£40m vision for Manchester has been revealed

One of the first decisions taken by ministers when they took power in 2010 was the scrapping of  a £250m private finance initiative to completely rebuild the community.

It had been in the pipeline since 2002 after a local fightback failed, the council promised to come up with a ‘plan B’.

Now bosses are set to sign off an initial plan which will see 32 new two-bed affordable houses built across the Irk Valley and the last of 13 rundown maisonettes finally demolished.

The council has already bought up the shops on Eastward Square, three of which which will be kept and redeveloped into community facilities.

It has also bought up the empty maisonette block on Winscombe Drive, set for demolition.

As part of the plan Northwards Housing, one of the city’s biggest social landlords, has also been granted £6m government cash to improve walls and boundaries on more than 800 homes over the next 18 months.

The organisation is already upgrading nearly 1,000 of its Collyhurst properties using a previous government grant.

But as part of the plan council chiefs also hope to attract new families to the area - which is currently dominated by former council stock.

They also want to build three new roads so the community is less cut off.

Councillor Jeff Smith, Manchester council’s executive member for housing and regeneration, said:

“High quality new homes are essential for the city’s growth and Collyhurst is well placed on the city centre fringe to become the next neighbourhood of choice.

"Manchester has already had success with other major inner city regeneration projects, with areas like Hulme showing that sustained development can reverse decline and create a thriving community.”

The plan will go before council bosses on Wednesday.