Stockport Council has published two new prospectuses detailing plans that will take forward its ambition to make Stockport the location of choice in Greater Manchester to live, work, play and connect.
The Infrastructure Plan sets out the work that needs to be carried out in the Town Centre and Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) area to ensure that Stockport is well equipped for the future and that the infrastructure helps its communities to thrive.
The plan recognises that there is a clear need to provide world-class infrastructure to create a Smart Town, which creates a sustainable and resilient place and details comprehensive plans for digital infrastructure, tackling climate change, connectivity, place, smart utilities and regeneration and investment.
This has been produced in response to Greater Manchester’s Infrastructure Framework and Stockport Council has worked with GMCA to inform the GM Infrastructure Plan.
The Stockport Station Growth Prospectus focuses on the importance of further investment in and around Stockport Station over the next 10-12 years and is a key part of the Council’s growth strategy and supporting the vision of the MDC.
Stockport is already one of the best-connected town’s in the North West, handling over five million rail users a year and plans will see a refreshed, modern and future-ready gateway to the town, Greater Manchester and beyond, and will act as a resilient interchange to add capacity to the North’s rail network.
The document has been developed in developed in discussion with the rail industry and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), as well as private developers.
Cllr Elise Wilson, Leader of Stockport Council, said: “We’ve already led the way with a hugely ambitious town centre regeneration programme and with the recently created Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) which will deliver the comprehensive regeneration of Town Centre West. The purpose of the MDC is to facilitate growth and change with a cutting edge urban neighbourhood, and with a revitalised station at its heart, it will provide outstanding connectivity.
“We need to ensure that we are providing the best possible place for people to live, work, and play and to realise our long term ambition to make Stockport town centre the best place it can be.
“There’s a lot of work to do but we’re an ambitious and forward thinking borough and we are committed to making sure that this is a success.”
Cllr David Meller, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economy at Stockport Council, commented: “These are ambitious projects and we need to put the building blocks in place now to help us achieve our aspirations for an additional 11,500 people calling the town centre ‘home’.
“Our plans will have a huge impact on central Stockport and will ensure that we are well placed to deal with any future changes, attracting world-class businesses and strengthening our position as one of Greater Manchester’s most desirable residential locations.”
Stockport MDC is the first of its kind nationally to focus on a town centre, turning the ambitious new plans for Stockport’s Town Centre West into a reality. The MDC is a new approach to tackling the challenges that town centres face and it will lead the creation of a new urban village with up to 3,500 new homes and up to 1,000,000 sq.ft of employment floorspace incorporating a mix of office, workshops, retail and leisure, health and education could accommodate up to 5,300 jobs.
