How infrastructure investment is unlocking Wigan’s next growth phase
Wigan may be the most peripheral of Greater Manchester’s 10 boroughs. But it’s nestled in a strategic position, looking east towards Manchester’s regional core, west towards Merseyside and north to Lancashire, right where key east-west and north-south routes intersect.
The borough has a rich mining history, which has historically presented challenges, especially around investment and infrastructure. But its distinctiveness and strengths also bring opportunity.
This month, we’re exploring how Wigan is building on its unique position in Greater Manchester, using connectivity improvements to unlock sites, strengthen its economic role and create the right conditions for long-term growth.
Building on what Wigan does well
Wigan has strong economic foundations in manufacturing with specialisms in food manufacturing, construction, health and logistics. These are high-value, high-impact sectors, and there’s a shared ambition across the Council and its partners to build on them.
But high-growth sectors don’t flourish in isolation. They need investment, and to attract investment they need decent infrastructure, clear connections and a workforce with good access to education, training and jobs. That means building the kinds of places where people and businesses can succeed, with logistics routes that work and neighbourhoods that are properly linked in.
Why connectivity matters
Roads, rail lines and cycleways are crucial elements of connectivity, movement and growth. But connectivity goes deeper than physical infrastructure.
It’s also about access to opportunities and making it easier to connect communities with jobs, education, healthcare and leisure.
Easing both the movement of goods and people makes a place a more attractive prospect for living, working and investing in, and makes growth more viable. Major infrastructure works open up land for development, builds confidence among investors and strengthens labour markets. And by the way things are shaping up across the borough, it’s clear that Wigan Council understands this well.
Connectivity in action: infrastructure driving Wigan forward
NorthFold
The NorthFold strategic growth corridor, a partnership between Wigan and Bolton, was announced at last year’s MIPIM conference. It aligns with the Places for Everyone’s vision for the Wigan-Bolton corridor to be an opportunity for growth, particularly for logistics and industrial sectors.
By joining forces, the two boroughs envision bringing in 6.3m sqft of industrial and office space, 16,500 new jobs, with substantial prospects for life sciences and health innovation. With six catalyst projects identified so far, NorthFold builds on the strengths of each borough, acknowledging that success for one is success for both. But infrastructure will be critical to ensuring they can deliver on their vision for “connected, sustainable, and collaborative” places.
“NorthFold is one of our main vehicles for focusing physical investment and regeneration, which in turn will open up opportunities right across the borough and beyond. Since announcing it last year, momentum is building and we’re already moving forward with the six catalyst projects.”
Aidan Thatcher, Director of Place, Wigan Council
Wigan town centre improvements
Proposed town centre improvement works, including improving the connection between the town’s two stations, are at the heart of NorthFold, and rightly so. It might sound like a small fix — but it’s a crucial one; making the town centre work better for everyone gives a positive first impression and lays the groundwork for further investment.
And if it hadn’t already been on the cards, the government’s recent statement to “unleash development around railway stations” would have put it firmly in the planning and regeneration team’s crosshairs. Wigan’s two railway stations – Wigan North Western and Wigan Wallgate – are less than 200m from each other as the crow flies, but there’s plenty of scope for connectivity improvements and it’s a key piece of Wigan’s connectivity puzzle.
M61–M6 link road
Also included in the NorthFold framework is the proposed M61–M6 link — a strategic east–west road connection that’ll significantly reduce traffic on the local road network, improve journey times and making it easier for people (and investors) to access more of the borough.
Crucially, it helps unlock development land, giving Wigan more options for growth without putting pressure on already stretched areas. Infrastructure like this is the backbone of long-term regeneration.
Leigh town
Leigh has long faced one of the borough’s biggest connectivity challenges, regularly touted as “one of the largest towns in the country without a train station”. The guided busway has improved links to Manchester city centre but, still, more could be done.
In tandem with various town centre regeneration works that are already in the pipeline thanks to levelling-up funding, the Council knows that for Leigh to reach its potential it needs to push on with more connectivity improvements. It’s firmly on GMCA’s agenda, too, with a commitment to create a Mayoral Development Zone for Leigh, and develop the case for rapid transport connectivity through a Metrolink extension which is a key ambition for the Council.
Parkside East rail freight interchange
The proposed Intermodal Logistics Park North Rail Freight Interchange may not roll off the tongue but, it’s a proposal of national importance. Better known as Parkside East, this is a nationally significant infrastructure project with locally significant benefits.
Positioned on Wigan’s southern flank and across the boundary into St Helens, this strategically-placed interchange hub will create a new rail freight interchange with motorway access, enhancing the region’s logistics offer, one of Wigan’s core sectors. It will also take freight off the road network, so improving capacity and connectivity.
Connecting the dots
Connectivity is what brings Wigan’s regeneration story into focus. It links economic ambition with everyday experience and turns individual projects into something bigger than the sum of their parts. Whether it’s a strategic freight interchange, a new road link or a more intuitive route between two stations, each intervention helps clarify the picture.
If Greater Manchester is to grow more evenly, places need to be easier to reach, simpler to move through, and better connected to opportunity. From the collaborative vision of NorthFold to the national significance of Parkside, and the renewed focus on Leigh, Wigan is approaching that challenge with intent and consistency.
By steadily connecting the dots — between people and jobs, and between targeted infrastructure investment, boroughs and partners — Wigan is shaping a clearer route forward. One that reflects its strengths, supports its ambitions and positions it as a borough that’s firmly plugged into the wider success of Greater Manchester.
And with strong collaboration, a clear plan and a growing set of tools, the route ahead is starting to knit together nicely.
