Advice needed on Nice areas and Bad areas in Trafford Borough (Greater Manchester)

[JumpAndHope]

Me, DH, DD and DS are planning to relocate to Trafford in the near future.
We are from London and moving because of work and for the good reputation of schools (both primary and secondary).

Our key requirements are to give the kids a safe, secure and family friendly surrounding/environment to grow up in. Plus being around a good primary and secondary school.
My children are young and will start have primary school in just over a years time.

Our budget is around the £450K mark.

We would really like to get some advice on any areas to look at or more importantly to avoid!

Our initial research shows Timperley being a decent area to consider.
Other than that we are not sure.

Thanks.

As a whole I don't think there are many areas to avoid in Trafford tbh. I guess driving through the main road in Stretford is a bit hit and miss but there's plans to regenerate the main shopping area. We were actually looking in Trafford recently with the same budget of £450k. Over the last few years, prices have shot up in areas like Sale, Timperley, Urmston etc...and we quickly realised we were going to struggle to get a decent sized period/character semi with kerb appeal, off-road parking and garden. South Manchester which mostly includes the boroughs of Trafford and Stockport are the most expensive areas in Manchester so you do pay a premium for living there.

We haven't got kids so can't help there but we ended up focusing our search on Sale and Urmston within Trafford. Altrincham is very desirable but we had to compromise massively on the house for £450k - 3 bed terrace with no parking and just a yard. Timperley is meant to be lovely and not that far from Altrincham but we just preferred the vibe in Sale and Urmston.

Sale (and Brooklands) would be our ultimate choice - good range of independent bars and eateries, plenty of green space nearby and good links to Manchester. The canal is great and links up to Sale Water Park and there's some great housing stock in the area.

From what we can gather well presented properties in the popular areas sell in the matter of days so you have to be quick!

Prices in Trafford are largely determined by school catchments and access to the Metrolink. If you don't need to commute into Manchester or aren't bothered about easy access then you will probably get more for your money. Urmston and Flixton have train links into Manchester. If you're driving to commute then I would factor that in as the traffic in the area is horrendous!
As a general rule it tends to get "posher" the further away from Manchester you get. Your budget probably won't stretch to much in Hale and Bowdon.
Personally I would avoid most parts of Stretford and Old Trafford if you have £450k to spend.
Urmston centre has had a lot of renovation in recent years and is now quite nice and has some useful shops and cafes etc.
Timperley is very suburban - lots of groups and clubs for families and good schools but not much "vibe" if you get what I mean.
For me, choice would be determined by school catchments and commute.

Metrolink would be a bonus but not critical because we can work from home, our priority is more a nice, safe children friendly environment. Maybe near a nice park might be nice we thought. Dont get me wring I wouldn't want to live right next to one but within a short walk might be nice. Anyhow not essential.

We kind of agree , we should be focussing around the primary schools we had in mind. It seems there are many. The following we have been led to believe are pretty good and mostly around the Timperley area.
Any other suggestions or insight welcome.

Park Road Academy
Tyntesfield Primary
Brooklands Primary
Heyes Lane Primary
Willows Primary
Cloverlea Primary
Broadheath Primary

I’m in the exact area you describe & my children attend one of the schools listed. Timperley is a great community and you can’t really go wrong with any of those schools above. For your budget you will be able to get a 3/4 bed house I would say. There are loads of parks around here so that shouldn’t be too difficult. If you have any specific questions/see any houses and want any thoughts on location feel free to PM me

Park road is pretty hard to get into unless you live directly on the roads around it.

The downside of the roads around Park Road school is that the traffic at that end of Park Road is awful - if you look on a map it's not unusual for it to queue back over the metrolink bridge going towards Washway Road. On the plus side, you're close to the Metrolink, got some shops / takeaways on Park Road and Washway Road, easy access to the canal to walk/cycle and there's a small park at the end of Leys Road and Walton Park within walking distance.
Brooklands and Tyntesfield used to have very good academic reputations but also for being a bit of a "hot house" for 11 plus passing, I'm not sure what they are like now though. There's some nice housing around Brooklands Road but it's expensive and check the catchment carefully as some of it is Manchester not Trafford.
There's some nice housing in the Willows catchment (Mossgrove Road / Grove Lane / Bloomsbury Lane area) although you're a bit further away from the Metrolink, but walking distance to Timperley village shops etc.
Some people used to put off Heyes Lane because it had the Grange council estate in its catchment but I don't think that's ever really been an issue. You could probably get a decent 3-4 bed semi within walking distance of Timperley Metrolink in their catchment area and be within walking distance of the village - look at the streets just off Park Road.
It's years ago but some of the nicest children I've ever met went to Cloverlea so I always assumed it had a good ethos to it (might have been the parents but kids that school never caused us any grief at youth groups). Downside is that you're further from the Metrolink (too far to walk even by my energetic standards) but you could walk to Altrincham or Timperley Village. You'll probably get a bit more for your money in housing because it's further out.
I don't know Broadheath as well but the need to constantly drive along Manchester Road would put me off as there's not really any other way out unless you're heading down to the lanes towards Partington.

Not sure what you mean OP what you mean when you say your children are starting school in little over a year's time? Do you mean Sept 2021? If so, the deadline for applications is 15 Jan 2021 and you'll need to be a Trafford resident by then to apply (subject to a few exceptions). Have a good read through the "applying for a primary school place" part of the Trafford website. It also tells you what you have to provide if you move into Trafford at any point in the offer year (so if you want a school place for 2021, at any time between 1st Sept 2020 & 31st Aug 2021). When we moved into Trafford about a month before applying for school places, we had to provide the solicitor's completion statement showing we'd sold our old house, and either exchange of contracts in new house / at least 12 month tenancy.

I would recommend renting if you can - we only moved from about 50 miles away and I knew the area I wanted (and got DC into the school we wanted) but didn't buy on any of the roads I'd originally had in mind.

Also, the schools dont tend to change very much so consider secondary school catchment too. Don't assume that your children will fly into the grammar schools so make sure the house would give you a couple of options.