Coogan and Coe on board as Burnham ramps up regen plans
Actor Steve Coogan will co-chair a mayoral development corporation for his hometown Middleton, while four-time Olympic medallist Sebastian Coe has been selected to chair the MDC that will drive the regeneration of Old Trafford.
Speaking at an event in Manchester yesterday, the Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the city region was on the cusp of its “best decade since the Victorian era”, armed with a £630m integrated settlement.
Read the full Greater Manchester 2035 strategy.
In the recently launched Campfield, Burnham set out a 10-year strategy for Greater Manchester – to sit alongside a 10-year, £10bn pipeline of projects already announced – which included a recommitment to regenerate areas across the conurbation using the mayoral development corporation model that has been a success in Stockport.
Middleton, Bolton, and Ashton and Stalybridge town centres will get MDCs, and so will Atom Valley – which straddles Oldham, Rochdale, and Bury – and Old Trafford, where the redevelopment of Manchester United’s stadium forms the centrepiece of efforts to regenerate the area.
Steve Coogan, who grew up in Alkrington near Middleton in Rochdale borough, will co-chair the Middleton MDC alongside Rose Marley, chief executive of Co-operatives UK.
“Middleton is a town I want to help because it’s helped me,” Coogan said. “It was a great place to grow up and it did a lot for me.”
“Middleton [is] a place which has a strong sense of its own identity. I’ve done lots of live shows around the country and you get the best reaction from towns that know who they are, and Middleton people have got a sense of themselves.
“The Mayoral Development Corporation is a very exciting opportunity for me to put back into a community that was very good to me and helped me in my early years. I feel I owe the people of Middleton a debt.”
Lord Coe has been involved in the Old Trafford regeneration scheme from the outset. Credit: via Trafford Council
Meanwhile, Lord Coe, who chaired the Old Trafford Regeneration Taskforce, will take on the role as chair of the MDC for the area.
He said: “Throughout my career, I’ve seen the difference that sports-led regeneration can make in fostering strong communities and acting as a catalyst for economic growth. That was certainly true of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics – and now, I believe, Greater Manchester’s moment has come.
“Working with Trafford Council and the Mayor, there’s huge potential to bring new homes and jobs to the area around the Manchester United stadium.”
Coe is hopeful the new stadium will be built by 2035 – although no definitive timeline or funding plan are in place as yet – to be a host stadium for the women’s world cup.
Greater Manchester’s 10-year plan also features pledges to deliver more housing, new tram stops – including one in Stockport – build a new underground station at Piccadilly, and bring commuter lines into the Bee Network – all of which has already been announced.
Burnham said: “Our vision is ambitious, but in my eight years as Mayor, I’ve learned that, when we pull together, there’s nothing we can’t achieve. There’s a long and proud tradition of collaboration in Greater Manchester. Devolution has turbocharged that and now we’re ready to deliver a new model of growth where no one is left behind.”
“back of the net”
By Partridge
Proper mass transit system with underground is a must for Manchester now for it to truly fulfil its potential. Traffic is getting worse every year. Urban areas half the size of Manchester in most other developed countries with a proper network. Mertolink has and will continue to serve its purpose but we need more now
By Bob
Not to be rude but what are Coogan’s relevant qualifications?
By Anonymous
Really looking forward to Alan Partridge’s and Mister Coe’s fully qualified ideas on Urban Design. Maybe they can get Alan Titchmarsh and Adrian Chiles to advise on economic policy.
By Anonymous
Will he use his own persona, or Alan Partridge.
By Anonymous
Coogan must really love Middleton, to offer to do this from his home in Brighton
By Anonymous
The role of the chair of an MDC is to mobilise and get people to the table, not to be a subject expert. We know that Coe can do that, I don’t know if Coogan can, but his profile won’t hurt those efforts. I guess splitting Middleton and Atom Valley MDC’s was political, but it does seem like it lessens the profile of both of them.
By Local Interest
Will he be dead against pedestrianising Middleton town centre ?
By PLF_Cloud_Cuckoo_Land
Not exactly a compelling story for the Olympic sports led legacy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-62052032
By Manc
Does Steve Coogan have any relevant experience he’s been very modest about up to now, or is this just Andy wanting to hang out with the cool kids again?
Really not sure why the GM boroughs are now falling over themselves to have MDCs. Now politics has entered choppy waters it just gives Andy – and now it would seem his showbiz pal(s) – the chance to take credit for anything positive that does happen, something he’s never shy about doing anyway, while simultaneously making the point that there is hardly anyone any good at regen in most of the 10 town halls.
By Rotringer
And Coogan is qualified to do this by what exactly?
By Manc
The Baron and Alan, southern based, northern regenerators.Do we not have locally based , inspirational & experienced leadership.
By Anon
The boys are back in the barracks!
By Alan Partridge
Hopefully Steve and the MDC will REGENERATE, ie bring back to use
The former Methodist Chapel, Market Street
The former Durnford Street School
Derelict land at the bottom of Wood Street
While we are waiting for Metrolink trams there could be a new station at Hopwood to serve the college, Stakehill Industrial Estate, park and ride to Manchester/Leeds and the proposed future zoo at Hopwood Hall College.
In the meantime a good start would be for Steve to have a photo shoot with the developer to push the plunger and blow up London House and start the regeneration of Warwick Mill
Come on, let’s do it!
By Alan Bennett
Does Burnage need re-generating?
By Anonymous
They are figureheads. The spadework will be done by many others. It’s the the£10bn pipeline of projects I’m more interested in. Old Trafford is just one part of that. Good time for Manchester to really kick in now.
By Anonymous
@ 5:19 pm Steve Coogan’s probably a better shout than Rochdale Council then?
By Anonymous
As per Alans’s Mid Morning Matters series he did a ‘who do you think you are’ piece, and established one of his distant relatives was involved in ‘one of the most important pieces of town planning that Norwich has ever seen’, so maybe it runs in the family.
By Chapofsteel
Shaun Ryder & Bez would get my vote for a Salford MDC
By Grimly Fiendish
Wasn’t Coe one of the reasons Manchester lost the Olympic bids? Didn’t he say, “Only London can host the Olympics, not Birmingham or Manchester and we won’t get the bid unless it’s London?” He may have been right but why is he and plastic Southerner Coogan, now picked to promote Greater Manchester? If you want to support the North Steve, spend your money here.
By Elephant
A worrying lack of seriousness in some of this. A total disregard for the role of local government and a superficial grab for headlines from Burnham. If everywhere ends up with a MDC who pays for them?
By Anonymous
Coe is obviously there to lobby for public money to be spent on a new stadium.
By Anonymous