Revitalising Bolton and District town centres for the 21st Century
We will revisit and recreate a town centre that is relevant for the modern shopping world, and create new communities with thousands of family homes, cultural activities and enhanced open spaces to be a fundamental part of the office and retail offer in the town centre.
Bolton town centre regeneration is housing led and is the number one priority for the council, for jobs and economic growth as well as delivering housing sites, enabling us to protect other green sites. A new emphasis has been placed on the cultural, heritage, events and leisure offer. Quality open spaces are central to the plans.
We will remodel both Bolton and Townships schemes to ensure they continue to be financially viable.
A new approach is to concentrate on the most important and deliverable schemes rather than trying to do everything at the same time. The GM Mayoral Development Corporation announced for Bolton town centres will provide us with assistance and new powers.
We will make use of all legal powers available to councils to raise finance for investment in regeneration projects with an economic return.
We have continued to successfully bid and secure funding via GM and other routes to access grants to bring forward developments that are unviable. Bolton has gained a reputation of trust and deliverability.
It is extremely worrying that the Conservative Council missed out on a £16M grant for the town centre because they put the bid in too late! We will review processes to ensure that this never happens again!
We have reviewed processes to ensure that this never happens again and we will have a clear timeline to prepare and submit any future bids and we will ensure that Bolton is prepared for future funding opportunities. We have secured Further Levelling Up funding and long terms investment into Bolton and Farnworth.
We will develop an Environmental Impact Assessment to protect valuable buildings from unnecessary demolition thus contributing positively to the environment and climate change.
Further work required.
We will learn from examples of good practice in relation to physical regeneration from other authorities and organisations such as the Civic Trust.
Bolton has signed up to a Pathfinder Pilot along with 9 other authorities and we will use this network and the GM network to explore good practice. Crompton Place Steering Group will consult external organisations.
Plans for our town centres should include high quality bio diverse green areas and public spaces.
2 new parks opened in Bolton town centre, Elizabeth Park and Cheadle Square. Crompton Place redevelopment will include quality public space.
Transport links to and from our town centres are vital to their success, and we will ensure town centre parking and public transport remains available and economical.
Active travel schemes and dedicated bus and cycle lanes. Bee Network and new £2 bus fare has seen increase in usage. Bolton town centre one way systems and bus lanes to be reviewed as part of the Crompton Place redevelopment. Parking charges raised by inflation only and remain competitive.