Huge development creating 500 jobs among the key plans for Greater Manchester
A massive industrial site bringing in hundreds of jobs and more delays on a stadium expansion are some of the key development decisions this week.
Heywood has been earmarked for a 500,000 sq ft industrial and logistics site that could bring 500 jobs to the area. Indurent, the developer, wants to build the site at Heywood Distribution Park, close to Junction 19 of the M62 and Junction 3 of the M66.
Over in Stockport, the saga over the Edgeley Park stadium expansion is now set to rumble on.
New information over the rebuild has come to light, meaning an anticipated decision this week has been pushed back. This is yet another delay in what has been a long drawn out tale.
Here is a breakdown of each borough’s submitted planning applications this week:
New road plans include a new ‘cyclops’ style junction in the heart of a town centre.
Bolton Council is proposing changes to the junction of Market Street and King Street in Farnworth. Town hall chiefs said newly updated plans for the junction should improve traffic flow and be safer for pedestrians, children and people on bikes.
The local authority said newly published plans included wider and resurfaced footpaths, eight new pedestrian crossings, more trees and green spaces, new benches and seating, segregated cycle lanes, reduced highway widths and 20mph speed limits, plus cycle stands and litter bins.
The government has requested more information about flood risks and an underground water pipeline ahead of a decision on major motorway upgrades to the M60, M62 and M66.
The Ministry of Transport is set to make a decision on a scheme which would transform the network around the notoriously congested Simister Island.
The project would see a ‘northern loop’ built to create a new free flowing traffic section; a five lane section of the M60 on both sides between Prestwich and Simister (junctions 17 and 18) introduced; and a widening of the M66 on the Bury side of the junction.
The Gay Village has avoided becoming home to a skyscraper - with a new plan to convert an office block into an Aparthotel.
Developers were circling around Boulton House, a 1973 office building on Chorlton Street, when it went up for sale last year. Largely empty since 2020, it faced being rendered ‘obsolete’ in five years’ time, when new energy efficiency standards come into force.
Numerous firms were interested in buying the modernist building and completely demolishing it, new planning documents reveal, with estate agents telling prospective buyers ‘a new build scheme of c.20 storeys had been discussed in outline in a pre application meeting with Manchester city council’.
Market Street will soon be home to a high-end food hall in what developers hope will be ‘a massive lift for this part of Manchester’.
The former Debenhams department store, housed in the Grade-II listed Rylands Building, is being redeveloped into a food and drink, retail and office block by refurbishing the existing 1920s structure - and adding a four-storey extension to the roof.
Mike Cunniff, an associate director of architects JB+Co working on the project, previously said the revamp ‘will be a massive lift to this part of Manchester’.
Now the first name moving into the new space has been announced by German developers AM Alpha.
A huge industrial space planned for Heywood could bring more than 500 jobs to the area.
The new 500,000 sq ft industrial and logistics site would be built at Heywood Distribution Park, close to Junction 19 of the M62 and Junction 3 of the M66.
Indurent, the company behind the proposal, says the location is strategically important due to its excellent transport links and direct access to the north west and Yorkshire.
The development, on the border of Rochdale and Bury, has the potential to generate more than 500 jobs once fully occupied, bosses add.
Plans to convert a 19th century Rochdale pub into flats have been put back on the table.
Royds Arms sits within a conservation area of Rochdale and has been vacant for more than a year. But when plans were tabled to transform the Rooley Moor Road site into six new one-bedroom apartments, Rochdale Council said no.
Since that decision back in January, developers Bidwell Ventures UK have redesigned the scheme and requested planning permission once again.
A decision on Stockport County's plans to expand their Edgeley Park stadium has been DELAYED after a late twist.
A planning application for the expansion was due to be voted on by councillors at a town hall planning committee meeting on July 3. But new information submitted before the meeting caused councillors to defer the decision, so the information can be properly assessed.
The club's application will come back before the planning committee at a later date.
Chair of the planning committee, Coun Steve Gribbon, said: "Because of information that has come to light at short notice, we want to make sure that planning officers give us the correct information and the correct decision is reached."
The empty Wilko unit in the heart of Ashton town centre is set to be taken over by Tameside College.
Town hall bosses have approved the lease of the former Wilko unit next to the Tameside One council building - which closed in 2023. The store closed permanently in September 2023 as part of the wider Wilko administration process.
Subject to Tameside College’s governing body in July and securing capital funding, the vacant shop could create an extra 350 spaces for learners from September 2026.
This would see an additional eleven classrooms, additional examination space and ancillary accommodation as an extension to the college's current base next door.
