How Stockport is unlocking its potential
View of Stockport’s Market Hall and St Mary’s church. Credit: CW Studio
When Stockport stepped away from Greater Manchester’s strategic housing plan (GMSF) in 2020, the decision raised eyebrows. But it wasn’t about turning its back on growth — it was about taking greater control over where that growth should happen.
Stockport chose a different path: concentrating housing growth in the town centre and using a new delivery model to make it happen.
A Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) was set up in 2019 in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority; the first of its kind in Greater Manchester, and the only one nationally focused on town centre regeneration.
So six years in, is it working?
What powers does Stockport’s MDC actually have?
Development corporations aren’t new. The London Docklands Development Corporation famously reshaped East London in the 1980s, and today the Old Oak and Park Royal DC is tasked with delivering major new infrastructure around the future HS2 station.
Stockport’s MDC is a statutory body, but more streamlined in scope:
Unlike some DCs, Stockport MDC doesn’t make plans or determine applications — that responsibility stays with the Council as local planning authority. But crucially, the MDC does have powers to acquire and develop land. That alone gives it far more clout than many other regeneration approaches. And it’s particularly valuable in a context like Stockport Town Centre West, where land is fragmented across hundreds of owners.
View across Town Centre West. Credit: CW Studio
View across Town Centre West. Credit: CW Studio
Stockport’s biggest challenge?
By pulling out of the GMSF, Stockport set itself a big challenge: to prove that its own approach to housing delivery would work.
It published the Town Centre Living agenda in 2018 but didn’t stop there. The first development corporation in the country to focus on town centre regeneration was set up in 2019 and covered a 130-acres zone known as Town Centre West.
The ambition? To deliver 4,000 homes in a 15-year period.
As some commentators noted at the time, that was a tall order, particularly looking at the delivery rates of other more established DCs.
Paul Richards, Stockport Council’s deputy Chief Executive, put it plainly:
“We’re in a tough market… build costs are high, regulations are tightening, and there’s never enough money. But we hold that ambition to deliver for our residents really high — and we’re pushing on.”
Focused and finally flying
After various false starts, it now feels as though the fog has lifted. Land is being assembled. Cranes are on site. The power of the MDC is evident everywhere you look.
Stockport Interchange – an award-winning transport interchange, with a two-acre public park and apartments.
Stockport Exchange – an award-winning business district being developed with Muse Developments
Weir Mill – a major heritage-led residential scheme of 253 homes, nearing completion
Platform – 73 rent to buy homes in the town centre
Academy of Living Well – an intergenerational scheme at the former St Thomas’ Hospital
Stopford Park – 442 new homes at the former Stockport college; a key town centre gateway site
Stockport 8 – an 8-acre, 1,200-home neighbourhood next to the Interchange and railway viaduct
Fletcher Street – the 245-home scheme for Progressive Living, due to start on site in 2026
At the latest official count, over a thousand homes had been delivered in the MDC (at 1 April 2024) and a thousand were under construction. The official Housing Land Supply figure may still be only 1.77 years, but the trajectory of change is clear.
Scaling up success
So, what’s next?
Stockport isn’t sitting back; with the pace of change and activity seen in Town Centre West, Stockport intends to expand the boundary to incorporate Town Centre East – tripling the size of the MDC, and doubling the total housing target, too.
And that’s not all.
The Council intends to publish its borough-wide Local Plan this year, a major step forward that plugs the gap created when it stepped back from the sub-regional plan.
Paul Richards reflected on the pace of change:
“Particularly in the town centre we've seen a huge change in the face of Stockport. We’re bringing more people to live in the town centre; we’re looking to build a new urban school with new high-quality healthcare. And – the Metrolink is coming!”
What’s Stockport’s secret?
For years, Stockport’s potential has been obvious. But change also felt just out of reach. Now, things are getting delivered, not just planned. The MDC has provided:
Clear vision, leadership and structure
Tools to unlock complex sites
Credible delivery partnerships
Routes to funding
And it has also given something less tangible: momentum and a sense that if you’re not in Stockport, you’re missing out.
Paul Richards summed Stockport’s secret superpower in one word: ambition.
“We’re ambitious for our residents and ambitious to deliver change for their lives.”
This isn’t just about meeting housing targets but making great places. More people living in the town centre means more footfall, which brings more vibrancy and a more buoyant local economy. Stockport’s ambition is paying off. It can now call itself one of the “best place to live” in the North West, according to the Times.
No regeneration story is ever straightforward. Viability remains a challenge, and the road ahead isn’t without its bumps. But Stockport’s decision to back its town centre — and to build the tools to do it properly — is beginning to show results.
As the MDC enters its next chapter, it offers a compelling case study in what happens when clarity, collaboration and ambition come together.
