A 11.5 million sq ft employment-led opportunity, located within the wider Atom Valley Mayoral Development Zone, and the largest development site within it.
Current Status
Northern Gateway is allocated in the Places for Everyone Plan, to deliver a total of 11.5 million sq ft of industrial and warehousing space, a new primary school, ancillary local center uses and around 3,000 new homes.
A planning application for the next phase of Northern Gateway will be submitted in Spring 2025.
The new ‘Queen Elizabeth II Way’ link road is complete, providing 2.2km access from J19 of the M62 to the site.
A Supplementary Planning Document for the main JPA1.1 employment site is currently being prepared by Bury and Rochdale Council, to add further detail to aspirations for the site allocation.
Proposed view of Northern Gateway
The Development
Northern Gateway will provide 11.5 million sq ft of multi-sector employment space delivering far-reaching economic and social benefits way beyond its boundaries. This unique site is capable of delivering a giga scale opportunity, the size of which is currently unrivalled in the UK, therefore enabling the city to compete on a national and international level.
Northern Gateway is the largest site within the Greater Manchester Mayoral Development Zone, Atom Valley. Covering 17 million sq ft of space across Bury, Oldham and Rochdale, this vast innovation mega-cluster will play a pivotal role in making Greater Manchester one of the best places in the world to live and work.
Strategically positioned along the M62 corridor, £650m has already been invested in the Atom Valley area with an expected creation of 20,000 new jobs, alongside 7,000 new homes. It will create aspirational employment opportunities through high quality future jobs accessed by a growing workforce, supporting communities and leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.
As well as a full range of employment opportunities, Northern Gateway is set to provide a network of active travel and public transport routes and a publicly accessible green corridor, ensuring biodiversity and sustainability sit at the very heart of the development.
Following the completion of the new M62 link road ‘Queen Elizabeth II Way’, HPARK, a 1.88m sq ft industrial and logistics development, is already in progress.
Opening of the new M62 'Queen Elizabeth II Way' link road
Our Involvement
Russell LDP are part of a 50:50 joint venture (the Northern Gateway Development Vehicle) with Harworth Group to bring forward the Northern Gateway development.
Northern Gateway is allocated in the Places for Everyone Plan, adopted in March 2024 by nine regions within Greater Manchester to develop and create new jobs, new homes and sustainable growth by 2039. The land has been released from the Green Belt for the proposed development and the necessary measures have been put in place to improve environmental quality and accessibility to retained Green Belt.
A planning application will be submitted in Spring 2025 for the first phase, with the aim of being on site soon after.
Senior officers from Russell LDP and Harworth Group sit on the wider Atom Valley Board.