SOLD OUT | Crompton Place and beyond: how Bolton’s town centre is evolving

Councillor Nick Peel is Leader of Bolton Council and is the Greater Manchester Combined Authority portfolio lead for the Digital City-Region. First elected to the council in 2000, he has held a number of cabinet portfolios covering children’s services, housing, environmental services, regulatory services, the economy, and skills, as well as serving as Chairman of Planning. A proud Boltonian, Nick is an enthusiastic ambassador for his home town and is always ready to champion Bolton’s many economic, cultural and sporting achievements. As leader, one of his key priorities is the ongoing transformation of Bolton Town Centre including the flagship redevelopment of Crompton Place. The regeneration and economic wellbeing of the wider borough are at the heart of his vision for the future.

An accountant by training, Sue joined Bolton Council in 2008 as Deputy Treasurer, later becoming Treasurer, Corporate Director and Deputy Chief Executive before being appointed Chief Exec in 2022. Sue’s priority is building and strengthening relationships with key stakeholders, including employers, investors and developers. Sue has overall responsibility for the council’s regeneration masterplan, a comprehensive vision for redevelopment backed by policies to boost local investment, attract more visitors and capitalise on Bolton’s unrivalled cultural offer. She is passionate about projects that give Bolton residents the opportunity to enhance their physical and mental wellbeing.

Dan joined MEPC in 2020 as development director to lead on the NOMA development in Manchester reporting into the head of development. Dan recently received a promotion to regional development director for the Northwest and is responsible for growing the business in this region. His previous roles included positions at Kier Property Development, Bilfinger GVA (now Avison Young) and Knight Frank. Dan has a development agency background and relevant experience across various sectors of the market including retail, hotel, PBSA, industrial and, most recently, office development at NOMA. He works closely with the Federated Hermes fund and investment managers to align stakeholder strategy and objectives. He also has previous experience of forward funding development opportunities, leasing, disposals and asset management.

Graduating as a building surveyor, Jon had an early career in construction and has over 30 years’ experience working in local government. As a member of Bolton Council’s Corporate Leadership Team, Jon has a wide-ranging portfolio of responsibilities including planning, highways and engineering, environmental services and regulation. He also oversees the council’s economic development strategy and regeneration plans. Key areas of focus include the delivery of the town centre masterplan and the rejuvenation of the borough’s district centres, alongside wider place making activity designed to make Bolton the ideal place to live, work, study, visit and invest.

Mel is a regeneration specialist with 18-years’ experience of large-scale project delivery across the UK. She is passionate about transforming places and delivering regional growth and has a particular focus on cities and local and regional Government. She currently works on a range of commissions for public sector organisations, preparing business cases for central government funding, providing regeneration strategy and delivery advice, and overseeing significant stakeholder engagement programmes.

Adam is an executive director and dead of planning & development (North) at CBRE, the world's largest real estate advisory firm. He leads multi-disciplinary teams advising on complex regeneration and development projects across the United Kingdom, with particular expertise in healthcare, innovation, housing and mixed-use schemes for NHS Trusts, local authorities, universities and government clients. A Chartered Surveyor (MRICS) with over 20 years' experience, Adam has extensive expertise in the financing, procurement and delivery of major real estate projects. His recent work includes leading a multi-disciplinary CBRE team advising Bolton Council on the demolition, meanwhile use strategy and development partner procurement for Crompton Place.

As a local government specialist, Alex has worked with Bolton over a number of years on economic strategy and town centre regeneration, including Towns Fund proposals. She is an expert in shaping new narratives and navigating complex stakeholder environments to find consensus, applying creative thinking and fresh approaches to deliver impact. A significant part of this has been interrogating and redesigning local growth plans, ensuring that they will deliver greater prosperity for local people, are collaborative across public/private partnerships, and that they are both ambitious and achievable. This includes using data and analysis to challenge current thinking and introduce new ideas to address a place’s key issues. Before joining Metro Dynamics, Alex worked at New Economy, Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s strategy, policy and research organisation. She established the strategy team, developing new ideas and commissioning initiatives from concept to point of delivery, to grow Greater Manchester’s economy.

Paul started his career in local government as a planner and has 40 years of experience, with a focus on placemaking. He is currently responsible for the Regeneration and Economic development functions at Bolton Council, including Town Centre and district centre master planning. His role includes the delivery of key regeneration schemes alongside the implementation of the economic growth and resilience plan.

Iain has overall responsibility within the Watson team for pre-contract and development opportunities; he has extensive knowledge and experience in successfully managing the development pre commencement process. Iain brings experience from the delivery of challenging sites, both from a legal and technical perspective, including Creams Mill at Little Lever which includes the restoration of the Manchester, Bury and Bolton Canal and also the major re-development at Church Wharf. Watson is currently delivering almost 600 homes across nine sites with a focus on affordable homes over a variety of tenures.

Phil Jones is Project Director at Placefirst, leading the delivery of development schemes nationwide. He oversees a current build programme of over 2,000 homes, ensuring high standards of quality, safety and operational performance across all active sites while supporting development strategy and new business growth to expand Placefirst’s portfolio of 2,500 high-quality rental homes across the UK.