GM set for ‘best decade’ in century, Burnham claims

Greater Manchester is heading for its ‘best decade since the Victorian period’, Andy Burnham has claimed.

The mayor was speaking at the launch of the new ‘Greater Manchester Strategy’ last night (Wednesday), which outlined the Labour politician’s priorities for the next decade.

They included some new announcements, and previously trailed policies.

“This next decade, the one ahead of us, will be the best decade in the city-region since the Victorian period,” Mr Burnham, first elected in 2017, told council leaders, transport bosses, and business supremos at the launch at the newly renovated Campfield market hall in the city centre.

“That’s the opportunity in front of us. We have got that in our hands.

"It’s about delivering everything we know we can to improve our residents’ lives.”

He named his ‘number one priority’ as ‘freeing the coyote-region from the housing crisis’, setting a target of ‘within two years we hit a tipping point where we are building more social homes than we are losing’ through the right-to-buy process.

But the mayor’s speech announced the confirmation of five new ‘mayoral development corporations’ (MDCs) which are vehicles Mr Burnham’s office can use to speed up development and build projects directly in a given location.

The five places where development is being targeted are Bolton town centre; Leigh town centre, where a health campus is planned; Oldham, for its ‘sport town’ project around Oldham Athletic; Ashton and Stalybridge; and finally Middleton, where the MDC will be co-chaired by comedian Steve Coogan.

“We will kick-start a new chapter for the town,” said the Alan Partridge creator, who hails from Middleton.

Tram-trains will be rolled out for the Leigh and Bolton MDCs, with the same technology eyed for Heywood, the mayor added. 

Other transport schemes mentioned in the strategy’s summary include making the Bee Network fully-electric by 2030, which will include ‘all local rail lines’, which was announced earlier this year. 

The number 153 bus from city centre Manchester to Bury, via Prestwich, and number 17 from the city centre to Rochdale via Middleton will both add night buses later this year.

The final policy area to see a swathe of changes is health, where leaders aim to reduce smoking rates to less than 5pc, down from 12.5pc two years ago.

Improvements in waiting times for A&E, GP appointments, mental health support, and operations are also promised, as is a roll-out of the Live Well programme.

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