Chancellor praises Airport City masterplan
Mr Osborne, whose Tatton constituency includes the Airport’s second runway, praised Airport City as a “great coming together” of a local idea and a national initiative in the form of enterprise zones.
“They have come together at the right time and fit very well – it’s exactly the sort of scheme we wanted to do.”
Praising the airport and city council chiefs for their planning around the concept over the last few years, he said Airport City was the “best developed and most advanced” of any of the 24 enterprise zones the government has created.
He added: “It’ll be good for Manchester, good for the North West and good for Britain.”
The site was designated as one of the government’s new Enterprise Zones last March, and the zone will become operational from April 2012 for a 15-year period.
As part of the zone, a new MediPark development at University Hospital South Manchester and Wythenshawe town centre will be developed, which will be linked by the new Metrolink tramline currently under construction.
Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Airport City will fill the gap in the market that currently exists for a high quality and well-connected environment for businesses that need access to a major British city and to a global marketplace.
“Airport City will provide an innovative and complementary offer to Greater Manchester’s existing assets, rather than competing against them, adding new capacity to the city’s existing dynamic economy.”
The detailed two-stage masterplan identifies the creation of two core Airport City zones. The first is a development area next to the airport’s existing railway station and to north of the M56, which will focus on hotel, office, retail and advanced manufacturing sites.
The second second next to the existing cargo centre at Junction 6 of the M56, will focus on freight and logistics uses.
A landscaped ‘Central Park’ area of over 800m long will run through the spine of 
the development and will feature retail outlets, coffee houses, bars and restaurants.
The Central Park will also integrate with the existing green space at Painswick Park in order to provide better links from Wythenshawe’s Woodhouse Park housing estate to aid regeneration efforts.
Charlie Cornish, chief executive of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), said: “Airport City is a concept we have been developing for a number of years and we are now at a critical stage in the project’s life as we bring it to the market and commence phase one.
“We were enthused by the Government’s recognition of Airport City’s potential when it was named as the focal point of their new Enterprise Zone, as we feel that this project presents a generational opportunity not only for the wider region, but nationally in order to attract new investment to the UK during the economic downturn.”
