“This is only one element of the ambitious plans for north Manchester”One current entrance to Sandhills Park, which is where the hoped-for tram stop will be(Image: LDRS)

A year ago, a group of developers, architects, planners, investors, and a couple of journalists were staring at a chippy van in Collyhurst in the blazing sun.

It was in an unloved, scruffy layby next to the little-known Sandhills Park. It did not seem like much, but council bosses were describing the layby as ‘mission critical’ for the regeneration of north Manchester.

That’s because the layby is where they hoped the entrance to a new Sandhills Metrolink stop could go, and thousands of new homes would follow.

Back in June 2024, the plan for Sandhills were still hopes and dreams. Now they’re reality.

On Wednesday (June 4), transport bosses confirmed they will use some of the £2.5bn of cash Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave to Greater Manchester to revamp public transport to build a new stop at Sandhills.

Other projects locally include extending Metrolink lines to Stockport town centre; buying 1,000 new electric Bee Network buses; creating new city centre and Leigh interchanges; creating tram-train routes along Metrolink lines and rail tracks in Oldham, Rochdale, and Bury; and new tram stations at Cop Road in Oldham and Elton Reservoir in Bury.

All three new tram stations have a couple of things in common. The first is they fill large gaps between halts on the network.

The second is they allow thousands of new homes to be built as having a transport hub will make them far more attractive places to live.

The Victoria Riverside towers (centre), near Angel Square (left), with the Red Bank development site in foreground are part of Victoria North(Image: FEC)

In Sandhills’ case, the new station will fall between Victoria and Queens Road ‘will help us to unlock’ some 2,500 new homes around it under the Victoria North ‘new town’ project, council leader Bev Craig said.

The £3.88bn Victoria North scheme will see 15,000 homes built from Angel Meadow to Collyhurst over 155 hectares until the late 2030s, adding 35,000 people to the city’s population. They will be serviced by the new tram stop, new schools, new medical facilities, and a new park.

But according to Coun Craig, that’s only the start of an ‘ambitious plan’ to transform north Manchester.

“Manchester has campaigned for many years to see investment in our transport system. In a settlement that was better than we predicted and will make a real difference right across the city,” she said in a statement.

“Crucially for Manchester, this funding will help deliver the brand new Metrolink stop at Sandhills in Collyhurst and unlock the ambitious future phases of regeneration in this community that will see more than 2,500 new homes – including significant council and social housing – and new shops alongside education and medical facilities.

“But this is only one element of the ambitious plans for north Manchester. We look forward to working closely with this government in the coming months to realise the wider potential of this part of our city through the North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH) programme, continued investment into our high streets and district centres, and a raft of new home building that puts north Manchester as a priority for our future growth plans.”

(Image: MFT)

The NMGH plan will see up to £1.5bn invested in the Crumpsall site some liken to a ’19th century workhouse’, with a full rebuild.

It will be replaced by a fully-modernised district general hospital, including a refurbished A&E, walk-in centre, labour wards, operating theatres, and x-ray and outpatients facilities. Alongside the new hospital, new social housing and worker accommodation will be installed, as well as step-down care rooms and a wellbeing room, allotments, and village green.

Although the NMGH and Victoria North plans are not related, it appears together they will form a huge transformation of north Manchester — which starts with a layby.