Event Summary
North West Emerging Development Hotspots | Summary, photos + slides
“You can say you heard about them before they were cool,” was the tempting introduction at the 2025 North West Emerging Development Hotspots conference in Manchester, where sleepy seaside towns, underperforming town centres and rural idylls ripe for development were all being showcased.
The sell-out Place North West event was sponsored by Euan Kellie Property Solutions, Curtins, Brabners, Onward Homes, and Muse. Regeneration Brainery is Place North West’s charity partner.
Scroll down for a full gallery of images from the event.
Building on Stockport’s success
As the third largest contributor to Greater Manchester’s economy and a “fantastically connected location”, this borough has plenty to offer, said Paul Richards, deputy chief executive of Stockport Council. He reckoned the town centre has seen “the greatest amount of regeneration” of any comparable location in the UK.
It’s seen £1bn of investment and now the council is gearing up for its “next wave”. Health is high on the agenda, with a desire to move Stepping Hill Hospital into town with a primary care campus-style approach. Meanwhile they’re “looking at best practice in the UK, Europe, and even wider than that” to work out how to fit a secondary school in to the town centre, where there isn’t space for a traditional 17-acre layout in an urban setting.
“The ambition in Stockport’s leadership gives me great confidence,” he added. “We delivered a bus station with a park on the top and that was challenging!”
Stockport Council deputy chief executive Paul Richards said there is plenty more to come in Stockport. Credit: PNW
He also said CBRE has been commissioned to create a new Strategic Regeneration Framework for the east of the town centre, which will go out to public consultation in April, and discussed the proposal to expand the mayoral development corporation, which has delivered extensive regeneration in the west of the town centre.
“What’s been absolutely key is our ability to work with partners,” he concluded. “We want to hear from developers, investors and landowners. If we are aligned we want to make things happen.”
Slides: Stockport Council
Championing Cheshire
Kathy McArdle, executive director of place and growth at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said her patch has “greater levels of business productivity and GVA than its neighbouring combined authorities in Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region; higher than the national average.”
She listed historic Chester, the “highly liveable” Northwich and Winsford, and Ellesmere Port, “the engine for re-industrialising the North”, as her key locations.
Chester’s phased Northgate scheme received special mention. The second phase will see the creation of “a new neighbourhood…urban living with other mixed uses and active street frontages”. She also highlighted plans by Harrods’ H Beauty to move into the former Browns department store and the “Chester gateway” area around the station, with an anchor tenant and a number of strategic sites being developed.
Kathy McArdle ran through the various visions for Cheshire West’s town centres. Credit: PNW
The £13m transformation of Ellesmere Port is also making progress; demolition and preparation for 180 homes is underway and due to go out to tender in the autumn. She also described the “huge” Origin “green industrial revolution” site along the Mersey, where the council plans to “unlock 30,000 jobs and £2bn of investment” up to 2035. In addition, there is the 54 hectare Protos industrial site, being developed with Peel, which now has detailed planning consent for industrial use.
In Winsford, £21m of regeneration will be complete this summer, while in Northwich the focus is largely residential, up to 140 homes, and there will be a development partner in place by May.
Slides: Cheshire West and Chester Council
Looking to Lancaster
Paul Rogers, regeneration service manager at Lancaster City Council, talked about the area’s challenge of being “jammed up against” the river and the sea, but also the benefits of being an area with a “very self-contained market that doesn’t leak much” as it’s not commuter belt. He said the increase in hybrid working has been great for its economy in terms of spend, and that house prices were favourable to the rest of Lancashire.
Though Dan Whelan, deputy editor of Place North West, forbade Rogers from focusing his whole presentation on Eden Project Morecambe, the excitement couldn’t be ignored, with a new project director just appointed: “We are horizon scanning in Morecambe to see what the area looks like when that lands.”
He said the authority was out to market on the former Frontierland site, where they had “got some good interest”, and he also highlighted the Heysham M6 link where “lots of planning applications are going in”.
Lancaster City Council’s Paul Rogers analysed the opportunities and challenges facing the borough. Credit: PNW
Changes in ownership at the city’s shopping centres showed off Lancaster as a “good value proposition for growth”, he added, while its food and beverage and leisure sectors were seeing interest from independents and chains.
In terms of housing, the Canal Quarter and South Lakes were singled out – the former featuring in a masterplan for 500 units and the latter because a Passivhaus scheme is in for planning. In relation to greener schemes, Rogers added: “We are raising the bar across the borough. From 2028 all developments must be net zero.”
