A town which has created a new central neighbourhood has been held up ‘as an example for others to follow‘ in Greater Manchester. Farnworth was put centre stage at the official launch of the new Greater Manchester Strategy, with the town’s regeneration and ‘homes on the high street’ hailed as a way forward for the region’s district centres. The strategy is a 10-year plan to improve public transport, build more homes and boost the economy in Greater Manchester. The official launch, addressed by mayor Andy Burnham , included case studies of successful projects and initiatives, including a detailed look at the recently completed Farnworth Green development. Entitled “A home on the high street – a new approach to creating vibrant town centres”, the video features Farnworth residents and business owners sharing their views on the ongoing regeneration of the town. Sign up to the MEN Politics newsletter Due North here It highlights how Capital & Centric’s Farnworth Green development has brought more people to live in the town centre. The video claims town centre living has ‘created a more vibrant atmosphere, attracting new businesses and creating new jobs’. The development is part of Bolton Council’s wider Farnworth town centre masterplan, which was drawn up in 2019. The town was awarded a grant of £13.3m from the Future High Streets Fund towards several development projects. Bolton Council allocated an additional £4m as part of funding for regeneration of the borough’s district centres. Farnworth is set to receive a further £20m over 10 years under the government’s Plan for Neighbourhoods scheme. Alongside Farnworth Green there has been a comprehensive refurbishment of the leisure centre and improvements to public space along Market Street . Bolton council leader Nick Peel said: “Greater Manchester is leading the way on regeneration and in the reimagining of our town and city centres towards the right mix of housing, hospitality and retail. “With so many success stories to choose from, to see Farnworth highlighted as an example to follow is testament to the hard work that has gone into its ongoing transformation. “While Bolton town centre lies at the heart of the ongoing regeneration work, it goes well beyond this, and the successful delivery of Farnworth Green is a great example of how regeneration covers all of our local centres across the borough.” Join our Traffic and Travel WhatsApp group HERE At the launch, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham claimed the next decade ‘will be the best decade in the city-region since the Victorian period’. He named his ‘number one priority’ as ‘freeing the city-region from the housing crisis’, setting a target of ‘within two years we hit a tipping point where we are building more social homes than we are losing’ through the right-to-buy process. The mayor’s speech announced the confirmation of five new ‘mayoral development corporations’ (MDCs) which are vehicles Mr Burnham’s office can use to speed up development and build projects directly in a given location. The five places where development is being targeted are Bolton town centre; Leigh town centre, where a health campus is planned; Oldham , for its ‘sport town’ project around Oldham Athletic; Ashton and Stalybridge ; and finally Middleton , where the MDC will be co-chaired by comedian Steve Coogan. Other transport schemes mentioned in the strategy’s summary include making the Bee Network fully-electric by 2030, which will include ‘all local rail lines’, which was announced earlier this year.