UDP - Chapter 27 - Stalybridge Town Centre
Chapter 27
Stalybridge, Town Centre
| Ref | Proposal | Justification |
|---|---|---|
| STC2 | Provision of a new and re-designed bus station on the existing bus station site between Waterloo Road and Market Street, opposite Laycock House. | STC2. This proposal relates back to a decision made in the informal West and Central Stalybridge Development Plan, to provide small scale bus waiting facilities in Armentieres Square (since carried out) and to rebuild the main bus station on its existing site. The scheme will create a more compact and convenient layout on this site north of the river. The existing bus station, although used by a considerable number of services, is bleak and uninviting. The Passenger Transport Executive hope to carry out this proposal, subject to sufficient funds being available. |
| STC3 | Introduction of a traffic management scheme for the road system comprising Waterloo Road, Market Street and the streets and bus station in between.
The purpose will be to concentrate the majority of traffic on Waterloo Road and to enhance conditions for pedestrians on Market Street. |
STC3. The pattern of the existing road system in this part of the town centre north of the river offers the opportunity to rationalise the movement of the mostly local traffic involved. Waterloo Road is generally wider than the parallel Market Street, which is fronted on both sides by small shops and is liable to obstruction by delivery vehicles especially east of Water Street. This proposal may be co-ordinated with the reconstruction of the bus station (STC2) and the enhancement of parts of Market Street and Melbourne Street (STC15). |
| STC4 | Realignment of Castle Street west of Longlands Mill, to eliminate the right angle bend and provide an improved junction with Caroline Street.
The old line of Castle Street and the intervening land to be made available for parking and landscaping in connection with the Longlands Mill site (proposal STC9). |
STC4. Opportunity exists to iron out the unsatisfactory geometry of Castle Street, utilising a site recently cleared of property and owned by the Council. This proposal has relevance to the future use of the Castle Street and Longlands Mill sites (see Proposals STC8 and STC9) and implementation may have to await decisions on one or other of these development opportunities. |
| STC5 | Redevelopment of part or all of the refuse transfer loading station site at Bayley Street for employment purposes, with provision for a riverside path or planting strip.
The existing Civic Amenities tipping facility to be either retained within the redeveloped site or satisfactorily relocated. |
STC5. This 1.7 hectare, level, partially disused site at the western edge of the town centre was developed as a transfer loading station by the former Greater Manchester Council, but was used for its originally intended purpose for only a short period. However, the important Civic Amenities facility has continued to be available and must not be lost from the area. The land could be more efficiently used with some form of employment development and the opportunity taken at the same time to improve the riverside environment linking up to the site of proposal STC10. Proposal 98 of the Tame Valley Local Plan was for a riverside walkway between Bayley Street and Hully Street. |
| STC7 | Extension of the rail users car park situated on the opposite side of Rassbottom Street to the railway station.
This will involve the relocation of an existing haulage depot use. |
STC7. Demand for parking by rail passengers at Stalybridge Station frequently exceeds the limited supply available, despite recent take-over of a car park at the front of the fire station. Usage of rail services should be encouraged as far as possible (to help relieve road conditions among other reasons) and providing adequate parking space will help to achieve this. The small car park opposite the station entrance could be extended to the railway arches, subject to suitable arrangements for the current occupier of the land, and to sufficient Passenger Transport Executive resources. The Council will wish to see the involvement of the Greater Manchester Police when the extension of the car park is being designed, in an attempt to alleviate car crime. |
| STC8 | Development Opportunity Area: The area of car parks and mostly industrial and commercial property bounded generally by Castle Street, the rear of Melbourne Street, Grosvenor Street and Caroline Street, but excluding property west of Leech Street.
This area has potential for mixed retail development as part of the core of the shopping centre, including new and replacement car parking and improved access, with the opportunity to link into the existing pedestrianised streets and also to create a water feature along the line of the former canal. |
STC8. This area in the heart of the centre contains a number of older buildings of poor overall appearance, as well as unused land and Council owned car parks. The area has been under consideration for a major retail development scheme for several years, although some site assembly is still required.
The original concept was one of redevelopment for a covered shopping mall running through from Melbourne Street to Grosvenor Street, but this has not proved to be achievable, at least not up to 1995. However, planning permission was granted in February 1994 for the erection of a 1,672 square metres food store and 88 car parking spaces off Leach Street, on which construction has subsequently commenced. Further development may be possible within the overall area, with the objectives of integration with the existing shopping streets and widening the appeal of the centre. |
| STC9 | Development Opportunity Area: The Longlands Mill site between Castle Street, Back Melbourne Street and the River Tame.
