You Spoke, We Listened

Over the last few months, we’ve been to lots of events sharing the exciting plans for Wythenshawe town centre. From stalls at the Forum and the Makers Market, to a community meal at the Dandelion Centre and a family day with Aim4Hope, it’s been a busy and inspiring time listening to your ideas. Thank you to everyone who took the time to get involved. Your feedback has been invaluable and is helping to shape the future of the town centre.

More activities for all

A key message that came through strongly was the need for more things to do. You asked for more places to eat, drink, and have fun, especially in the evenings. Families wanted new play areas, while young people were keen for creative spaces and activities. You also liked the idea of markets, events, and more options for eating out.

The first thing we’re doing is creating the new Culture Hub and food hall, which will give people a reason to visit Civic and stay into the evening. With a cinema room and spaces for live music and performances, the Culture Hub will also be a place to get involved with all things arty and creative, with a variety of workshops and classes to suit everyone.

We’re also continuing to shape plans for your new food hall, building on the great ideas you’ve already shared with us. The food hall will be home to independent traders serving a range of great food, and we’re working hard to bring in more bars, restaurants, and pubs to create a place that’s buzzing morning, noon and night.

Community space

You said it was important to look after the community, providing opportunities for everyone, young and old. You asked for more spaces where the community can come together, get support and learn new skills.

While the Culture Hub will provide flexible spaces for the community to use, we’re also creating a new opportunities hub based in Open Space. This will enable residents to access opportunities relating to the regeneration; anything from education and skills, to employment, business and enterprise support and advice. It will also be a space for community engagement focusing on jobs and training, with a particular focus on skills that will be important for the future, like green skills and technical skills.

The Council Work and Skills team and other partners will also be on hand to give advice to startups and help local companies grow.

A more welcoming and accessible town

You told us that you’d visit the town centre more if it felt more welcoming and accessible. So, we’re planning big upgrades to the CCTV systems and new outside lights, to make Civic a place people can come and enjoy spending time. The best way to make the space truly welcoming is to get more people of all ages using the space, and that is exactly what the regeneration plans will do.

New shops

You said that better shopping options would really add to what Wythenshawe has to offer, with clothes shops for all ages and more independent stores high up your list. Recent and upcoming tenants to Civic include the new vets and tattoo shop. In response to your feedback, we want to continue to attract more retailers so that local people have a wider range of places to shop, and improvements to Civic will create a great opportunity to do this.

A mix of affordable homes

As part of our wider plans we’ll be bringing up to 2,000 new homes to Wythenshawe over the next 10-15 years. You said you wanted a good range of housing types, with lots of affordable options, social housing for local people, and improved infrastructure. We’ve taken this on board, and we’ll be providing plenty of choice, from family homes to elderly living, and affordable and social rent apartments.

The first phase of housing is coming and in partnership with Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, we’ll be transforming three town centre sites – Brotherton House, Alpha House and C2 The Birtles – into more than 400 apartments and townhouses, which will all be affordable.

Workspaces that work

Finally, we heard that small businesses and start-ups need affordable and accessible workspaces, with good facilities and comfortable places to relax in on lunch breaks. The new workspaces planned for Civic will be smaller units perfect for start-ups, with plenty of facilities to make the working day that little bit more fun.

This is just the beginning of the conversation. We’ll be starting consultation on the first phase of new homes soon, and you can find out more by visiting the have your say page.
We can’t wait to continue the conversation and work together to deliver a bright future for Wythenshawe. This is your town and your chance to have a real say in how it grows.

Keep up to date

If you’d like to be kept up to date on the plans for Wythenshawe Town Centre please register here.

Disclaimer: Providing your contact details allows Font Communications Ltd, on behalf of Muse and Manchester City Council, to assess the reach of the consultation and log responses. Should you select to be kept informed, your email address and telephone number will allow Font to keep you updated on plans for Wythenshawe town centre only. Copies of the feedback received may be made available, in due course, to Manchester City Council. We will, however, request that your personal details are not placed on the public record. Your personal details will be held securely by Font Communications Ltd in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and will not be passed to any additional third parties.