The Greater Manchester Mayor outlines an ambitious 10-year vision for the city
Last night, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham presented a wide-reaching 10-year strategy to reshape Greater Manchester, calling the next decade “the best in the city region since the Victorian period.”
The announcement came at the newly renovated Campfield Market in Castlefield - now a co-working and event space. Burnham unveiled the Greater Manchester Strategy 2025–2035 to regional leaders, community partners and business figures.
The plan outlines major investment in housing, transport, regeneration, education and public services. It signals a new phase of autonomy following Greater Manchester’s designation as the UK’s first “Prevention Demonstrator” under England’s health strategy, recognising the region’s bottom-up approach to tackling poor outcomes before crisis hits.
“This is a 10-year ambition that takes us up another level,” Burnham told the audience. “Greater Manchester is not going to be the place we want it to be if some people look at the city powering forward and then look at their own communities and feel neglected.”
Housing was named the foundation of the plan, with Burnham promising to put it “first in everything we do.”
Land will be unlocked for thousands of new homes, helped by new and extended transport routes. By 2027, more social housing will be built in Greater Manchester than is lost through Right to Buy. “If you don't sort out housing, you don't sort out anything do you? You can't have a good life without a good home,” Burnham said.
Transport upgrades will support this housing drive. New tram stops are planned for Sandhills and Victoria North by 2028, and work will begin on a Metrolink extension to Stockport by 2030. A tram-train link will connect Bury, Heywood, Rochdale and Oldham. Night bus routes will run later this year to Bury and Rochdale, helping to bridge the gap for late workers and low-income commuters.
A discounted monthly bus pass for 18 to 21-year-olds will also launch in September. “Inability to afford transport changes your life at 16,” Burnham said. “The message goes out from here to every young person growing up in Manchester – we believe in you.”
The plan also aims to spread economic growth beyond the city centre. Five new Mayoral Development Corporations and Zones will be created to drive regeneration in historically overlooked areas. These include Middleton, with actor Steve Coogan supporting local plans, as well as Bolton, Ashton and Stalybridge, Leigh and Oldham. Projects will deliver new housing, jobs, town centre investment, green space and, in Leigh, a new university campus focused on health and social care.
“The last decade has been amazing in Greater Manchester,” Burnham said, “but the truth is some places have grown more strongly than others. We want the proud towns of Manchester to rise with the city.”
The education system is also set for change. A new Greater Manchester Baccalaureate will give young people an alternative to A-levels, focusing on technical skills. Every young person who needs it will be guaranteed a 45-day work placement, targeting growth sectors like health, tech and advanced manufacturing.
On public services, Burnham struck a different tone to the Parliamentary Labour Party, criticising the current benefits model as mistrustful and counterproductive. “There’s been a national debate about the benefits system and I don’t think it works for people. How about you turn that on its head and empower people and build them up?” he said. The Greater Manchester approach will focus on early support and delivery through community and voluntary organisations, aiming to reduce crisis demand long-term.
Economic growth figures provided a confident backdrop to the plan. The city region has grown by 3.1 percent on average over the past decade, helping to narrow the north–south divide. The new goal is £10 billion of growth over the next 10 years, doubling the size of the regional centre. “It’s my ambition that the Women’s World Cup final in 2035 is held here in Greater Manchester at the new Old Trafford,” Burnham added.
The plan is made possible by a new £630 million financial settlement from central government, which gives Greater Manchester more control over its budgets and policy priorities. Described by Burnham as “the biggest step yet on Greater Manchester’s devolution journey,” the settlement marks a further break from the fragmented funding pots of the past.
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