Slides: Lancaster City Council
Tantalising Tameside
Just 7.5 miles from Manchester city centre, 14 miles from the airport, 12 minutes from the action by train or tram, and on the edge of the Peak District – Nicola Elsworth, assistant director of investment, development and housing for Tameside Council, was enthusing about her borough’s location.
With nine town centres – Ashton at its heart – and a business base growing at twice the rate of Greater Manchester, its manufacturing sector accounts for the highest number of jobs in the borough, something the authority is “actively nurturing and growing”.
She pinpointed Ashton Moss as the largest employment opportunity with more than 1m sq ft of commercial floorspace in the pipeline. The St Petersfield masterplan has the potential for “a high quality residential product” as well as food and beverage, and a 150-bed hotel. She said it was coming to market by the autumn and added: “It’s flexible and can respond to market conditions, with the emphasis on active ground floor settings.”
Ashton, Hyde, and Stalybridge all factor into Tameside’s regeneration thinking. Credit: PNW
Over in Hyde, she described plans for 1,000 new homes where the council wants to work with the private sector to create a “vibrant town centre for current residents and those of the future.”
Meanwhile in Stalybridge, which is gaining a reputation as a foodie destination, there is investment in public realm and civic buildings, and the council is soft market testing a “high density mix of town houses and apartments”.
Premier league
Not discussing football was an impossibility when one of Liverpool’s teams is close to league glory, and the other is moving to a spectacular new location. Nuala Gallagher, corporate director of city development at Liverpool City Council, outlined how the clubs were part of the plans to reconnect North Liverpool – one of two large scale priority areas for the authority.
They’re creating the Toffee Trail, which links Goodison Park with Bramley Moore, and the Red Walk, which links Anfield to the city centre. “There’s been massive engagement already,” she said. “We’re taking a whole place approach.”
Regarding the Goodison Park legacy project, she said outline planning consent is in place which retains the green space and adds housing and mixed use. Around Anfield, the council and the club is looking to maximise “catalytic” opportunities in this historically deprived area.
North Liverpool is being primed for an extensive housing-led overhaul over the coming years, according to Nuala Gallagher. Credit: PNW
Her other priority is the waterfront, from Bramley Moore to the Festival Gardens, encompassing King Edward Triangle where, speaking “without prejudice” ahead of any planning application, new proposals for a flurry of taller buildings are “in a part of the city that can take it”.
She also enthused about Liverpool Waters at Central Docks, with plans for 7,000 homes, a £30m investment in the cruise terminal and the “massive piece of heritage, which is the Tobacco Warehouse.
Slides: Liverpool City Council
Moving on up
“Inclusive growth is becoming more important,” said Phil Marsden, managing director for the North West at Muse. He added: “In somewhere like Blackpool, what an opportunity, but you need something out of the ordinary.” He added: “Look at somewhere like Oldham. What we can’t do is let the existing markets drive what we do, otherwise we would just build terraced houses. You’ve got to change the market – the hardest bit of any regeneration project is getting going. We’ve seen it in Salford, Stockport – get it going and build from there.”
Sandy Livingstone, executive director of property at Onward Homes, said if government could help his organisation to invest in existing homes it could develop an additional 200 homes a year on top of the 500 it delivers already.
The final panel of the day discussed the avenues to deliverability. Credit: PNW
Devolution dream teams?
Devolution was a hot topic, not least because of the prospect of new mayors for Cumbria and Cheshire. Catherine Holmes, assistant director for markets, partners and places at Homes England, said devolution was making her organisation more accountable and reinforces how the region is already working: “We are able to coalesce with shared ambitions. It allows us to come together with a pipeline of projects and see ambitions delivered.”
Caroline Baker, managing partner for the North West at Cushman & Wakefield, agreed: “To be able to collectively come together, particularly around transport, looking across the area as opposed to shouting as lots of voices and not being heard – to be able to articulate the need and make a difference and will attract more funding.”
Livingstone said he had “met more cabinet ministers in the last six months than in the last 10 years” and added: “Greater Manchester has been a success, Liverpool is becoming a success. It’s exciting.”
What’s next?
Join Place North at our upcoming events
Thursday 25 March – Yorkshire Emerging Development Hotspots 2025
Thursday 17 April – Place Young Things
Thursday 1 May – Industrial and Logistics 2025
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