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Residents of lost estate get wish - 30 years on
Jennifer Williams16/ 1/2008
STOCKPORT Council has agreed on a developer for the site of a notorious former housing estate - 30 years after residents first suggested it be turned into a business park, and a decade after it was emptied.
Gorsey Bank Estate in Cheadle Heath was a byword for decay and deprivation right up until it was cleared out in 1998.
Since then, the site has stood empty, while the Council decided what to do with it.
Now the authority’s executive has agreed that property developer Terrace Hill turn the land into a business park - long after the estate’s old residents first voiced the idea.
In 1978, the Express’s predecessor, the Stockport Advertiser, reported: "Many in the area believe that the whole area should be razed to the ground to make way for industrial development."
"Raymond Atherton, 42, said: ‘There is no point wasting any more money on this area. The Council should bulldoze the lot and build factories on the land.’"
But it took 20 years for the estate to descend into such decay that the Council cleared it entirely, and in July 1998 it announced plans to redevelop the site.
Yet it was not until this week that a company was found for the task - and Cheadle Heath councillors have slammed the delay.
Councillor Sheila Bailey, who has represented the ward since 1990, said: "My one criticism is that the benefits that would accrue to the local area should have been put in place some time ago.
"We’ve had fly tipping to contend with, and local youths meet there to drink. The Council has taken too long to get this off the ground.
"It has remained a stigma in the area."
But she welcomed the prospect of flagship new offices on the former estate.
Coun Bailey added: "As far as I’m concerned, I understand Terrace Hill want to make this a flagship development and I am absolutely delighted that this is the case - there is nowhere more I would like a flagship development that in the ward I represent.
"I think the Gorsey Bank Estate site is a prestigious site.
"It’s close to the motorway, it’s got good rail connections and good bus routes along Stockport Rd. I believe this part of Cheadle Heath is on the up and this development will certainly help that process."
The Council confirmed that Terrace Hill is the preferred developer for the site and further information would be released shortly.
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