Help to make BID a success
STOCKPORT town centre has an amazing growth and regeneration story at the moment, but it’s by no means a done deal yet. There is a long journey ahead for the council’s town centre taskforce, not least finding a long-term occupier for the recently finished 50,000 sq ft office building at Stockport Exchange.
The Co-operative Bank recently announced that it will be making job cutbacks, with some of those jobs losses from Manchester and Stockport. This demonstrates the opportunities in the town centre are still fragile and need to be nurtured.
However, at Orbit we have had two great years of developing occupiers within the town centre and had a total take-up of 60,000 sq ft throughout 2015. That figure looks set to be even higher in 2016 with a record number of take ups in the pipeline.
That’s the equivalent of filling up two and half times the size of new Stockport Exchange buildings.
The job of re-positioning the town centre is only half complete, other central businesses need to join in and be part of the promotion of Stockport.
We all know it has great connections to the motorway network, rail links and benefits from the airport being close by, but there needs to be a more structured approach so we all can benefit from the good news that’s already going on, including the BID (Business Improvement District) getting a Yes vote.
Now it’s time for business owners and retailers to get involved and be part of making the BID a success over the next five years to ensure the recovery in Stockport town centre has depth and sustainability.
Visit www. visionstockport.org.uk to get involved.