A NEW bid to regenerate town centres has been launched.

Greater Manchester mayor and former Leigh MP Andy Burnham is asking councils across the region to nominate a town centre to be improved such as providing more housing opportunities, venues for events and public sector hubs.

The Town Centre Challenge will see the mayor working alongside public and private landowners, developers, community groups and other key stakeholders to support the councils in the region.

Mr Burnham said: “This new initiative is all about regenerating town centres across Greater Manchester which have felt left behind.

"The time has come to breathe new life into our proud towns and move away from developer-led, green-field first approach of the past.

“We need to build a new future for those towns through higher density mixed and affordable housing, with local retail and leisure facilities and supported by transport and digital connectivity.

“There is a massive housing requirement across the city-region and we must have a housing and planning policy which is based on housing need and regeneration, not just the number of units.

"We need to build the right homes in the right places.

"Greater Manchester is suffering from high levels of traffic congestion and that means we will only be able to support new housing growth if we link it much more closely to transport infrastructure.

“This is part of the approach we are taking as we are re-writing the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

"But I want to make clear that this new approach will not mean that there will not still be difficult planning decisions ahead and some green sites will still be needed.

“I am pleased to see the scale of ambition local areas have for their town centres and want the Town Centre Challenge to help accelerate change on the ground.

"I have made working with Greater Manchester’s councils to support improvement in our city-region’s towns a key priority of my first term as Mayor, alongside addressing the housing crisis.

"Every single district has a role to play and will contribute to making Greater Manchester the best place to live and get on in life."

The challenge, which is being launched in Bury town centre yesterday, Friday, is being supported by new mayoral powers.

There are eight main towns, around 20 other smaller towns and more than 50 other suburban centres.