Town Centres as Engines of Growth and Opportunity

By prioritising town centre regeneration, the council can make more efficient use of land and infrastructure while supporting wider economic growth. A renewed focus on town centre living helps create active, safe, and thriving places, increases spending power locally, and makes Bury more attractive to residents, businesses, and investors, contributing to long-term prosperity and stronger communities.

Bury Town Centre — The Primary Focus for Housing-Led Regeneration

 

Bury Town Centre is evolving to become a more diverse, mixed-use destination. Key sites including Mill Gate, Pyramid Park, and the Interchange which present significant opportunities for coordinated regeneration, delivered as part of a comprehensive, integrated programme. This transformation will reposition the centre, with new housing playing a central role in supporting activity, vibrancy, and long-term sustainability.

Phase 1 marks a shift to a coordinated, delivery-focused regeneration programme, bringing together key sites, including the Interchange, Mill Gate, Pyramid Park, and North of the Rock Area (NORA)/South of the Market Area (SOMA)/Humphrey House, into a single, integrated approach. Over the next 3-5 years, the programme will follow a phased, decision led pathway, with 2026 focused on mobilisation, strengthening the evidence base, and securing key decisions to align with Greater Manchester Combined Authority funding and unlock delivery. This approach will support a more comprehensive and sustainable transformation of the town centre.

The overall approach is to deliver a balanced, mixed-tenure residential offer, with a mix to include open-market family housing, promoting Bury as a place to put down roots, with a range of private rented accommodation and affordable housing, catering for young professionals and key workers. Build-to-Rent products are also likely to come forward, achieving density in key locations in and around Bury Interchange and Angouleme and Peel Way such as South of the Market Area, Mill Gate, and the North of the Rock Area, achieving a mix of different typologies and tenures. The sustainable location of Bury town centre is likely to attract commuters, capitalising on the excellent public transport links. However, a flexible site-by-site approach is adopted to reflect planning policy, local housing needs, viability, site characteristics, social value funding, and planning policy priorities.

Who Will Live Here

 

 

 

Key Sites and Housing

 

 

 

 

Bury Town Centre — Mill Gate Regeneration

Mill Gate Regeneration Framework

The Mill Gate Regeneration Framework sets out a long-term plan to transform the shopping centre and surrounding area into a mixed-use town centre neighbourhood, forming a key part of the wider Bury Town Centre Masterplan. It focuses on repurposing the retail-led environment into a more permeable, diverse place, introducing new homes alongside leisure, workspace, and public realm improvements.

Timeline

2022: Council acquires Mill Gate estate with Bruntwood, 15 acres secured.

2023: Public engagement and consultation on Regeneration Framework.

2024: Final Regeneration Framework approved. Vision for 800 homes, workspace, leisure, and enhanced public realm confirmed.

Bury Town Centre has held Purple Flag accreditation since 2015, recognising the town’s commitment to providing a safe, welcoming, and vibrant evening and night-time offer. The award reflects the strength of partnership working across the council, businesses, and wider town centre stakeholders to support a positive experience for residents, visitors, and businesses.

As Bury looks to grow and diversify its town centre housing offer, continued investment in safety, public realm, culture, events, and destination marketing will help create a place where more people want to live, visit, and spend time. Through the Bury Town Centre Business Improvement District, the council is supporting a positive destination marketing campaign which promotes the town centre’s strengths and encourages a broader mix of users throughout the day and evening.

The town centre already benefits from a strong mix of attractions, including Bury Market, the East Lancashire Railway, and Bury Art Museum, alongside a growing programme of events such as the Bury Food and Drink Festival, Comic Con, and the Shaun the Sheep Trail in 2026. Future investment, including the new Casewells venue at Bury Market and the planned redevelopment of the Mill Gate Shopping Centre, will further strengthen the town centre offer and support Bury’s ambition to create a vibrant, safe, and attractive place to live.

Radcliffe — From Strategy to Delivery

 

Housing has been an integral part of Radcliffe’s regeneration. The area faced a combination of challenges, including declining footfall, vacant and underutilised sites, and limited investor confidence, which meant that change was unlikely to be delivered by the market alone. In response, the council took an active enabling role, using its leadership, land interests and partnerships to create the conditions for investment. By positioning housing alongside improvements to the town centre offer, public realm and local services, the regeneration approach sought to increase activity, support local businesses, diversify the housing offer and build confidence in Radcliffe as a place to live, work and invest.

Radcliffe is the focus of the most advanced regeneration activity in the borough, with a clear transition from strategic planning to delivery. Since the publication of the Radcliffe Strategic Regeneration Framework, significant progress has been made including the £40 million Radcliffe Hub and wider investment in public services, education, and the town centre environment.

