Trafford Park Development Corporation

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Trafford Park Development Corporation
Formation1987
Dissolved1998
Headquarters Trafford Park
Chair
Bill Morgan
Key people
Mike Shields

The Trafford Park Development Corporation was established by the Second Thatcher ministry as part of an initiative to develop land in the Trafford Park area of Trafford and Salford.

Contents

History

The corporation was established as part of an initiative by the future Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine, in February 1987 during the Second Thatcher ministry. [1] Board members were directly appointed by the minister and overrode local authority planning controls to spend government money on infrastructure. This was a controversial measure in Labour strongholds such as East London, Merseyside and North East England. [2] [3]

The work of the corporation included transforming an extensive area of outdated, semi-derelict industrial property. Its area included Trafford Park and also parts of Stretford, Salford Quays, and the former steelworks at Irlam, now known as Northbank. [4] [5] The corporation developed a strategy to develop the area, where no strategy had previously existed. [6]

Its flagship developments included the Quay West office development at Wharfside, Trafford Park Village, Northbank Industrial Park and Hadfield Street, as well as the Trafford Centre at Dumplington. [7] Wharfside included 200 acres (81 ha) of land at the eastern end of the Trafford Park as well as part of the ship canal docks and the area around Manchester United F.C.'s Old Trafford football ground to the east of the Bridgewater Canal. The corporation revived the Trafford Park area after a period of decline and loss of employment from the mid-1960s. [8] It also achieved significant physical transformation of the area in the late 1980s and early 1990s. [9] [10]

In December 1994, Queen Elizabeth II visited the area to see the progress and, accompanied by the chairman of the corporation, she opened the new lift bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal, which had been funded by the corporation. [11]

During its lifetime 8,300,000 square feet (770,000 m2) of non-housing development and 461 housing units were built. Around 25,618 new jobs were created and some £1,560 million of private finance was leveraged in. About 497 acres (2.01 km2) of derelict land was reclaimed and 27 miles (43 km) of new road and footpaths put in place. [12] The chairman was Bill Morgan [13] and the chief executive was Mike Shields. [14] [15] The life of the corporation was intended to end on 31 March 1997, but was extended until 31 March 1998, when the responsibility for Trafford Park's development passed to Trafford Council. [16]

References

  1. ↑ "The Trafford Park Development Corporation (Area and Constitution) Order 1986". Legislation.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  2. ↑ Parkinson, Michael; Duffy, James (1984). Government's Response to Inner-City Riots: The Minister for Merseyside and the Task Force. Vol. 37. Parliamentary Affairs. pp. 76–96.
  3. ↑ Crick, Michael (1997). Michael Heseltine: A Biography. Hamish Hamilton. p. 238. ISBN   978-0241136911.
  4. ↑ Nicholls, Robert (1996). Trafford Park: The First Hundred Years. Phillimore & Co. p. 141-147. ISBN   978-1-86077-013-5.
  5. ↑ "Trafford Park Development Corporation – Reclamation of part of a former British Steel site". Municipal Engineer. 1 June 1993. pp. 99–105. doi:10.1680/imuen.1993.23599. ISSN   0965-0903.
  6. ↑ Deakin, Nicholas; Edwards, John (1993). "The Enterprise Culture and the Inner City: Trafford Park: Manchester's economic larder". Taylor and Francis. ISBN   978-0203991435.
  7. ↑ "Records of Trafford Park Development Corporation 1987–1998". Manchester Libraries. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  8. ↑ "Trafford Park Masterplan Baseline Assessment" (PDF). Trafford Economic Alliance. 1 October 2008. p. 12. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  9. ↑ "The Trafford Park Area". Trafford Council. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  10. ↑ "Video about the work of Trafford Park Development Corporation". North East Regeneration Archives. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  11. ↑ "Opening of Centenary Bridge at Trafford Park". Stretford and Urmston Messenger. 8 December 1994. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  12. ↑ National Audit Office report dated 27 February 2002.
  13. ↑ "Signing of Construction Charter, for Trafford Centre, at Trafford Town Hall, Manchester". Media Storehouse. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  14. ↑ Judge, David (1989). "Urban development corporations: Parliamentary pointers towards assessment". University of Strathclyde. pp. 57–66. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  15. ↑ "CBE 'reward for Mike'". Bolton News. 15 January 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  16. ↑ "The Urban Development Corporations in England (Dissolution) Order 1998". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
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