A new cinema, a smaller shopping space, and plans to turn Bolton into the main hub for town centre offices in north Greater Manchester are among major plans currently under consideration.
The Greater Manchester Planning and Housing Commission has carried out a study into Greater Manchester’s eight main town centres and formed an action plan of how they can work together to combat online retail and out-of-town expansions.
The study looked at the strengths and weaknesses of Altrincham, Ashton, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Wigan and formed a list of recommendations.
Bolton town centre could become the hub for town centre office and commercial development as it has strong transport links and is close to Bolton’s university and colleges, which are a source of skilled labour.
The report said retail should be concentrated on a smaller area around Bolton market and town centre shopping centres, and it also supported the development of town centre housing. Other recommendations included;
The report found a number of current strengths in Bolton, however it also highlighted a number of problems, including direct competition from close proximity to Middlebrook out-of-town retail and office area, which it said was “considered by many as the primary investment location” in the north of Greater Manchester.
Town centres are graded for their retail offers and only Bolton, Bury and Oldham have developed in the last 10 years, with Bolton placed 66th on a national scale and fifth in the North West after Manchester, Preston, Chester and Liverpool.
It was also the 41st most at risk, lower than all the others with the exception of Wigan — ranked at 137th, which the report said was because it was more remote than the other Greater Manchester town centres.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is due to discuss the report shortly and could approve the creation of a new town centre fund to help implement some of the recommendations.
Bolton Council’s director of development and regeneration, Keith Davies said the next move would be to implement a further study on what Bolton could offer in terms of offices to help attract would-be occupiers.
He added: “The report is basically saying we’ve been doing the right things. Town centres have always been an important place for people to gather.
“Go out in Bolton town centre on any day of the week and you will see people gathering and it’s about providing the right environment for people to do that.
“Bringing people into the town centre for office work or to live is what the future will look like, not just in Bolton but for town centres in general.”
Previous Post
Developers Win Battle of Waterloo
No related posts found for this post.
