In Cheshire, Agency support has enabled the completion of the central section of Chester’s Old Port promenade, improving access to the town centre, opening up a previously closed walkway for pedestrians and cyclists and improving the city’s tourism offer. The Agency is also helping to ensure good design is embedded in projects across the Northwest. RENEW Northwest, the regional champion for regeneration excellence, has hailed five regeneration projects across the Northwest as best practice partners, rewarding them with Exemplar Learning status.
Supporting rural growth The Agency continues to work hard to diversify the rural economy and provide new economic and social opportunities for rural businesses and communities. The Agency is spearheading a number of initiatives to help the region’s market towns regain a pivotal role in economic and social life. Benefiting from the Agency’s Market Town Initiative is Neston, Cheshire, whose £1 million investment programme has a focus on encouraging business start-ups and the development of a resource centre to address the skills needs of local residents and employers. In Lancashire, the Agency is driving forward the development of Community Resource Centres as part of the Rural Pathfinder project, a Lancashire Economic Partnership-led scheme which will also examine the transport needs of local communities and encourage rural enterprise. Improving the competitiveness of primary agriculture also remains a key objective. In Cumbria, HRH The Prince of Wales launched Junction 38, a facility enabling farmers to tap into the growing market for organic, locally produced red meat. Supported by the Agency via Rural Regeneration Cumbria, the processing facility will enable profits to be passed back to farmers, helping to improve their productivity.
Infrastructure Creating 21st century business locations The Agency has made progress in priming the region’s portfolio of strategic sites for investment, working closely with the private sector on a number of developments across the region. In Greater Manchester, the £350 million, 170-hectare Kingsway site is underway. The NWDA is investing £31 million into the Park’s development which, when completed, will attract large scale inward investment and growing local businesses, contributing upwards of 7,000 new jobs for Greater Manchester and the Northwest. The first premises will be ready for occupation in early 2007. The £18.5 million One Central Park in Manchester has opened its doors to begin delivering research, development and education facilities on the UK’s first urban ICT business park. The development, led by the Agency, aims to capitalise on Manchester’s knowledge industry and is expected to create more than 100,000 new jobs in East Manchester over the next 10-15 years. In Chorley, planning approval has been granted for the Royal Ordnance Factory site where a £20 million investment by LEX Auto Logistics is expected to generate over 2,000 jobs and attract businesses to the area. Following a strategic review of its property assets, the Agency is establishing a joint venture to have responsibility for the management of, and investment into, its property portfolio. The creation of a 50/50 Public Private Partnership will enable the Agency to get the best value out of its property assets.
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