REGENERATION plans for Ashton-under-Lyne have been described as ‘the jam on the toast’ as excitement builds.
The Correspondent told how six areas of the town centre will be marketed to the private sector, with up to 2,400 homes being introduced and other public realm works.
Now those schemes will be put out to the market – although there has already been interest -with hopes a developer will be appointed by the middle of next year.
And Cllr Andrew McLaren, Tameside Council’s deputy leader and representative of Ashton St Michael’s ward, could barely contain his excitement.
He said: “If anything shows that times are changing and Tameside’s changing, this is it. It couldn’t be any better news really.
“This is turning years and years and years of jam tomorrow. Well, the jam’s about to be put on the toast because this is the stage where we get developers in and start talking seriously.”
Dozens of sites around Ashton have been identified as ones for potential housing, as well as mixed use, commercial and hospitality opportunities.
Among the headline projects are about 300 properties being placed at what is the Ladysmith Shopping Centre and about 200 on the corner of Margaret Street, Hodgson Street and Welbeck Street South.
About 100 are proposed the site of the town’s former bus station and a similar amount earmarked for Ashton Leisure Centre.
Several others have been singled out for a double-figure number of properties, with many described as being of mixed use.
As well as the former bus station, Ashton Gateway may see about 100 properties placed on Camp Street car park, 90 on land bounded by West Street, Turner Lane and Wellington Road – where a disused church, homes and businesses stand – and 60 at Union Street car park.
Tameside Council’s director of strategic growth, Nicola Elsworth, outlined the next steps for the plan.
She told a meeting of the authority’s executive cabinet: “It’s a really exciting time for Ashton.
“We’ve done quite a bit of master planning and strategy work. This brings everything in one place to give that guide and clarity around our vision to the private sector.
“We’ve quite a bit of land in Ashton town centre. That’s quite impressive, not many other local authorities are able to have that offer.
“We need to bring in a private sector partner to help unlock the growth and regeneration of Ashton town centre that we want to see.
“We’ll start that process with soft market testing in September, then we’ll see a launch in October.
“We hope in early to mid-next year we’ll be able to announce who our development partner is, then we’ll be able to get cracking with brining those sites to the market.
“We’ve seen the private sector approach us about what’s happening in Ashton, so we can see the market is gaining appetite.”
The Correspondent also told of hopes to include Droylsden, which has its own masterplan, in with the Ashton regeneration plans.
Nicola Elsworth added: “We want to put the opportunity around Droylsden in that soft market testing.
“To ask the market what they think about that. We’ll take the feedback from that and then decide whether it’s something we want.
“There’s real potential to build on that and make this opportunity larger.”
The latest vision for Ashton-under-Lyne, and potentially Droylsden, enthused Tameside Council leader Cllr Eleanor Wills.
She said: “I’m really excited about it.
“This will be the difference in terms of accelerating some of the ambitions we’ve got for growth across Ashton.
“Droylsden’s an amazing opportunity for a developer in terms of proximity to Manchester and the opportunities it’s got there, as well as transport links into Ashton.”
Cllr Stephen Homer, executive member for towns, transport and connectivity, added: “It’s a massive step forward in re-establishing Tameside as the jewel in the crown of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
“This is brilliant.”