Iain welcomes Stockport Exchange phase 3

by Lib Dem team on 3 January, 2018

Iain has welcomed news that Phase 3 of Stockport Exchange has been launched, with a new office block to be built on the site of the former Cineworld cinema by Stockport station.

“This is phase three of six that was agreed by the Lib Dem administration on Stockport Council,” Iain said. “When I joined the council, anyone coming out of Stockport station would see the back of the closed Heaven and Hell nightclub and the bowling alley. It wasn’t a great advert for the town. The Lib Dem administration brought about a transformation. We now have a new hotel, grade A offices, a new cinema complex at Redrock, numerous road improvements and more on the way. There’s still a long way to go, but Stockport is changing for the better.”

   10 Comments

10 Responses

  1. DR C says:

    Agreed – vis-a-vis this being an improvement on what was there before. But…
    Most of the ‘ordinary’ buildings lining the A6 end of the area are mediocre – they being either ‘toy town’ (Mcdonalds+) or shanty town (the older ones).?

  2. Alan says:

    Is there a proven demand for offices or is this a “trophy” development?

    • DR C says:

      Even if it is a ‘trophy’ development – it is smarter than what was there before!

      Visited RedRock recently and was impressed.
      But, alas, all it does is highlight just how dire ALL the buildings that line Princes Street are – all that smart new flagging and street furniture cannot make up for the shanty town appearance of everything above it!

      • Iain Roberts says:

        A lot of the challenges we have are dealing with underinvestment by private landlords. One of the things I did on the council was to push through a CPO on the rear of the Princes Street shops so the side facing the new cinema could be improved. It would be great to improve the whole lot, of course, but the money will only stretch so far.

        • Jon Twigge says:

          I was walking along RedRock looking at some of those shops the other day. The extra people walking in the area is amazing – the restaurants are really busy at times and some of the cinema showings have been full. All those extra people will make those older shops more desirable for new business to move in and over time many of them will improve.

          • Alan says:

            I’ve said all along that Red Rock would split Stockport in two and you’ve just confirmed that. No thought to the transfer of trade to the businesses in the old town. Developers have walked away happy. Meanwhile those of us in the BID area are being asked how to raise car parking fees! Great!!

          • Iain Roberts says:

            Hi Alan – bringing more trade to the whole town centre was fundamental to Red Rock, which is why it includes new public squares and similar to allow people to move more easily around the town, and why it was always one part of a wider scheme that included investment in the Old Town and Merseyway. As for car parking increases – I can’t speak for the current administration at the Town Hall, I can only say that the Lib Dems deliberately kept car parking charges down to help businesses.

  3. DR C says:

    What Stocky desperately needs is its own Napoleon AND Haussmann! ????⛲?️⛲????

  4. Jordan R says:

    the focus in stockport should be on the market area and historical side. the whole mersey way shopping development years ago ruined stockport. its the same as anywhere else now. focus on independent shops and the the historical buildings/side of stockport. too often i feel like it just gets ignored in favour of modern developments.
    take the a6 for example pretty much every new shop is now a takeaway – rarely ever see anyone in them.

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