Metro mayor Burnham behind Stalybridge regeneration plans

Greater Manchester metro mayor Andy Burnham has hailed regeneration plans for the former mill town Stalybridge following its nomination as a contender in the his GM Town Centre Challenge.

Launched in November, the challenge aims to foster collaboration between industry and public bodies to unlock the potential of the city region’s towns, making their centres “world class” places to live, shop and do business.

Stalybridge was unveiled as Tameside’s nominee and on Monday (March 19) a summit was convened by Burnham and Tameside Council to co-ordinate the best approach.

With local authorities becoming increasingly active participants in the property market, the challenge aims to provide a platform for them to collaborate with landowners, developers, and national bodies such as Housing England, to use their statutory powers to remove the barriers that affect the viability of town centre developments.

Burnham said: “Tameside Council’s ambitious and wide-ranging plans for the regeneration of Stalybridge are impressive.

“In fact, only a matter of weeks ago I was here speaking to journalists from the BBC about how the town centre is being transformed.

“It is vital that proud Greater Manchester towns like Stalybridge benefit from regeneration and the economic success of the city region.

“I want us to do things differently, for our town centres to become thriving hubs. This bold aspiration is at the heart of my Town Centre Challenge, which aims to kick-start redevelopment across our city-region’s 10 boroughs, and I welcome Stalybridge’s nomination.”

Tameside Council executive leader Cllr Brenda Warrington said: “I’m delighted by how the property sector has come together along with the community and voluntary sector to work with us on the challenge of pushing forward Stalybridge.

“The council has already shown our willingness to intervene to drive development in the town centre, with 67 apartments at Summers Quay and 103 in Longlands Mill being prime examples. I fully intend that we work with the property industry to build on these successes.

“We have a golden opportunity before us to work together to come up with a vision for regeneration that is unique and bespoke to Stalybridge and Greater Manchester.”

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