Further written submission from the Association
of Greater Manchester Authorities
DELIVERY OF
MAJOR PHYSICAL
REGENERATION PROJECTS
In discussion with the Select Committee the issue
of current problems in delivering major regeneration priorities
was raised.
There is a need to recognise that major land based
regeneration programmes to deliver economic growth can only be
brought forward if there is both a long term strategic commitment
and an investment based approach to the delivery of enabling infrastructure.
Current funding programmes do not lend themselves
to these approaches and it is essential, in moving forward, that
we enable local partners to develop the capability to address
investment needs through such mechanisms.
This will be key to the delivery of sites of major
regional and national significance. Carrington, in the south of
the borough of Trafford, represents such a strategic priority
and is recognised as a one of the few major brownfield opportunities
to drive economic growth at scale within the Greater Manchester
Combined Authority area.
As part of a review of GM wide strategic sites by
the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) Carrington
was identified as one of the top priority future employment opportunities
because of its strategic location and vast scale.
Trafford Council is now working closely with the
landowner and the core capacity established at a Greater Manchester
level in order to facilitate the early phased delivery of the
scheme.
Carrington comprises over 390 hectares of land of
which almost 50% is in single ownership (Shell) which has the
capacity to deliver over 10,000 new jobs and 2,500 new homes over
the next 25 years, through a process of phased development.
The plan below provides a geographical context of
its position adjacent to the GM regional centre and to assist
in appreciating the scale of the opportunity, the site is shown
set against other national examples.
Working alongside the two major private sector landowners
(Shell/Their Development Partner & Peel Holdings) Trafford
Council is focused on unlocking the potential of this whole western
area of the Borough, revitalising the deprived communities of
Partington and Sale West on its boundaries and neighbouring ones
in Salford.
In the period through to 2026 (the period covered
by Trafford's emerging Core Strategy), the Shell Carrington site
alone, is expected to deliver:
— 1,560
residential units.
— Up
to 75 hectares of land for employment activities.
— Contributions
towards a scheme to mitigate the impact of traffic generated by
development on the Strategic, Primary and Local Road Networks.
— Significant
improvements to public transport infrastructure.
— Community
facilities, including convenience retail, school, health provision
and recreational facilities of a scale appropriate to the needs
of the new community.
— High
quality green infrastructure.
This huge opportunity will complement other well
developed major investments and employment opportunities in the
wider Carrington including:
— The
£280 million investment by SAICA to establish a state of
the art Paper Mill creating 200 new end user jobs—to open
in 2011.
— ESB
International/Carlton Power being granted permission to construct
an 860MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine. This investment is worth
£1,100 million and will create some 1,400 construction jobs
during construction and 110 full time operational jobs. Similar
power plants in operation elsewhere for the past five years have
spent in the region of £5.5 million with local companies.
— National
Grid submitting an application for a new employment zone to create
a 94,000 square metre employment space ranging for workshops to
warehouses at its disused site. This will create 1,600 new jobs
and up to 2.000 construction jobs.
The site can only be brought forward on the back
of significant investment in transport and accessibility improvements,
green infrastructure, new utilities and services, sustainable
energy management measures and, potentially, significant land
remediation.
These investment challenges can only be met if local
partners have the ability to invest and then recycle return from
higher values generated from that investment. The advent of tax
increment financing models will enable some of this investment
to be achieved and it is clear that, in a site of the significance
and complexity of Carrington, the greatest possible role of flexibility
will be needed to enable public private partnerships to be developed
on the basis of different investment models that command best
fit in terms of specific elements of infrastructure delivery.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Local
Enterprise Partnership are uniquely placed to deliver robust investment
management and to maximise leverage from the private funding market
where there is significant appetite to co-fund investment strategies
with the public sector.
Carrington is a top priority for investment in Greater
Manchester priority and also a major potential generator of resources
and economic growth in the longer term. It is the acceleration
of the delivery of strategic opportunities such as this which
Government can facilitate through supporting the Greater Manchester
approach to its overall investment model as a project as significant
as Carrington will require significant up front funding that can
only realistically be delivered on the basis of an investment
approach, enabling the recycling of investment through uplift
in value and an agreed long-term engagement with private sector
partners.
June 2011
CARRINGTON—LOCATION PLAN
THE SCALE OF THE OPPORTUNITY IN COMPARATIVE
CONTEXT
| 
