THE LONGFIELD Centre could be at the heart of an overhaul of Prestwich village.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester met with a range of developers, planners and public bodies today to share his commitment to lift up Prestwich.

In the meeting one of the developers explained the idea was to bring people back to the town centre and give them a reason to stay.

Mr Burnham said: "If you speak to the public they want to see new life in our proud towns.

"It's not just here it's all over.

"They want to see them on the up and Prestwich is already on the up."

Mr Burnham met with developers, city planners, police, NHS bosses, councillors and Bury South MP Ivan Lewis to share his commitment to lift Prestwich up in away its residents wanted.

Mr Burnham's visit was the first stakeholder meeting of his town centre challenge scheme.

For the scheme, Mr Burnham asked each of the 10 borough's of Greater Manchester to nominate a town centre they would like to see improved. Prestwich was nominated by Bury Council.

Mr Burnham explained: "The idea is to refocus our thinking about housing and development."

The Mayor said he believes the way to redesign town centres and improve them is to bring housing back into the town centres, he explained this concept to the 40 stakeholders gathered in the Longfield Centre.

He said Prestwich was the ideal spot for the town centre challenge because the town already had a lot going for it — there are already town centre apartments, shopping and places to eat and drink along Bury New Road.

Mr Burnham also hoped bringing housing into town centres would reduce the burden on greenbelt land.

Bury Council leader, Cllr Rishi Shori, met with Mr Burnham for a short walk around Prestwich before the meeting.

Cllr Shori said: "The question is 'Why Prestwich?'

"I think, as Andy described, it's on the up and more people want to move here. We have fantastic connectivity and a great local community. And one of the things that moves Prestwich above other places in terms of achievability is ownership because this site [the Longfield Centre] is only owned by two groups, the Hollins Murray Group and the council.

Mr Burnham said he was motivated to create the town centre challenge after hearing a lot of people in Greater Manchester say they wanted their area to get the attention the city centre gets.

Mr Burnham said: "Rishi and the council are doing a great job but I can bring these other public bodies to the table like the NHS and Transport for Greater Manchester and the Department for Work and Pensions."

He also hoped his Mayoral powers like Compulsory Purchase Orders and the housing deal fund would also help council's like Bury improve their towns.

Phil Mayall of MUSE Developments, which has previously worked on the Stockport Exchange and Times Square in Warrington, was at the stakeholder meeting. He told the room MUSE had been invited to work on a redevelopment of the Longfield Centre by its owner, Hollins Murray Group.

Mr Mayall said: "We don't want one thing that bring's everyone, it will be a number of things that give a range of people a reason to come to Prestwich and to stay."

The town centre challenge was launched in November in Bury, Mr Burnham chose Bury because it is 'leading the way' with its town centre — The Rock's mix of housing, retail and leisure.