK.
It faced significant competition from the 2000s onwards from the nearby Trafford Centre, and in 2023 Trafford Council and developer Bruntwood joined forces to create a development plan for the site.
The mall closed down in February and is currently being demolished.