The regeneration of Bolton town centre hit a stumbling block yesterday after it was announced the council was seeking a new developer for three key sites.
Bolton Regeneration, a joint venture by Beijing Construction Engineering Group International and Granite Turner, was responsible for Crompton Place redevelopment with Granite Turner alone overseeing Trinity Gateway and Le Mans Crescent.
But due to ‘changing circumstances’ over the pandemic, an agreement has been reached for the developers to surrender options agreement, delaying schemes until a new developer is found.
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The council is optimistic this can be done by the end of the year but there are mixed feelings elsewhere.
Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi, would support a council bid to the government’s ‘Levelling Up’ fund if that were to help bring a developer in faster.
She said: “It is very worrying to hear the proposed developers of the Crompton Place development have surrendered their options agreement. After the past 19 months the last thing Bolton needs is a reduction in investment. All of us need to work together to ensure we make our town the best place to study, work, and live.
“The ambitious plans for the redevelopment are already in place and all we require is a developer to fulfil these plans and make the investment.
"On the investment front, I stand willing to support the council and Cllr Martyn Cox in any future bid to the levelling up fund to make it an attractive proposition for investors.”
Bolton North East MP Mark Logan said: “It’s essential we get the right mix of public and private investment. Reinventing the town centre is a key part of levelling up.”
Labour councillors are less optimistic about developers stepping in to take over the schemes, saying there is a major ‘viability gap'.
Cllr Nick Peel, borough Labour leader, added: “For the council to talk about the events of the last 18 months as being responsible for major investors pulling out of the town, is an attempt to pull the wool over our eyes. A report was commissioned by the council in June 2020, that specifically reflected a pre-Covid position and warned of a massive financial viability gap on the scheme, meaning it was unlikely a private developer would be willing to commit without huge intervention from the council.
“The council have sat on this information for 18 months, refusing to let the public know, despite being continually asked to by myself.”
Cllr Akhtar Zaman, deputy leader, added: “As the party that set all of this in motion, we are naturally very supportive of all of the regeneration schemes, and we accept fully things may change over the years and sometimes the best laid plans have to be re-looked at.
“We don’t criticise the Tory council for events outside of their control, but what we cannot accept is the fact they have known about this problem for a long time, and have chosen to stay silent, hoping for a miracle.”
Labour councillors pledged to work 'constructively' with Tories to promote the schemes.
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