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Revealed: Manchester City's massive regeneration project around Eastlands


Josher

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Top three of the Premiership, playing European football and in to the quarter finals of the FA cup ... now this! (comes with a new canal-side hotel).

 

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WORK IN PROGRESS: Regeneration of land next to the City of Manchester Stadium has already begun.

 

March 03, 2011 Manchester Evening News

 

A global sporting capital is to be built around Manchester City’s stadium in a breathtaking plan by the club’s owners to transform the run-down area. In one of the biggest regeneration projects seen in the city for generations, East Manchester will be home to start-of-the-art facilities for both elite stars and the community. A central part of the deal is to change the lives of people in one of Britain’s most deprived neighbourhoods. Community football pitches will be built on the 80 acres in Openshaw West bought by City’s Abu Dhabi owners last year – alongside a training complex for the club's professional players. A bridge would connect the site to the City of Manchester stadium. National teams for sports including basketball and taekwondo could join the all-conquering cycling squad under plans to turn Alan Turing Way into a ‘corridor of Olympians’. There are also plans for a cluster of new sporting facilities at Grey Mare Lane, including a new swimming pool. The aim is to use sport to inspire and transform the lives of children in an area with massive deprivation – and some of the lowest life-expectancies in Britain.

 

Garry Cook, the club’s chief executive, said: "Manchester City is a club at the heart of the city and at the heart of its community. It is therefore wholly appropriate to strengthen our links with the city council, whilst at the same time reaching out to those in the community around us and establishing ways in which we can best serve them." Extensive work is about to begin to clean up the land in and around Openshaw, once home to the Clayton Aniline factory. Another idea being investigated is a new school for the City stars of tomorrow. The Blues, who became one of the world’s wealthiest clubs when they were taken over by a consortium led by Sheikh Mansour in 2008, have been looking at ways of taking their young emerging academy talent out of school and educating them together. This could potentially be extended to take in children from the wider community.

 

City will enter into a business partnership – called the Eastlands Development Partnership – with Manchester council and regeneration company New East Manchester to turn the plans into reality. The partnership will give Manchester City a say in the development of the area. It builds on last year’s announcement that the three would join forces to regenerate 200 acres of land around Sportcity – bringing thousands of jobs. Proposals are outlined in a new framework document setting out a 15-year vision for the area. They include new office space and a ‘Velopark’ – incorporating the Velodrome, the BMX centre and off-road cyclo-cross biking track at Clayton Vale. New speedway facilities at Belle Vue and a canal-side hotel by the stadium are among other proposals, as well as ‘education facilities’.

 

Eddie Smith, chief executive of New East Manchester and the man appointed to head the new partnership, said: "This is a place where we can grow athletes of the future. "There will be a set of world class sporting assets established within East Manchester, along the Alan Turing Way corridor, of which the stadium is obviously at the heart. We want to build homes for national governing bodies and provide them with the opportunities to host international events. "Critically, underpinning all this, is the desire to create facilities accessible to Manchester residents – being able to mix an ordinary Mancunian with an elite athlete. "The sporting facilities will be some of the best in the world and what they’re testament to is both the legacy of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and our ability to build on that legacy."

 

Council leader Sir Richard Leese said: "This framework, along with the partnership, will drive progress over the next decade and will not just secure the economic success of the area, but also be a truly groundbreaking relationship setting the benchmark in the world of regeneration. "Our joint partnership is progressive and maturing and our mutual commitment means that our shared vision for the area can become a reality that will create jobs, visitors and opportunities for residents of East Manchester."

 

It is hoped that the sports facilities will act as a springboard to attract new developments to the area, including a major entertainment and leisure destination to replace the scrapped ‘supercasino’, which would have been built beside the football ground and brought 3,000 jobs. The club is expected to publish precise plans for the Openshaw West site in the autumn.

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I'm not a City fan, but it seems to me that the red side of the city could do well to put some money back into the community too, instead of borrowing vast sums against a 'global brand' with no thought for the little people who watch the games and buy the (overpriced) replica kit for their children.

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>snipped the first bit and the photo in the interests of good taste<

 

WORK IN PROGRESS: Regeneration of land next to the City of Manchester Stadium has already begun.

 

March 03, 2011 Manchester Evening News

 

 

Excellent news, the country north of Watford needs all the investment it can get, from whatever source and I sincerely hope the plan comes to fruition, it will be a true legacy of the present owners of Manchester City and lessees of the Council House. There are plenty of "wills" in the piece but also quite a few "woulds" and "hopes". As a Mancunian I hope it all gets done.

 

It might also increase the support for the football team; I noticed a lot of empty seats there last night. :P

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I'm not a City fan, but it seems to me that the red side of the city could do well to put some money back into the community too, instead of borrowing vast sums against a 'global brand' with no thought for the little people who watch the games and buy the (overpriced) replica kit for their children.

 

The Waterways News element of this topic was tenuous to start with and this is completely :smiley_offtopic: , but Manchester United do a huge amount of community work and don't crow about it. So far as regeneration is concerned have you had a look at the areas around Old Trafford? It's all new or regenerated or being developed. There's Pomona nearby but it's owned by Peel Holdings who have their own plans.

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