VIDEO | Can Greater Manchester close its North/South divide?
Growth across the 10 boroughs that make up GM is outpacing the national average but leaders in places like Bolton, Oldham, and Rochdale are still fighting hard to overcome intracity region disparities. Participants at a roundtable discussion hosted by Euan Kellie Property Solutions explored how best to close the gap.
Viability across most of Greater Manchester, save for pockets in the city centre and the south, is stretched wafer thin. No more so than in the northern boroughs, who for years have lagged behind the likes of its southern neighbours Stockport and Trafford.
However, momentum is starting to build as potentially transformative projects like Atom Valley, Oldham’s SportsTown, Crompton Place, and the regeneration of Prestwich town centre progress and secure funding.
Attendees at the roundtable believe that, while there is still a long way to go to close the gap, Greater Manchester is well-placed to make a success of its own levelling up journey as a result of its ingrained collaborative approach.
Key talking points:
- The £1bn Good Growth Fund, which is providing tens of millions in support to projects in places like Wigan, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, and Tameside in its first round of funding, could be crucial in breaking the inertia of certain projects
- Places for Everyone, the joint spatial plan for Greater Manchester, is another weapon in Greater Manchester’s levelling up arsenal
- Political stability and cross-party collaboration are crucial to the ongoing success of GM, which is built on collaboration
- Improvements to transport networks, including Metrolink, could be game-changing as far as social and literal mobility is concerned but are the hardest schemes to get off the ground.
To learn more about how the North of Greater Manchester is gearing up for growth, watch the video at the top of this article.
Participants
- Cllr Nick Peel, Leader of Bolton Council
- Mike Reed, head of development and major programmes, Tameside Council
- Mark Robinson, director of place, Rochdale Council
- Euan Kellie, founder and company director at Euan Kellie Property Solutions
- Aidan Thatcher, director of place, Wigan Council
- Gillian Harrison, associate director at Levitt Bernstein
- Cathy Palmer, director at Walker Sime
- Alex Maynard, delivery director at GMCA
- Darren Jones, senior development director at Cityheart
Political stability? How long will that be in place?
By Anonymous
Given the “success” of parts of GM is based on Other People’s Money, makes sense to now throw more at the poorer parts of the borough. Lets drop the facade, so called “economic development” is just restribution of wealth from the south of England to the north; no reason this can’t be done within GM (other than its not really fair, but that hasn’t stopped us at a national level)
By OPM