Trafford Rye Bank Community Garden re-listed as an Asset of Community Value for a further five years

Trafford Council has formally re-listed the Trafford Rye Bank Community Garden as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), extending its protected status for a further five years from 11 May 2026.

The decision recognises that the garden, which has been created and maintained by local residents on the community-occupied land at the head of the Rye Bank Road cul-de-sac in Firswood, continues to function, in the Council's words, “as a community centre, furthering the social wellbeing and interests of the local community.”

The garden has been developed and stewarded by the Trafford Rye Bank Residents Association since 2018, with the support of Trafford Council, Trafford Housing Trust, local councillors, the Mayor of Trafford and the wider community and local businesses. It was first listed as an Asset of Community Value on 20 May 2021.

In the years since, the garden has become something genuinely rare: a free, open, daily-used community space at the gateway to Longford Park. It has a children’s play area, a bug hotel, a tiny library for book swaps as part of the Manchester Little Library Trail, summer and Christmas street parties, outdoor performances and mental health sessions, and gatherings of all kinds. It has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's “It's Your Neighbourhood — Thriving” (Level 4) accolade two years running.

Jan Marsden, Chair of the Trafford Rye Bank Residents Association, said:

“This re-listing recognises something the whole community already knows, that what has been built on this much-loved piece of community-occupied land matters. It is a meeting place, a children’s play space, a gateway to Longford Park, and a place where people who might never otherwise have met have come to know each other. We are deeply grateful to Trafford Council for once again standing with the residents who created and care for it, and to the Longford councillors (past and present) for their full support of our efforts to protect the garden for the wider community and for generations to come.”

The re-listing comes against the backdrop of a live planning application before Trafford Council (reference 115688/FUL/25) for a vehicular access road that would destroy this much-loved and well-used community asset built using taxpayers' money. The Residents Association has objected to the proposal and is working with planning experts to ensure all protection measures for the asset of community value are explored.

For the Residents Association, this re-listing is a clear signal of the weight Trafford Council places on community-built spaces, and a reminder of this garden's value to many residents in Trafford and the neighbouring Manchester boroughs.