This level of activity is helping to establish Radcliffe as a key location for housing-led regeneration, with new homes playing a central role in supporting increased footfall, attracting new residents and driving long-term town centre renewal.

Housing delivery in Radcliffe is progressing at pace, with multiple schemes under construction, in planning or about to start, marking a clear move into implementation. This includes major sites such as the former East Lancashire Paper Mill, alongside a wider pipeline of developments contributing to sustained growth and regeneration. A further 77 affordable homes have now got planning permission at Bealey Industrial Estate in Radcliffe.

Key Sites and Housing

 

Prestwich — Regeneration Underway

 

 

To deliver a revitalised, people-focused village centre, where new homes, community facilities, and public spaces work together to create a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable place. Housing plays a key role in this, not just by increasing supply, but by bringing more people into the centre to support local businesses, improving vitality, and meeting a range of needs across different life stages, while ensuring affordability and inclusion are maintained.

The plan is to deliver the new village centre, including new homes, a community hub with library and leisure facilities, market hall, retail, public square, and supporting infrastructure, including the travel hub to improve accessibility and provide parking.

The housing priorities are to deliver affordable homes, ensuring provision reflects local need balancing sizes, tenures, and types and accessible or age-friendly options to meet needs across different life stages.

Housing will be brought forward alongside wider regeneration, ensuring it is delivered in step with infrastructure and placemaking to support early activity, vitality, and the success of the centre.

Delivery will align with wider priorities around sustainability and inclusion, providing energy-efficient homes with lower running costs and ensuring the development remains accessible to a broad range of residents.

Key Sites and Housing

 

 

 

Whitefield — A New Vision for the Town Centre

 

Whitefield has strong residential demand and excellent connectivity, supported by independent businesses and pockets of day and evening activity. The housing strategy will support the Whitefield Town Centre Plan by encouraging well-designed homes in appropriate brownfield and town centre locations, helping to strengthen footfall, support local services, and create a more liveable, greener, and better-connected centre.

Housing growth in Whitefield will be focused on appropriate brownfield, infill and redevelopment opportunities, with the council using its planning, enabling, and partnership role to support high-quality development that reflects local character and need.

Key Sites and Housing

Former Library and Day Centre

Council-owned priority site opportunity for higher-density housing and community use. The library is expected to come forward for healthcare use, with an opportunity for new homes to be delivered on the adjoining former day centre site.

In addition, there is an extant planning permission for a 60-bed care home at the privately-owned former Town Hall. The council’s role here is to work positively with landowners to encourage appropriate development to come forward.

 

 

Ramsbottom — Quality Place, Measured Growth

Ramsbottom has a strong identity and quality of place, with clear potential to build on its existing strengths to create an even more attractive, connected, and vibrant destination for residents and visitors alike.

The focus is on enhancing Ramsbottom's role as a high-quality town centre for residents and visitors alike, building on its existing strengths. This includes improving the town centre environment, connectivity, and movement to create a more attractive, accessible, and enjoyable place to live, work, and visit.

Housing plays a supporting role, helping to reinforce Ramsbottom's appeal as a place to live, particularly for residents and hybrid workers, while enabling gradual, incremental residential growth over time.

Key Sites and Housing

 

 

 

Northern Gateway — Employment-Led, Housing Supported

Atom Valley - a 20-year strategic growth area

PfE allocation JPA1.1 Northern Gateway (Heywood/Pilsworth) is one of the largest strategic employment allocations in the country, straddling the districts of Bury and Rochdale. It represents a highly accessible opportunity for growth in Greater Manchester with wider benefits on a regional and national level.

Northern Gateway is an opportunity to deliver unprecedented investment, jobs, homes, and community benefits. It will enable the delivery of a large, nationally significant employment opportunity to attract high-quality businesses and investment on the M62 corridor coupled with a significant number of new homes and supporting infrastructure, services, and facilities. As part of the Atom Valley Mayoral Development Zone, the project will play a pivotal role in boosting the competitiveness of the north of Greater Manchester, enhancing the overall prosperity of the city region and delivering inclusive growth.

Alongside around 1.2m sqm of employment development, the site will deliver around 1,200 new homes, of which 1,000 will be in Rochdale and around 200 will be in Bury at Castle Road. The homes within Bury will include a mix of house types and sizes, with 25% to be delivered as affordable housing.

The proposals will bring a range of benefits that will embrace the three pillars of sustainable development:

• Economic: Creating a world class employment park that attracts the very best logistics and manufacturing industries.
• Social: Delivering fully inclusive growth that delivers a permanent positive social legacy.
• Environmental: Ensuring the development will not have a detrimental impact on the environment by maximising opportunities to provide net gains for biodiversity, creating a comprehensive green infrastructure network and ensuring that the objective of net zero carbon for both the development and the Greater Manchester area is integral to the design from the outset.