Property sector rises to meet Stalybridge’s Town Centre Challenge

Launched in November last year, the Town Centre Challenge aims to foster collaboration between the industry and public bodies to unlock the potential of Greater Manchester’s towns, making their centres world class places to live, shop and do business.

Stalybridge was announced as Tameside’s nominee and on Monday (March 19) a summit was convened in the former mill town by Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy 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 utilise their statutory powers to remove the barriers that affect the viability of town centre developments.

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. For plans to be successful, it must work with the industry and heritage of the area and we must also seek the views of our young people as it is ultimately their future we are looking to design”

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, 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.”

Stalybridge’s location in the foothills of the Pennines, with canal and river frontages, excellent transport and digital connectivity and mix of development plots, makes it a prime contender to be pushed forward by a collaborative approach.

The summit’s attendees were called upon to provide their insight and experience to address some of the barriers and issues that must be overcome to enable the vision to become reality. The workshop session, led by Tameside Council Chief Executive Steven Pleasant, dug into issues such as planning, conservation and financial viability, with a range of possible approaches to overcoming these barriers discussed.