Potential exists for renovation and re-use of at least part of the original mill, or for partial redevelopment, for a variety of purposes including small scale workshops, leisure, office, specialist retail or housing purposes. Additional land should become available through Proposal STC4. |
STC9. Longlands Mill is a substantial Grade II Listed Building with a long frontage to the south side of the River Tame. It is in poor condition externally and under-used as a whole, but provides an opportunity for a wide range of uses to be introduced, which would benefit from the location in the heart of the town centre and from the historic setting. An outline planning application was submitted in August 1993 for the conversion of Longlands Mill to residential (approximately 100 units), erection of retail store, river crossing, parking and open space, which the Council was minded to approve in February 1994, subject to the signing of a Section 106 Agreement. |
| STC10 | Development Opportunity Area: The area of mixed existing properties and yards bounded by the rear of Market Street (between Shepley Street and Hully Street), the south side of Stalybridge Station and the River Tame.
There is potential here for redevelopment for industrial, commercial or non-food retail purposes, with opportunity to improve access, servicing, parking and the riverside environment. |
STC10. This area in the north western part of the town centre has a poor overall environment, and the mostly old and converted premises often lack adequate servicing or parking and rely for access on an unsuitable street pattern. The railway arches on the northern edge have been attractively refurbished however. Considerable land assembly would be required for comprehensive redevelopment to take place but the area is well situated in relation to the river/canal, bus station and railway station and has the opportunity for linkage through to the site of proposal STC5. |
| STC11 | Development Opportunity Area: The area of industrial buildings, housing, garage sites and vacant land bounded by the River Tame, North Road, Huddersfield Road and the rear of Mottram Road / Portland Place.
This area has potential for residential, leisure or small office developments, to take advantage of the location next to both the proposed diversion of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal (STC17) and the original canal at Lock Side. The opportunity also exists to improve the surroundings to existing housing, to improve the overall appearance of the area, to resolve conflict between housing, industry and traffic on Knowl Street, and to rationalise and supplement the provision of parking for residents and visitors. |
STC11. This area around Knowl Street on the north eastern edge of the town centre is something of a backwater at the present time and suffers generally from both a poor standard of appearance and conflicts between industrial traffic and residential amenity. These problems are immediate, but the area will come more into the public eye with realisation of the river/canal project (see Proposal STC17).
Scope exists to rationalise the use of land and to take advantage, in fostering appropriate development, of the long frontages to the river and both the existing and future canals, whilst also improving the quality of the environment for residents and visitors. Specific proposals for the improvement and maintenance of the waterway environment should therefore be included with any wider development proposals, so that this particular aspect, which contributes a good deal to the potential attractiveness of the area and its surroundings, can itself benefit from any development here. Although this Plan provides no specific alternative to the use of Knowl Street for access to the industrial estate to the north, this remains a possible but costly option which could be investigated further in the future. |
| STC12 | Development of suitable parts of the Tenter Brow area between Stamford Street and the railway, for specialised housing purposes.
The more steeply sloping parts at the southern end of this area to be subject to additional landscaping and retention or improvement of traditional street and paving features. |
STC12. Tenter Brow, on the steeply sloping northern edge of the centre, was one of the earliest parts of the town to be built up, but has been left in a cleared and partly overgrown condition for some years. There is scope for new dwellings to be built on at least the more level area at the north end of the site, with landscape improvements on unsuitable slopes. Discussions have taken place previously with a housing association, the town centre location making the site particularly suitable for some form of social housing. The site is 0.7 hectares in extent and mostly owned by the Council. An outline planning application was submitted in January 1994 for the erection of 22 flats, and a shared house for 8 residents with support workers self-contained accommodation, on part of this site. The Council was minded to approve this application in March 1994, subject to the signing of a Section 106 Agreement. |
| STC13 | Improvement and enhancement of Stalybridge Railway Station and the rail corridor through the town centre, including attention to the station approach, station buildings, and the trackside environment. | STC13. Stalybridge railway station is used by commuters, shoppers and others travelling from the town into Manchester city centre and also by longer distance travellers, for whom it serves at Tameside's railhead on the trans-Pennine route. It therefore functions to some extent as a gateway to the Borough, for which an attractive standard of appearance is desirable. Implementation of improvements to the station buildings and approach, which have not been designed at this time, will depend on the P.T.E.'s and B.R.'s funding availability and priorities. Improvements to the trackside environment are a further part of Proposal ASH14 which covers the rail corridor through from the Manchester border and would be a joint initiative between B.R. and the Council. |
| STC14 | Improvement and enhancement of the existing pedestrianised shopping streets on Grosvenor Street and Melbourne Street, with attention to paving materials, street furniture and landscaping. | STC14. The shopping streets which were pedestrianised in the 1970's are in a poor general condition and need to be comprehensively refurbished to a more attractive and durable standard, in order to maintain the quality of the centre as a whole. The Council has made a successful bid for funding of a wide range of measures within the Tame Valley Initiative area, under the Government's Single Regeneration Budget. Part of this funding will be applied to the refurbishment of pedestrianised streets in Stalybridge town centre and work could start during the 1996/97 financial year. |
| STC15 | Road and footpath treatment in the section of Melbourne Street north of the existing pedestrianised area, the section of Trinity Street north of Corporation Street, the sections of Corporation Street and Dean Street west of Trinity Street, and the section of Market Street between the bus station and the Trinity Street bridge.
