THREE huge developments in Salford have all ground to a halt  because of the recession.

Canopus Towers - a planned pair of skyscrapers hailed as the city's tallest and `the most sought after address' - is now fenced off and barren after developers BS Construction went into administration.

And plans for a £600m urban village off Middlewood Road and an `urban beach' on the Irwell have both stalled.

The council was advised by a government body three times not to approve the £180m Canopus scheme at Greengate on the banks of the Irwell but granted permission in December 2007.

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, which advises on new buildings, said the plan was inappropriate and unrealistic.

The `twin towers' would have been the tallest in Salford, rivalling Manchester's 550ft high Beetham Tower.

Council leader John Merry said: "I don't accept that it was unwise to approve the application. We did take CABE's comments seriously but their verdict is not the deciding factor in planning applications.

"We are confident that the whole of the regeneration of that area will be completed."

But planning officer Tim Hartley admitted they were unlikely to find someone to take on the towers.

He said: "It seems a 46-storey development is too big to be attractive to a developer."

Salford's Tory group leader Coun Karen Garrido said: "I suspect that the project won't be realised now. An application will have to be put in for something else.

"It's disappointing, but I have a feeling we will see more empty sites like this appear, simply because of the economic climate."

The Middlewood Locks homes were approved in 2003 and the `beach' plan given the nod a year later.

The four-acre `beach' site would have included four blocks of apartments, private gardens, underground parking and steps to a riverside man-made beach.

A spokeswoman for developers Urban Splash said: "As yet we do not have a definitive timescale for the development of this project. It remains a key site for Urban Splash."

Middlewood Locks would have included 1,700 homes. Part of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal was re-opened as part of the development.

A short walk from Manchester city centre, it was described in 2004 as `Manchester's contemporary waterside quarter'.

Coun Derek Antrobus, Salford's planning boss, said work at all three had stopped because of `financing issues'.

But he said he was confident the projects would be taken up by another developer, particularly at Middlewood where there has already been heavy investment in infrastructure.

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