Manchester council has secured funding for the Northern Gateway Project

Manchester council has successfully bid for £51.6m from the government’s housing infrastructure fund. 

The money will be used to deliver 5,500 homes for the first stage of the Northern Gateway project, the largest residential-led regeneration project in the UK.

According to the council, in the next 15-20 years the project will deliver 15,000 homes, 3,000 of which will be affordable.

The initial funding will be used to help address the core infrastructure constraints of the site and help to deliver walking and cycling routes.

The project will connect seven new and emerging neighbourhoods through green spaces and public squares.

Cllr Suzanne Richards, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and regeneration, said: ‘Confirmation that we have been successful in our bid for Housing Investment Funding is incredibly welcome.

‘This will mean we can overcome a number of major infrastructure hurdles that currently limit the development opportunities in the Northern Gateway area, and will unlock land for new housing, including a significant number of affordable homes.

‘The Gateway project is beginning to build a real head of steam and it’s exciting to see the building blocks of this ambitious project come together.

‘In the meantime, we will continue to work closely with residents to ensure they are central to the conversation as we begin to move towards the delivery of new homes for Manchester.’

Tom Fenton, project director at FEC, said: ‘Many people have worked incredibly hard on this bid to Government and this announcement is the perfect catalyst to unlock momentum and become the basis for further strategic investment. We are really pleased that the Government have shown confidence in our collective ability to deliver and it’s a real vote of confidence for the project and we can’t wait to get started.’

In related news, earlier this year, Chris Ogden investigated for New Start why Manchester is grappling with what to do with its public squares.

Photo Credit – Northern Gateway Project