This is to improve the street scene and enhance conditions for pedestrians without complete closure to vehicles. |
STC15. Shops and other services are spread over quite a large area for the size of the town and trading conditions may be more difficult in the northern part of the centre. Consultations on the (informal) West and Central Stalybridge Development Plan in 1988/89 revealed no support however for extension of the existing totally pedestrianised area. It is considered that the viability of the northern part of the shopping centre would be better assisted by retaining limited vehicular access while also improving the pedestrian environment (see also Proposal STC3).
The type of treatment to be introduced on Trinity Street is likely to be different to that on the other streets, because of the greater role of Trinity Street as a traffic circulation and bus route. Attention will be concentrated particularly on the section in front of the Market Hall, which is a focal point for pedestrian movement. The improvements are expected to be implemented from 1996/97, using funding which has been approved through the Government's Single Regeneration Budget. |
| STC16 | The area on the north side of the restored Huddersfield Narrow Canal and Staley Wharf, between Bayley Street and Caroline Street, to be developed for waterside leisure uses and commercial, business or industrial development appropriate to a waterside setting. | STC16. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal was culverted and filled in through Stalybridge town centre from Mottram Road to Bayley Street during the 1960's, but unlike certain other sections was not subsequently built over west of Caroline Street. The canal has recently been restored through to Staley Wharf at the western end of the remaining town centre infill, and it is now possible for boats arriving from Ashton to turn round at this point.
In itself, this should provide a boost for visitor interest and an important step towards eventual restoration of navigation through the town centre (see proposal STC17). However, it should also act as a stimulus to the provision of waterside facilities and other canal related development on adjoining land to the north, which is currently either vacant or in use for car parking. Such development should be allied to specific proposals for the improvement and maintenance of the waterside environment, so that this particular aspect, which contributes a good deal to the potential attractiveness of the site and its surroundings, can itself benefit of any development here. |
| STC17 | Major engineering works in the River Tame between a point approximately 130 metres west of Caroline Street Bridge and the crossing point of the former railway viaduct north of the Staly Bridge (Mottram Road).
This is to enable the river to be used for canal boat navigation as part of the restoration of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. To include necessary locks, weir and bank abutments, the provision where practical of a riverside promenade, and adjoining landscaping and paving improvements. Also, construction of new canal links and locks from the basin off Caroline Street into the river north of Bridge Street and from the existing canal at Knowl Street to the river at the crossing point of the former railway viaduct.
|
STC17. The filled-in section of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in Stalybridge town centre has been one of the major obstacles to the widely shared aim of eventually restoring the canal for navigation through from Ashton to Huddersfield. Re-excavation of the original canal line would involve demolition of a number of buildings, severe disruption to several businesses and loss of important parking areas, so in 1987 the Council adopted a policy of supporting the river route as their preferred option.
Feasibility studies have been carried out which indicate that there are no major engineering problems involved in use of the river which cannot be overcome by conventional engineering techniques. Basically, a channel of sufficient width will be cut into the bed of the river and water levels controlled by new locks and weirs, with a short length of separate cut outside of the river, near Old Street, leaving a small island. Linking from the river into the proposed basin at Caroline Street (STC16) will require demolition of a section of a works building but at the north eastern end use of the former railway viaduct alignment mostly avoids existing properties. Massive public funding has to be found for this project which is unlikely to be achieved until the second half of the plan period at the earliest. However, considerable economic and environmental benefits should be derived for the town centre, and for other areas along the canal, through increased tourism activity and commercial development interest. Should the necessary funding be forthcoming, the Council is committed to involving the National Rivers Authority in close and early discussions about the engineering works necessary to achieve this proposal. |
| STC18 | Landscaping and footpath improvement on the bank between the River Tame and Cocker Hill north of Staly Bridge (Mottram Road), in association with the canalisation of the river (proposal STC17).
To include a foot-bridge over the river at the point where the proposed new canal enters the river. |
STC18. This steep bank, on the west side of the river at the north eastern edge of the town centre, is a prominent landscape feature viewed from the Mottram Road bridge over the River Tame. It will additionally form a background to activities on the river and riverside following the canalisation scheme (STC17). There is already a track near the base of the bank but this does not form part of any through route. Existing property will make it more difficult to create a towpath on the east side of the river and a foot-bridge would therefore be needed if a continuous canal / riverside route is to be established. |