Bury to sign off £14m for Prestwich ‘travel hub’
The 300-space car park forms the first phase of Muse and the council’s £100m plan to overhaul the Longfield Shopping Centre.
Bury Council’s cabinet will meet next week to approve spending £14m from its pre-approved capital programme to develop the travel hub.
The scheme will be located on Fairfax Road. Delivering the travel hub first will unlock other sites for redevelopment in later phases, including the Rectory Lane Car Park.
Approval of the funding package could pave the way for a start on site later this year. The build is expected to take around 12 months.
But first, Bury Council’s planning committee will have to sign off the scheme at a meeting later this month.
As well as the car park, the application Muse and Bury submitted earlier this year outlines plans for up to 210 homes across three blocks rising to seven storeys, a 30,000 sq ft community hub, 20,000 sq ft of flexible retail and leisure spaces, and a market hall.
The project team features Asteer Planning, Jon Matthews Architects, Planit, and Civic Engineers.
To learn more, search for planning reference 70449 on Bury Council’s planning portal.
What makes this a ‘travel hub’ rather than just a car park? If developers and councils want to be environmentally friendly, they need to stop building car parks, rather than just trying to rebrand them
By Anonymous
This is good news. It makes sense to get the car park started, since the next phases involve removing the existing surface car park. Businesses would need somewhere their customers can still park while the new precinct gets built
By EOD
This is somewhere the parking is needed, regardless of active travel aspirations.
However, can someone explain what makes it a “Travel Hub” and not a multi-storey car park, perhaps with a cycle rack?
By Anonymous
Not sure what to make of pitching the redevelopment of an existing 350-space free car park into a 300-space fee based “transport hub” as a necessary prerequisite to developing the town. There has been a “consultation” of the local populace, but it is hard to imagine anyone welcoming this withdrawal of parking. If I wanted to build something resembling a space-age mortuary adjacent to a historic church, I imagine Bury Council would have something to say about it, but for the cause of promoting “active travel”, we can sweep aside any such silly concerns.
By Anonymous
Here we go again!!! Hi rise bricks / concrete jungles, with NO doctors, schools or shops. Lack of safety. Just look at the ‘High rises’ around gt. manchester…People involved only innit for the money…
By Anonymous
About time
By A holden
What about spending some money on Whitefield!
No post office,no library, plenty of hairdressers,bail bars and eating places but nothing else. Not even a decent place to have functions !
By Anonymous
A cycle stand and a parcel locker does not a “Travel Hub” make!
This is just a rebranded multi-storey car park to make it seem more palatable.
The Rectory Lane car park could genuinely become a travel hub, with integrated bus stops and a direct link into the Metrolink station.
By Prescotian
How about spending it on local potholes, rather doing something the majority of locals don’t want.
By Doctee