Manchester plots next wave of Gorton investment
Improved public realm, better transport links, and the delivery of mixed-tenure housing all feature within the city council’s plan to invest in the district centre.
Manchester City Council has opened a consultation on the strategy it has developed for Gorton and Belle Vue.
The areas of focus include Belle Vue Station, Gorton Hub, Garratt Way, including the market and former library, Wellington Street crossroad, and Chapman Street.
The strategy aims to “create a more attractive local area that is comfortable and attractive to spend time in”, with a focus on Garratt Way as the focal point for the district centre, according to the city council.
Key opportunities
North of Garratt Way – the area around Sibley Street, Wellington Street and Hampden Crescent
This area could include new apartments and townhouses, including the former library site and a reconfiguration of the gymnastics centre, with a focus on delivering a mix of affordable housing types.
This area could also provide new commercial, retail and food and drink venues – alongside improved footpaths and cycle paths, according to the city council.
Gorton Market and the surrounding area
This could include improving or remodelling the market building and creating a larger external space for the outdoor market.
Plans could also see the development of the Wellington Street area including housing, commercial and retail opportunities.
Garratt Way and the Gorton Hub ‘loop’
This area presents the opportunity to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment to drive footfall.
“Gorton has seen some really exciting investment in recent years from the Belle Vue Sports Village, the recent opening of the Gorton Hub and the new Coop Academy school that will open soon,” said Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development.
“We have an opportunity to capitalise on this momentum and develop an ambitious plan for the local area creating a district centre that can help the area to meet its potential.”
You can learn more about the proposals and take part in the consultation by visiting: www.manchester.gov.uk/news/article/9178/consultation_launched_for_ambitious_regeneration_plans_for_the_centre_of_gorton
Manchester City Council will be outlining more areas it is planning to invest in at Place North West’s GM Emerging Development Hotspots event next February.
The most deprived area in England followed by Levenshulme
By DH
Nothing doing here
By Balcony warrior
If this is the most deprived area in England and Mcr is a booming city what chance for other towns and cities, who are struggling economically, in ridding their areas of deprivation, as Levelling Up has largely failed.
By Anonymous
Most deprived area? A long way from it and easily fact checked. I hope PNW are not printing false facts based on the random opinions of some bloke.
By Tom
Hi Tom. Thanks for your comment. As you’ll note, the story makes no claims regarding the area’s deprived nature. I treat the comment section as opinions and would encourage all our readers to glean their facts from the articles on our site, not the comment section.
By Julia Hatmaker
Levelling Up is a process not an event.
By SW
Levenshulme has half million pound houses. I wouldn’t say overly deprived, just poorly maintained.
By Elephant
Good to know though that more investment is coming to the area. That’s always going to be welcome.
By Anonymous
Of course Levelling up has failed , it’s just a marketing slogan ie it was never real. Manchester has done better than most places North of Watford and continues to do so but mostly by it’s own virtues, not the hinderances of successive Whitehall Governments.
By Anonymous
According to the most up to date stats from the ONS, West Gorton and Belle Vue is currently the least deprived part of East Manchester at around 33% of households in one form of poverty. This is 4% higher than parts of the city centre and fewer than 1% of households are in absolute poverty. Hoping admins don’t mind me posting the government map link but it does highlight the inaccuracy of some commenters https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/maps/choropleth/population/household-deprivation/hh-deprivation/household-is-deprived-in-four-dimensions?lad=E08000007
By Andrew
Best spot in Manchester for for affordable/social housing along with the northern fringes Collyhurst and Miles Platting. The council can meet their social housing quota here and allow the city centre to develop.
By New Wave
Hey folks – let’s keep the discussion about Gorton. Thanks – Julia
By Julia Hatmaker
I think Gordon’s looking slightly better at the moment. I have been noticing the difference the hub and garret way makes and i was thinking to myself are they doing a revamp. I live in Openshaw but walk down Chapman Street to get to Gorton hub every Monday and I recently said to myself. Oh is Gorton being the new “up and coming area”
By Joe
One of the reasons Gorton Hub makes a difference is because it reinstates the street scene making walking around the area more comfortable.
If they want to improve Gorton and indeed the Hyde Road and Stockport Road corridors (which remain ugly and depressing places despite the amount of money poured into the centre), they need high quality, urban scale new development that reinstates the street scene, not the confused mess of surface car parking, warehousing, ugly and intrusive boundary treatments and confused land use.
By Anonymous