Consultation opens about the ambitious regeneration plans for Wythenshawe Town Centre

Local people and businesses are invited to give their feedback about proposals to transform Wythenshawe Town Centre.

The City Council has recently completed the acquisition of the town centre from St.Modwen’s and early plans for how the centre could be redeveloped have been drawn up ready for consultation.

The consultation is open now and will end on Friday 25 November.

Local people can also attend in-person to discuss the proposals with Council officers at the former Peacocks unit between Monday 7 November and Saturday 12 November – 10am to 2pm each day.

Laptops will also be made available at the in-person events for local people to submit their feedback.

The development aims to redevelop the current town centre and deliver a new focal point for the community, celebrating Wythenshawe’s roots as a garden city in a new civic square, new planting, trees and a large boulevard-style public realm.

Thousands of new homes are also planned as part of the proposals on Council-owned brownfield land next to the Town Centre. And investment in the neighbourhood will generated hundreds of new jobs for local people.

The proposals for the town centre will also include:

• Culture hub: Artist studios, performance space and a community cinema in the former Co-op department store
• Food Hall: A large, flexible events space championing local produce by day and leading a new night-time economy through a food, drink, live music and street food offering by night.
• Employment spaces: New flexible employment accommodation ranging from co-working spaces through to a new enterprise centre with a focus on local start-up and small and medium-sized businesses and larger floorplate managed office space.
• New civic square and public realm: A large new focal point representing the new heart of the town centre and capable of hosting community events. Improved accessibility and the creation of small naturally- planted ‘sponge parks’ designed to increase biodiversity and help adapt to the impacts of climate change while reducing the risk of flooding.
• Decarbonisation: Sustainable retrofit of existing building to improve energy performance and reduce carbon emissions plus the installation of solar PV cells on rooftop spaces.

A £20m Levelling Up bid was submitted to Government in August that would jumpstart the transformation and help realise the long-term vision for Wythenshawe Town Centre.

Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: 

“Consultation is incredibly important at the beginning of a major regeneration programme like this. Feedback and input from local people about how their local town centre works for them is invaluable.

“We have big ambitions to improve the area for this community, but this only works if the result is welcomed by the very people that use it daily.

“Wythenshawe town centre has a huge amount of potential and this investment will help improve the offer for residents and attract people to the centre as well – while also creating new jobs and new homes for the community.

“We have a real opportunity to create a town centre that benefits generations to come, so I would urge as many people to take part and take time to visit the drop-in. We really want to hear from you.”