Greater Manchester unveils 10-year growth plan

Greater Manchester has unveiled an ambitious ten-year plan to turbocharge growth and deliver tens of thousands of new jobs and homes for its residents.

Already the UK’s fastest growing economy, plans propose using devolved powers granted to the city-region to deliver large-scale development and transformative regeneration to accelerate growth further.

Proposals published on Thursday 23rd January would see the whole Greater Manchester system mobilised to deliver £1 billion of investment every year for the next decade and build homes on a scale and at a pace not seen in the past 20 years.  

At the heart of the plan is the creation of a single pipeline for growth, which would target investment at six Growth Locations across Greater Manchester – nationally significant sites with the highest potential to boost the regional economy and bring benefits to all 10 boroughs. Each location has land earmarked and shovel-ready for the creation of new housing and employment sites, which would spread the benefits of economic success across the city-region.  Greater Manchester’s six Growth Locations are:  

• North East Growth Corridor – including Atom Valley, a Mayoral Development Zone driving growth and innovation in advanced materials and manufacturing, and Northern Gateway, where there’s the potential for 1.2 million square metres of employment space. 
• Airport and Southern Growth Corridor – leveraging Manchester Airport’s international connectivity and continuing the regeneration of Stockport and Wythenshawe town centres. 
• Eastern Growth Cluster – linking key development opportunities of Ashton Moss, St. Petersfield and Ashton Town Centre, building on the creation of Ashton’s Mayoral Development Zone. 
• Central Growth Cluster – driving the next phase of city centre growth in Manchester and Salford, creating new homes and 90,000 new jobs.  
• Western Gateway – including the transformative Old Trafford Regeneration project, Carrington, Trafford Waters, as well as capitalising on Port Salford’s connectivity to link new employment sites to the world.  
• Wigan and Bolton Growth Corridor – 12,000 new homes with access to green space and a new Health Innovation Campus linked to the Royal Bolton Hospital. 

Among the projects to launch, Greater Manchester is setting out proposals for a new Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) for Old Trafford that would replicate successes achieved by Stockport MDC, which has powers to acquire and develop land and bring forward new infrastructure.  Stockport MDC has since launching in 2019 attracted £600 million in private investment and delivered 1,200 new homes, 170,000 sq ft of Grade A office space, and a new transport interchange.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said:

“Greater Manchester is ready to kickstart a new decade of growth at the heart of a resurgent North. We’ve used our devolved powers to deliver the biggest change in public transport since the ‘80s. Now we’ll use them to deliver transformative regeneration across our city-region.

“We’re already bucking all the national economic trends – our growth and productivity are above the UK average. But with the backing of Government and private investors, we can do even more and add an extra £13 billion a year to the UK economy.

“Our plan will deliver urban regeneration at a pace and scale not seen before in my lifetime and rebalance the rewards of growth across the UK. It will create tens of thousands much-needed homes and high-quality jobs so all our residents can live good lives.”

Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Lead for Economy, Business and Inclusive Growth, said:

”In recent years we have seen the transformation of Greater Manchester, from the rapidly changing skyline to the cementing of Manchester as one of Europe’s fastest growing economies. Now is the time to lay the foundations for the next decade, a decade where everyone benefits from our growth.

“Our dynamic, innovation-led economy is harnessing the power of our world-leading industries, universities, and public-private partnerships, making Greater Manchester the best place in the UK to invest and do business.

“But we know we still have so much untapped potential, so that’s why we are rolling up our sleeves and doing things differently to bring in much-needed investment.

“This is a long-term plan to make people’s lives better, building on our proven track record of removing blockers to growth and catalysing development that will bring transformative benefits to towns and cities across our city-region.”