THE first £66.3m of loans from Greater Manchester's £300m Devo Manc housing investment fund have been awarded.

Campaigners will be irked to learn the council has awarded over £10m of the fund to the Peel Group's controversial Pomona Wharf scheme

The housing fund - announced by Chancellor George Osborne in November 2014 - formed part of the region's wider devolution package.

Under the Devo Manc agreement between the Treasury and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), a mayor for Greater Manchester - elected in 2017 - will oversee devolved powers including: transport, planning, policing, housing and control of the region's £6bn health budget.

According to the council, the £300m fund to boost housing in Greater Manchester will support 'an additional 15,000 homes across the region over a 10-year period'.

Though, with 22% of the fund committed to just over 1000 new homes, looks like that remaining £233.7m will have to go a long way.

The schemes supported so far:

- £23.7m - LQ Developments - 301 apartments and 6 town houses - Water Street, Manchester

- £17.31m - FICM - 380 apartments - Trinity Way, Salford

- £10.3m - Rowlinson Developments and Peel - 164 apartments - Pomona, Trafford

- £9.74m - Belgravia Living - 91 apartments - Tariff Street, Manchester

- £3.76m - THT Developments - 32 apartments and 9 town houses - Woodfield Road, Trafford

- £1.45m - Roman Investments - 20 semi-detached homes - Boundary Park, Oldham

.Pomona Wharf or Torremolinos?

Campaigners from the #SavePomona movement will be irked to learn that the council has awarded over £10m of the fund to the Peel Group's controversial Pomona Wharf scheme.

In July Peel and contractor Rowlinson submitted plans for the 164 apartment Nichol Thomas-designed scheme at the north western part of Pomona Island to Trafford Council.

POMONA ISLAND - THE BACKGROUND

However, campaigners have called the scheme 'cheap' and 'bereft of ambition' and argue that the old dockland site - a faux island created by canals and mostly deserted since the early 1970s - has returned to 'a very natural and wild place'. Indeed, according to a recent report, Pomona Island is home to over 150 plant species, migrating birds from Africa, water voles and otters.

Regardless, Peel - who own the land - plan to construct in excess of 2500 dwellings in 'high density form' on Pomona.

As Confidential's Jonathan Schofield states here, it appears the developer has 'abandoned aspiration and ambition in favour of brutal utility'.

WATCH | POMONA ISLAND (2014) - a short documentary by George Haydock