New roads open up canalside land for business

By Susie Sell

Large tracts of land beside the Manchester Ship Canal will be opened up for development following the approval of Peel Holdings’ Western Gateway Infrastructure Scheme.

The £25m scheme involves the building of new roads that will provide a link to currently inaccessible canalside land. The roads will also connect to the proposed £100m Port Salford multimodal freight terminal.

Peel hopes that the scheme will facilitate the development of sites on each side of the canal.

The plan is part of Peel’s wider Ocean Gateway scheme, which will involve a series of developments along the canal between Liverpool and Manchester. Peel claims this will bring jobs, investment and environmental improvements to the area.

Government injects £750,000 into Caldon Canal development

By Susie Sell

A housing development along the Caldon Canal is to receive a government cash injection to help carry it through the recession.

Work began at City Waterside, North Staffordshire, last year but plans to create 2,500 canalside homes have slowed considerably in recent months.

The government’s Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) will invest £750,000 in the scheme to ensure work continues throughout the economic downturn.

Paul Spooner, regional director of the HCA, said: “The credit crunch has not helped housing developments in the area. But we have got much of the infrastructure in place.

“We are particularly keen to ensure that flagship housing developments like City Waterside do not fall victim to the slump.”

The HCA will receive a percentage of the profit when the homes are sold. It will invest £36.9m in housing developments across north Staffordshire between 2009 and 2011, to ensure they stay afloat during the recession.