Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Craig has unveiled plans to breathe new life into local high streets and restore community pride with a landmark £20 million fund. The Good Growth High Streets Fund will be made available to local businesses, business groups, and voluntary and community organisations across Greater Manchester to take forward ideas for improving their high street.
Greater Manchester has enjoyed a decade of rapid economic growth, outstripping every other city region in the UK. The new Mayor wants to make sure everyone can see and feel the benefits of that growth where they live.
The £20m Good Growth High Streets Fund will open for applications later this year, and will back ideas that can make a real difference to good economic growth and restore local pride.
Kicking off her second week in the job with a visit to Middleton town centre today (Monday 10 August), the mayor has been hearing from people passionate about making change – from bringing empty shops back to life, to putting on vibrant events and boosting footfall.
To drive forward this work, the mayor is calling on local businesses and groups to join a new High Streets Taskforce, which will help design ambitious plans and put them into practice across the city region.
The announcements are all part of Our High Streets – a new campaign, including other packages of support, that will run throughout her mayoral term to empower local communities to revitalise where they live, shop and socialise.
Bev Craig, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Our high streets are the beating hearts of our communities, and people want to feel pride about where they live.
“They are rightly worried and frustrated when they see derelict pubs, boarded-up shops and dodgy operators, and independent traders moving away. They want to see practical support for local businesses now. And that’s why I’m taking action.
“Our new £20 million Good Growth High Streets Fund is all about restoring pride in a vibrant high street – backing our neighbourhoods and spreading the rewards of good economic growth everywhere.”
Last year, Greater Manchester set out a 10-year plan to build a thriving city region where everyone can live a good life, and make Greater Manchester a great place to do business.
Bev Craig launched her high street plans in Middleton, where the passion and ambition of local people and the independent business community are already leading to a transformation of the town centre, with the potential of even more to come.
Plans for a Mayoral Development Corporation for Middleton are progressing, co-chaired by Steve Coogan and Rose Marley. This aims to bring forward the development of around 1,500 new homes and accelerate regeneration of the town centre.
