Member Article

College masterplan to boost Ashton economy

Details of the four-year ‘VisionTameside’ project have been revealed – aiming to transform the economy of Ashton town centre and create new jobs in the area.

At the heart of the multi million pound plan is a three phase development of the Tameside College Campus, which will bring together transport infrastructure, the fastest broadband connection in Greater Manchester and “outstanding” teaching and learning facilities.

In partnership with Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, the college plans to build three new Advanced Learning Centres.

The college is funding the majority of phase one through its own reserves with further support through grant funding from the Skills Funding Agency. Confirmation of the grant allocation is due in November 2013.

In the first phase of the development, the College will build an Advanced Learning Centre on a section of the Camp Street car park in Ashton Town Centre which will maximise the benefits of the recently developed train, bus and tram transport hubs in the centre of Ashton.

Also in phase one, Tameside College will have a second new building, the Advanced Technologies Centre, to be located at the existing college site on Stamford Street.

The Centre will promote the growth of advanced manufacturing, supported by local employers and providing higher level skills “to ensure Tameside retains its credentials as the manufacturing hub of Greater Manchester”.

Contractors are scheduled to start on site in the summer of 2014 for completion by September 2015.

In phase two of VisionTameside a new 7,000 sq ft Advanced Skills Centre will be built, bringing thousands of staff and students into the town centre, boosting the retail economy, and providing the latest learning spaces for Tameside College students studying a wide range of vocational skills.

At the same time and on the same site a new Joint Service Centre for Tameside Council and partners will be created which will be around half the size of the existing council offices, saving tax payers £1.5m per year from 2017 onwards.

The current council building is only half occupied since the dramatic cuts to staffing that has taken place over the past 2 years.

The new Joint Service Centre will provide more cost effective and customer friendly accommodation and better access to services for local residents.

The new developments will be located on the site of the current Council administration building on Wellington Road and will be sensitively designed to sit alongside the prestigious Ashton Town Hall and old Water Board offices which are both listed buildings.

Current plans anticipate that the phase 2 development will be completed by September 2017.

Phase 3 will see Tameside College redevelop the Beaufort Road campus. Alongside the new Advanced Technologies Centre, students will have access to engineering workshops, construction and the built environment, sport and public services and health and social care provision. There will also continue to be provision for students with severe learning difficulties and/or disabilities and the central administrative services for Tameside College will continue to be based at the Beaufort Road campus.

Peter Ryder, Principal of Tameside College believes that this partnership of College and Council will deliver transformational change to the people of Tameside

’Young people in Tameside deserve to learn in the very best of learning environments. We are making a commitment to ensure that every young person leaving school in Tameside gains access to the very best post 16 provision in outstanding facilities. Tameside College is in the top 3 Further Education Colleges in Greater Manchester and has success rates in the top 10 per cent of providers nationally.

Despite this, every year almost 500 young people leave the borough to study elsewhere. Our new build programmes puts excellent teaching into world class facilities on the doorstep for our young people and communities.“

Councillor Kieran Quinn, Executive Leader of Tameside Council said “This programme will not only give a massive boost to the Ashton Town Centre economy by bringing in thousands of students and teaching staff, but it will also enable us to complete our plans to redevelop the Town Centre and Market Ground area and make it into a more modern, attractive and convenient place to visit and shop.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .