Economic development

The economic development function is part of the Planning and Economic Development division.

Part of our economic development effort is delivered through the Single Regeneration Budget and the European Regional Development Fund programmes. Some projects are delivered in-house including the Greater Manchester Broadband Project, Home working Project, and Tourism Business Support Project.

Information sources for business include a register of available business premises and a full list of around 6,000 Bury businesses.

The Economic Review provides information on national, regional and local economic trends as well as local economic news.

Background

History

Bury Industry has been important to Britain since the establishment of the woollen industry in the 14th century. For over 400 years, wool was the expanding staple industry of Bury and is still in the district today.

In the 18th century the inventive genius of several Bury citizens made contributions to industrial development which were of international significance. In 1733, John Kay of Ramsbottom invented the Flying Shuttle, a revolutionary step in cotton cloth manufacture. His son, Robert, invented as 'drop-box' which introduced coloured threads into cotton process and a cotton card making machine.

Robert Peel, father of the famous statesman, whose organisation of the Metropolitan Police Force provided a model for the world, introduced industrial reforms in the field of labour relations which helped substantially in he progress of textile manufacture in Bury along with the introduction of Samuel Crompton's Spinning Mule. His enlightened and reforming zeal laid the foundation of the remarkably harmonious industrial relations which Bury enjoys to this day.

Whilst Bury textiles still make an important contribution to world trade, Bury's undoubted strength is as a centre of international status in the paper industry. Much of the world's paper-making machinery is manufactured in the area, and orders for spare parts for machinery made here 50 years ago are often received from abroad. Ever conscious of environmental issues, many of the mills in the Bury area concentrate on the production of paper using recycled fibre.

Change in Bury

There is a robustness to Bury's character that allows it to survive and flourish despite the pressures that have caused the closure of virtually all traditional manufacturing employment . It enjoys the lowest unemployment rate in Greater Manchester, it is a natural choice for managers and professionals to live and its educational achievements are the envy of many of its neighbours.

What the industrial revolution has done is to leave behind a valuable legacy in river valleys that once were the home of mill chimneys, railways carrying coal and freight, and industrial contamination. With the disappearance of those mills, the capacity of nature to repair itself, and a little help from derelict land reclamation works those valleys now host a diverse landscape of woodland, parks and recreational facilities that give Bury much of the environmental quality that encourages new business and new residents. The colour on the river Irwell is no longer the discharge from a dye works but more likely to be the blue flash of a kingfisher. The railway has become Bury's major tourist attraction carrying visitors along the valley to an accompanying whistle and belch of steam from a restored locomotive.

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