MALL SPRUCED UP AND CINEMA BUILDING REOPENED IN MASTERPLAN
STRETFORD Mall could get a facelift and the former Essoldo cinema compulsorily purchased under major council plans to transform the surrounding area - but proposals for a new student tower block off Chester Road have been scaled back.
Trafford town hall’s latest vision for Stretford also foresees new restaurants, housing, sports pitches, road layouts and a replacement leisure centre as it looks to use Gary Neville’s new UA92 university as a regeneration springboard.
The document admits that as long ago as 2007 its own study found there was ‘urgent’ need for Stretford to be physically improved.
It has also put forward the area for Andy Burnham’s ‘town centre challenge,’ which is focusing on one struggling district in each Greater Manchester borough.
But the council is now optimistic that on the back of UA92, regeneration will gather pace. One of its key proposals is a facelift for Stretford Mall - which while still well-used, currently has a high vacancy rate and has long been a regeneration priority.
It suggests more ‘outward facing’ and ‘attractive’ frontages along the A56, as well as the centre’s part-demolition for a new ‘landmark’ development at the southern end, approved by planners last month. Other parts of it could also be ‘opened up,’ it says, if private investment is secured. Meanwhile, the council intends to buy up the listed Essoldo building - on the corner of Edge Lane - under compulsory purchase order if necessary, in order to reopen it for public use. Further details are due later this year, when the council will hear from companies or organisations with suggestions for the building. Over the road, on the Lacy Street car park, the town hall no longer plans a high-density development of student accommodation. After complaints from residents during the consultation process, it has now scaled that back to a ‘significantly lower and less dense’ scheme, which will include affordable housing for key workers such as nurses and teachers, as well as some student accommodation and food and drink outlets. Plans for 26 apartments on the former boatyard site next to the canal have already been approved, as well as for 40 flats on the Royal Canal Works site on Edge Lane, moves the council says will improve a key ‘gateway’ to the area and provide waterside homes. Stretford tram stop would also get a facelift. Trafford council is also looking to bring a series of vacant commercial buildings or plots of brownfield land back into use, including the empty three-storey office block next to Joseph Gleave on the A56, Anderton House which it says could be replaced by a new ‘landmark building’ - on Warwick Road and Charlton House on Chester Road. And it wants to see a major new residential development on the former Itron site on Talbot Road.
Meanwhile, if the former PC World building on Chester Road does not become a Lidl - as per plans submitted in October - then the council would aim to make it a residential development too.
Stretford’s latest regeneration masterplan has been propelled forward by the launch of plans for UA92 towards the end of last year.
Gary Neville’s new university will span across several plots around Talbot Road, including the former Kellogg’s site. The old B&Q site next to Lancashire County Cricket Club’s Emirates Old Traford is also included in the council’s vision for the campus, although it is currently in private hands.
A new ‘state-of-the-art’ Stretford leisure centre would be provided on the existing site as part of the university’s development. The council also wants to create what it calls a ‘professional route’ linking the university with Manchester United’s ground at Old Trafford, providing a ‘high-quality linear public realm’ between the two.
Plans for a series of new sports pitches at Turn Moss, including training space for Salford City FC, are also to be submitted.
The vision comes after 10 weeks of consultation over how the area should develop, which saw responses from 1,500 residents.
Trafford council leader Sean Anstee said changes to the plans for Lacy Street in particular showed the town hall had listened.
“We promised to have a proper conversation with the people of Stretford and to listen. We were overwhelmed with the passion, time and energy that people invested in this process,” he said.
“It involved massive commitment from both local residents and council staff, during which time we had a lively, challenging, but always meaningful dialogue.
“The result is amended proposals we hope reflect the ideas and feedback of the majority of people who told us what they thought.”
We were overwhelmed with the passion, time and energy that people invested in this process Sean Anstee