Stalybridge ramps up £80m regeneration proposals 

Tameside Council is to resubmit a bid for a share of the government’s £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund to drive forward the redevelopment of eight brownfield sites in the town centre. 

The council has identified five plots under its ownership and three owned by the Greater Manchester Pension Fund that could be redeveloped into a mixed-use scheme with an estimated development value of between £80m and £100m. 

The sites, which total just under seven acres, could accommodate 434 homes and generate an annual spend of £8m, according to the council. 

In addition, Tameside has identified the potential for a mulitstorey car park with 300 spaces to be developed. 

The sites in question are:

• Sites one, two and three – owned by GMPF and located around Harrop Street
• Sites four – a large vacant parcel of council-owned land across the River Tame from the GMPF-owned sites
• Site five – a small vacant council-owned site on Caroline Street/Bridge Street at the wharf head of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal
• Site six – a surface car park owned by the council that fronts Castle Street and the Huddersfield Canal
• Site seven – a council-owned surface car park that fronts Castle Street, Back Melbourne Street and the Huddersfield Canal
• Site eight – another council-owned car park off Waterloo Road and King Street.

Having identified the sites, Tameside will undertake soft market testing to gauge appetite for the opportunity among developers. 

The council may also attempt to obtain outline planning consent for the scheme in a bid to make the potential project more attractive to developers, according to a council report. 

Tameside’s ultimate aim is to appoint a strategic partner to deliver the Stalybridge masterplan. 

“The indicative proposals show the opportunity to utilise the subject sites as regeneration catalysts, enhancing provision of residential and commercial accommodation…[that is] attractive to existing and new people to complement existing uses and users,” the report said. 

To support the masterplan, Tameside is seeking funding from the government’s Levelling Up Fund. 

Tameside submitted a bid for levelling up cash to assist with the redevelopment of Stalybridge last year but was unsuccessful. The council now plans to resubmit that bid with more detail about the project’s delivery. 

“Feedback suggested that had the project been worked up further in delivery terms the submission would have secured a higher scoring,” the council report said. 

In addition, Tameside is also preparing to submit a Levelling Up Fund bid for Denton, where it plans to improve the town’s public realm.