Bury set to trigger £80m transport programme
Approval next week for infrastructure including a new footbridge will set in motion a wider improvement programme at the town’s transport interchange.
Transport for Greater Manchester is the applicant for the project, which will be considered at planning committee on Tuesday 22 July, and will give Bury’s tram terminus a southern access.
A standalone project, it will allow tram users continued access to Metrolink once the main phase of works kick off, potentially in 2027, closing much of Bury’s interchange.
The project is being advanced by a team featuring contractor Willmott Dixon, architect Hawkins\Brown, Oobe, CBRE, Renaissance and FutureServ.
Full consent is sought for the infill of an existing underpass, along with engineering works including remediation works and foundation/piling works, to recontour the land within Pyramid Park.
Also seeking to get full sign-off is the construction of a fully accessible pedestrian bridge structure, including alterations to Metrolink-related infrastructure, across the existing tram line to allow access between Knowsley Place, the Metrolink platform (via lift and stairs) and Pyramid Park.
Further parts of the project include improvements to the existing Metrolink platforms and canopies; lighting, construction of a new sloped footpath with stairs within Pyramid Park from the bridge, landscaping, and associated drainage.
The project is described by TfGM as the first part of a phased improvement programme at Bury interchange, and will open up a new route between Union Square to the west and Pyramid Park to the east, replacing a shut-down subway that even when used, is described as unwelcoming in the officers’ report.
Modifications have been made to the bridge design, with the intention now being for it to be 3m wide rather than 2m, as originally planned.
Pyramid Park is in itself a development project for Bury, with consent recently given for remediation works ahead of the site’s promotion as a 7.4-acre residential area. In a separate project, plans have been validated this month for an office-to-residential conversion at nearby Lester House.
The over-arching goal of the Bury transport interchange overhaul is for it to be TfGM’s first major facility to be net zero in operation.
Documents relating to the project can be viewed on Bury Council’s planning portal, with the reference 71834.
They should make the sides of the bridge out of hardened glass, so as to give everybody a grand view of the area.
By James Hay