More than 450 homes, thousands of sqm of commercial space and a new ‘health and wellbeing’ hub could be built in Ashton-under-Lyne under new plans to rejuvenate the town.
Tameside council has won £19.78m from the multi-billion ‘Levelling Up’ fund for works in Ashton, including the restoration of Ashton Town Hall.
Chiefs hope that the government cash will be an ‘economic driver’ and bring life to Ashton town centre which has been deemed not ‘fit for purpose’.
In a report to councillors, officers state that ‘once a leading destination for both local and out-of-town shoppers, Ashton town centre has been identified as being no longer fit for purpose, with a large number of shop closures, and footfall has continued to decline’.
A meeting of the cabinet was told this week that the authority is working with the Ladysmith and Arcades shopping centres to explore redeveloping them as a part of a wider programme for the town.
Officers had identified the potential for up to 470 new homes, 8,750 sqm of commercial spaces, a new health and wellbeing hub, with 8,500 sqm of retail space being retained.
This ‘strategic framework’ will be subject to wider consultation once proposals are drawn up.
Of the levelling up cash awarded, £5.3m would be used to remediate the former bus interchange site which will ‘unlock’ it for future development and help to facilitate ‘further private sector investment and change at The Arcades and Ladysmith Shopping Centre sites’.
A further £6.2m will be spent on public realm improvements along Albion Way to ‘enhance spatial links’ across the north of the town centre.
Improvements to the cycle routes and bicycle infrastructure will also be provided, as well as a refurbishment of the Market Square at a cost of £5m.
This will serve as match funding to unlock £4.8m from the Mayors Challenge Fund for further works.
Council leader Brenda Warrington said she was ‘very pleased’ to win the government funding.
“We’re now starting to see positive results, this definitely is a positive result that is relative to Ashton but we are addressing our town centres with some vigour now and it’s good to see things starting to happen” she added.
“We hope we can get this done at pace.
“I’m very pleased that we’re addressing things that we know have been frustrations for some time for us and others.”
Finally £3.4m of the funding will also be used to restore Ashton Town Hall, which opened in 1840, but which has been closed, along with the Museum of the Manchester Regiment, since 2015.
Bosses had planned to reopen it as part of phase three of the Vision Tameside project, but the collapse of construction firm Carillion in 2018 has delayed works.
The council had previously budgeted £10m from its capital budget to renovate the iconic civic building on Market Square.
Last January the council agreed to spend £270k on urgent repairs to the town hall, with emergency repair works costing £120k to the building parapet and roof.
Cabinet member for finance, Councillor Oliver Ryan told the meeting: “We do have ambitious plans for Ashton.
“They do include some of the town hall, we did already have an investment pot set aside to do the public realm work that is due to be completed around the market square and in front of Tameside One.
“That work will be incorporated into this. Hopefully this will be the building of Ashton and we welcome it greatly.
“It’s just unfortunate, and I should caveat all of this with, it’s only ten pc of what we have lost over the last 11 years in terms of the income from the government and if this is what we can do with £20m imagine what we’d have done with the £200m that we’ve lost.”
He added they also had submitted an ‘outstanding bid’ for Stalybridge that they were waiting to hear the outcome of.
