Last nights Prestwich Area Partnership was dominated by the latest twist in the regeneration proposals for Prestwich.

The much debated and consulted Prestwich regeneration plans were due to go before Bury Councils Executive Committee this evening for approval, however it was revealed last night that the item had been removed from the agenda and will not now be considered until a later meeting

It was confirmed that the item was “pulled” because of concerns that because it will become a material planning document and is crucial to the redevelopment of Prestwich it is essential that it is as “robust” as possible and would withstand detailed scrutiny. As such some additional consultancy work is being carried out which will be subject to a short public consultation and this inevitably means a slight delay. It is now expected that the Prestwich regeneration Strategy will be adopted in May.

I have voiced my dissapointment and will be monitoring developments very closely. On the plus side this also provides an opportunity for the documents references to car parking to be strengthened. Finally it was also confirmed that the Railway and Naturalist pub will now feature as one of the buildings to be preserved under the strategy.

There are of course numerous voices pointing towards Tesco’s as the reason for this delay. It is certainly the case that they have responded to the consultation by challenging retail capacity aspects of the strategy. However it is the Council that have rightly decided that to delay a little longer to ensure the plan is as sound and justified as possible can only benefit the regeneration and future development proposals.

For reference as a material planning document the Regeneration Strategy would have to be referred to by Bury Planning Officers when considering any planning applications that are submitted in future that affect the town centre. Planning applications would have to meet the requirements of the strategy. So its crucial we get it right now.