Hough to leave East Manchester role
ROBERT Hough, the new chairman of the North West Development Agency, is set to stand down from his role with urban regeneration company New East Manchester.
Mr Hough, who succeeded Bryan Gray at the NWDA in August, will leave NEM at the end of the year to avoid any possible conflict of interest with his new post, chief executive Eddie Smith said.
Mr Smith told TheBusinessDesk: “Robert is still the chairman but I would expect him to leave by the end of the year.
“He is a fantastic individual to work with and has done an excellent job over the last seven years at New East Manchester. His stewardship of the organisation has been great and I hope Robert will leave on a high with some very positive announcements for East Manchester by the end of the year.”
Mr Smith was speaking after the official opening of bakery chain Greggs’ new £16m, 750,000 sq ft factory on Greenside Street off Ashton Old Road in East Manchester.
The relocation of the bakery was made possible through a joint initiative between Manchester City Council, New East Manchester and Greggs assisted by a grant from the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA).
Ian Pegg, general manager for Greggs, said: “We have invested heavily in new equipment including some brand new ovens and have introduced a new, state of the art computerised dispatching system.
“This high-tech manufacturing plant has already made a positive impact on our business in terms of significant productivity improvements which is extremely pleasing particularly in these challenging times.”
