Bury Council buys Manchester's Mill Gate shopping centre to secure its future

Manchester's Mill Gate Shopping Centre is to be sold to Bury Council for an undisclosed sum to ensure its "long-term future" of the destination.

The shopping centre's current owners InfraRed have agreed to the sale, with payment to be made through a loan from the public works loan board.

The council said that the acquisition of the centre will ensure its "long-term future" and that it would join forces with developers Bruntwood to refurbish the destination. The council added that it wanted to avoid having the centre sold to an investor who was interested only in short-term gain and resource extraction.

Redevelopment plans for the centre were outlined in a draft of Bury Council's masterplan. The plan identified an "opportunities to consolidate and diversify the current Mill Gate retail offer with the addition of new residential, leisure uses, serviced offices and food and beverage uses."

Throughout each development phase the centre will remain open and all retailers who wish to remain in the centre can do so.

Council leader Cllr Eamonn O'Brien said acquisition and redevelopment of the centre would be "one of the biggest pieces of work" the council entered in terms of scale. He added: "This will boost the Bury economy and the town centre. It's a sign of our aspirations not just in the here and now in Bury but a sign of what we are trying to do in the next few decades."