ITEM NO: 10 Report To: EXECUTIVE CABINET Date: 24 October 2012 Executive Member/Reporting Cllr K Quinn - Executive Leader Officer: Robin Monk - Executive Director (Economic Growth, Investment & Sustainability) Damien Bourke - Head of Strategic Investment & Development Subject: REVITALISING TAMESIDE’S TOWNS Report Summary: This report sets out the Council’s future plans to revitalise Tameside’s town centres. Recommendations: Subject to formal Key Decision at Cabinet Executive Members are asked to: 1. Note the content of the report and approve the proposals it puts forward; 2. Approve the submission of a capital bid of £4.5m to fund the public realm works to Ashton Market Square; 3. Approve delegation to the Executive Director (Economic Growth, Investment & Sustainability) to: a) Agree an action plan for each of Tameside’s six Town Teams on behalf of Tameside Council; and b) Allocate and approve the spending of High Street Innovation Fund monies on behalf of each Town Team in accordance with the relevant Action Plan, to a maximum value of £16,666 per Town Team. Links to Community Strategy: Town Centres play a key role in meeting the aims of Prosperous Tameside and Attractive Tameside, with direct and indirect links to all other Community Strategy themes. Policy Implications: A strategic and co-ordinated approach to town centres is essential to deliver successful outcomes that make best use of available resources. Financial Implications: The report advises that further investment to revitalise town centres is essential if local businesses and communities are to (Authorised by the Borough flourish. Any costs relating to action plans must be met from Treasurer) existing budgets. The report sets out the Driver Projects and funding options that are being considered and pursued. The report also advises that in order to secure the future of the Ashton town centre as a thriving business and urban environment it is essential that the public realm works around the market square are fully completed. A recent bid for match ERDF funding to support this scheme was not successful. A capital bid of £4.5million is therefore proposed. A report to Strategic Capital Panel needs to be prepared setting out the full capital bid proposals and detailed budget assumptions. Legal Implications: It is important that the council effectively invests and supports its Town centres to thrive to sustain the economy of the (Authorised by the Borough Borough. It is important that bureaucratic arrangements are Solicitor) not put in place for the limited funding that is available for each Town Team yet there must be clear accountability for the expenditure which is intended to cover any costs associated with running the Town Teams including hire of rooms/premises for meeting, administrative arrangements etc. Risk Management: The failure to address the needs of Tameside’s town centres would severely restrict the Council’s ability to support Tameside’s economy through the recession. Access to Information: The background papers relating to this report can be inspected by contacting the Report Writer Kate O’Donnell, Manager – Economic Strategy, Skills & Enterprise by: Telephone:0161 342 2174 e-mail: [email protected] 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This report sets out the Council’s future plans to revitalise Tameside’s town centres. Our approach is to work with public, private and community sector partners to create the conditions in which local businesses and communities can flourish. The report updates Executive Members on current progress, and asks for their approval of the proposed course of action. 1.2 In a climate of continued public resource constraints, Tameside Council has sought to minimise the impact of savings targets on local communities. The continued downturn and national austerity measures in place have created a tough local economic climate with raised unemployment particularly in our young people. The council recognises that it is even more important than ever to ensure that we are doing whatever possible to provide a boost to the local economy, 1.3 The Council recognises the importance of Tameside’s town centres as drivers of economic and social growth. Thriving town centres are crucial to the wider economic growth of the borough. They act as loci for economic activity and vital centres provide confidence for investment in new jobs and infrastructure. The role of town centres is changing, as supermarkets and out of town shopping areas continue to flourish and retail behaviour moves towards online purchasing. In future the need for retail space is expected to contract within town centres, which will be valued increasingly for their social, civic and leisure contribution to the area. 1.4 Tameside has six major town centres, including Ashton, Denton, Droylsden, Hyde, Mossley, and Stalybridge. Ashton is Tameside’s principal town, providing an administrative and economic capital for the borough. The remaining town centres have very different characteristics and needs, and each has a distinctive role to play in Tameside’s economy. 2.0 ASHTON TOWN CENTRE 2.1 Significant evidence is now in place to support the principles around the redevelopment of Ashton town centre. Most crucially, the need to ensure that the centre functions effectively for Tameside as: A vital and thriving retail and commercial centre A transport hub connecting people with jobs A centre for skills development. 2.2 The arrival of Metrolink to the town centre in 2013, the potential Tameside College relocation programme and redevelopment of the Tameside Administrative Centre provide a once in a generation opportunity to think about how best we reshape the town centre to maximise the impact on the economy of Tameside and Greater Manchester. 2.3 The key driver projects include: The relocation of the College to Ashton Town Centre A new transport interchange An urban village for Ashton A new Shared Services Centre Public realm and market square 2.4 Recent work by Inspired Spaces/Igloo has highlighted a number of spatial opportunities around the town centre and identified several issues to overcome: Optimal College Location [for a vital Town Centre] in Northern Core split with St Petersfield. The Delamere Area provides an opportunity for a new cultural quarter and will benefit from improved public real and linkages between St Petersfield and the Northern Core. The relocation of the College into the northern core combined with a new TAC would require a new urban design vision for the whole area. Opportunities around improving the Market Square and consolidating the retail offer should be pursued. Driver Projects The driver projects for Ashton Town Centre continue apace: 2.5 College relocation. We are working closely with the College and their retained consultants [Fusion/Taylor Young] as they develop the options around the College relocation. We are working closely with the College to develop the potential funding options around the move and we have commissioned an appraisal of the financial and economic benefits of moving the College into the town centre. This is jointly commissioned by the College, TMBC and ASK Developments. The College is expected to make its decision in the middle of October. 2.6 The Transport Interchange. The feasibility study is now complete and we are currently in the process of developing the brief for an extended business case for the interchange. It is intended that the business case be completed by the end of January 2013. The Interchange was included in a list of Tameside priorities that has been notified to TfGM and the Combined Authority, and it is essential we continue the pressure to keep this on the list as transport funding is devolved in April 2013. 2.7 Shared Services Centre /Tameside Administrative Centre. Work on options around the location and scope of a new Shared Services is continuing as part of the town centre strategy and a review of the estate. Clearly, there is a strong interrelation with the College relocation project with options around shared services, urban design, access and public realm which require consideration at an appropriate level. 2.8 Ashton Market Square. Monies have already been announced for public realm works on the market square, to make up in part for the relocation of Marks and Spencer to Ashton Moss in 2013. Significant efforts have been made to identify match funding to ensure a complete scheme would be possible, but the most recent bid to a significantly oversubscribed ERDF public realm call was ultimately not successful. 2.9 January 2013 now looks like the date for the M&S relocation and it would be timely to review whether the current strategy of seeking other funding options is going to deliver sufficient change in time increase retail confidence. 2.10 Urban Village. It is clear that the impact of out of town retail and online shopping is going to have a lasting effect on our town centres and part of the strategy is to take a more radical look at how we retain vitality in a new context. One of the key projects to support the town centre would be to consider how some of the town centre development sites could be used to support an Urban Village. This would provide high quality homes close to the town centre and transport interchange, creating movement during the day and vitality in the evening economy. Discussions are currently under way with developers to understand the market and options. GM Town Centre Review 2.11 Town Centres have been identified in the MIER and the GM Strategy as principally important to GM growth both as centres of economic activity in their own right as well hubs for the provision of skills to the regional centre and key employment sites. A number of studies have been undertaken in this area and a current programme of work is underway to revisit the strategic approach of each of the key town centres.