Purpose

Middleton Town Centre Mayoral Development
Corporation

Content

 
The Cabinet considered
a report of the Director of Economy and Place, which sought
agreement to create a Middleton Mayoral Development Corporation
(MDC) to drive forward the regeneration of Middleton, with a focus
on accelerating housing and commercial growth around existing and
planned transport infrastructure, and to respond to emerging
funding opportunities.
 
The Head of Strategic
Growth was in attendance to present the
information and to address the questions and the comments of the
Cabinet Members.
 
The Officer informed
that Middleton was positioned in one of
Greater Manchester’s designated Growth Locations and could
truly benefit from planned strategic growth in the region,
including Atom Valley and the Northern Gateway strategic employment
site. Realising Middleton’s potential and capitalising on the
opportunities associated with Atom Valley would require a
coordinated effort to bring together public sector partners,
landowners, and private sector developers in a dedicated delivery
vehicle.
 
Resolved:
1.   
That the creation of a Middleton Mayoral Development Corporation
(MDC) with its associated name and boundary (Appendix 2 of the
report) be approved in principle;
2.   
That a public consultation on the creation of the Middleton MDC be
approved;
3.   
That it be noted that a report would be presented to the Greater
Manchester Combined Authority in May 2025 recommending: that the
decisions made by this council be noted, and approval in principle
be given to the establishment of a Mayoral Development Corporation
for Middleton;
4.   
That it be noted that a further report would be brought to Cabinet
following consultation with Middleton Township and the conclusion
of the public consultation, from which responses would be analysed,
with further recommendations in respect of the proposed Middleton
MDC;
5.   
That the funding required from the Council and detailed in
paragraph 6 of the report be approved and be funded from the
existing Community Regeneration Partnerships £0.6m capital
grant funding to be allocated to Middleton Heritage and Town Centre
in 2025/26.
 
Reason for
decision:
The Middleton Town
Centre Masterplan had been adopted in 2022 and
set out a vision for the evolution of Middleton town centre towards
an attractive, accessible and liveable destination, celebrating its
rich heritage, community, culture and natural assets, reflecting
the council’s aspirations for the area.
Whilst the Masterplan
sought to guide future development in the Town Centre, in line with
the vision, looking forward to delivery, Middleton suffered from
the development constraints, market failure and viability issues
that were typical of brownfield sites, particularly those around
the town centre. Fragmentation of land ownership across the area,
combined with the comparatively small scale of council and other
public estate land holdings, acted as a constraint on what the
market could deliver and on the council’s ability to
intervene to unlock development.
Given the above, the
most common forms of delivery vehicle to achieve the aspirations
and vision set out in the Masterplan, including direct Council
development and various forms of joint venture with developers,
would be unlikely to overcome the constraints in order to bring
forward development.
The Mayoral
Development Corporation model had the ability to bring together a
combination of relevant development and land assembly statutory
powers with a unique profile to galvanise market interest and
support engagement with the private sector to deliver the
council’s ambition for the town.
Approval to create the
Middleton MDC with its associated boundary would enable the
statutory public consultation to proceed and thus commence the
statutory process for creation and implementation.
The creation of an MDC
would be developed in parallel with
consultation on more detailed proposals for a Supplementary
Planning Document (SPD) to provide a framework to guide the
regeneration of parts of Middleton Town Centre.
The consultation
processes for the proposed Middleton MDC and the Supplementary
Planning Document would be aligned if
practicable, recognising that the SPD would provide confidence and
certainty to investors in respect of how the vision for Middleton
would be achieved.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
That the MDC
was not endorsed as the preferred
delivery vehicle for the regeneration of Middleton. The benefits
associated with the creation of an MDC as noted in this report
would not be realised and the potential benefits of using such a
regeneration vehicle as well as the funding opportunities
associated with it would be
forfeited.