Greater Manchester has put about £24m towards the first phase of rebuilding Mill Gate: walking routes, open space and demolition. Consultation is in November.

Greater Manchester has put about £24m towards the first phase of rebuilding the Mill Gate shopping centre in Bury town centre. The money will pay for new walking and cycling routes, more public open space and demolition to open the site up.

The allocation comes from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Good Growth Fund. It was one of four transport schemes put to the combined authority’s meeting on Friday 25 September. Bury Council and Bruntwood, which own the centre together, welcomed the funding the same day.

Nobody has published a design yet. That comes next: a formal public consultation on the first phase will take place in November, the council says.

What the money is for

The combined authority’s September allocations report sets out what the grant will fund at Mill Gate:

  • new accessible walking and cycle routes
  • more public open space in the town centre
  • demolition to open up the site
  • enough of that clearance to let part of the Mill Gate site come forward for new homes

The report says the scheme supports the wider Mill Gate masterplan, which it puts at 400 jobs, around 300 homes and 40,000 sq ft of employment space. Those are the masterplan’s totals. The first phase does not deliver them on its own.

How much, exactly

Three figures are in circulation, and the difference is worth knowing.

Source Figure
GMCA report, Table 2 £24.2m
GMCA report, paragraph 5.2.4 £24.7m
Bury Council’s announcement £24.1m

The table figure is the one that adds up. The four transport schemes in Table 2 come to £24.2m, £16.1m, £9.9m and £2.5m, which make the report’s stated total of £52.7m. At £24.7m the total would not balance. We will update this page when the combined authority’s decision notice confirms the figure.

The report also calls these “indicative” allocations. The combined authority was asked to approve them on Friday. Its decision notice had not been published when we checked on Friday afternoon.

Bar chart of the four Good Growth Fund transport allocations recommended in September 2026, in millions of pounds: Bury Mill Gate 24.2, MIX Manchester mobility hub 16.1, Salford Crescent Zone phase 1 9.9, Manchester Cyan Line CL5a 2.5. The four total 52.7 million pounds.
Mill Gate is the largest of the four transport allocations. Chart by The Bury Post, from the GMCA report of 25 September 2026.
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Bury took the biggest share of a crowded round

This was a competitive pot. The report says 38 transport schemes bid for about £599.5m. Four were recommended, worth £52.7m between them, so roughly one pound in eleven that was asked for.

Mill Gate is the largest of the four, at close to half of the transport money. The others are in Manchester and Salford.

The round was aimed at schemes that can start quickly. The report says the emphasis was on “schemes capable of starting on site in 2027”.

What the council and Bruntwood say

Bury Council and Bruntwood bought the 15-acre Mill Gate estate together in 2022. They agreed a strategic regeneration framework for it in 2024.

Cllr Charlotte Morris, the cabinet member for regeneration and growth, said the proposals would “open up the centre, improve the way people move through it and strengthen connections between the Mill Gate, our award-winning Market, the interchange, Casewells and the wider town”.

Chris Roberts, chief development officer at Bruntwood, called the money “a huge vote of confidence in Bury”. He added: “There is still work to do and the proposals for this first phase will be shaped through consultation in November and subject to the relevant approvals.”

Council leader Cllr Eamonn O’Brien put Mill Gate alongside the town’s other schemes. They include the new Bury Interchange, the homes planned for Pyramid Park and Q-Park and the Casewells food hall on the market.

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes at Mill Gate yet. The shops stay open. No design, demolition plan or timetable has been published.
  • The consultation is in November. The council says details of the proposals, and how to comment, will be shared “in due course”. We will publish them when they are.
  • A planning application will follow. Bruntwood says the first phase is “subject to the relevant approvals”. Our Bury planning news page tracks the town centre schemes.
  • If you walk or cycle between the market, the interchange and Mill Gate, this is the scheme aimed at that route.

Sources