Boltons Crompton Place redevelopment plan misses out on 16m levelling up funding

CIVIC leaders have expressed disappointment after a bid for £16.2m towards the redevelopment of Crompton Place was turned down by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

But Bolton Council representatives have said there is still plenty of redevelopment due to take place across the borough - while the project remains a key goal.

This came after the Chancellor’s budget last Wednesday in which Mr Sunak announced that he had granted £20m worth of 'levelling up' funds for the proposed building of the Bolton College of Medical Sciences, along with several other infrastructure projects across the UK.

He did not do the same for the council’s bid for £16.2m for the Crompton Place redevelopment plan though.

Cllr Adele Warren, the borough's regeneration cabinet member, said: “Obviously it’s disappointing but in all honesty we’ve got so much to be getting on with in terms of the projects we’ve been successful with and we’ve also got high levels of private sector investment."

The original bid was for £36m of government infrastructure funding for the medical college and Crompton Place schemes.

Altogether, the £250m redevelopment of Crompton Place should see the current shopping centre demolished, with 46 new retail units created, along with a 300 space car park, offices and more than 180 homes. This would go in tandem with the proposed redevelopments of Trinity Gateway and Le Mans Crescent.

The Crompton Place funding would have been used for the demolition and redevelopment of the west side of the building.

Planners hoped having this funding source would have made investing more attractive to developers for the rest of the project.

Council leaders are still seeking partners for the scheme and have said that they hope to see work commence by March 2022, while the second bid for a new medical college has been welcomed across the political spectrum.

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi said: “Whilst we didn’t get the full £36m we called for, over two bids, we did get the £20m worth of cash to fund the Bolton College of Medical Sciences.

"I hope the work that went into the Crompton Place levelling up fund bid...does not go to waste, and that we can continue to grow and develop Bolton.”

Share this post