The Atom Valley Northern Gateway Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC), a major new delivery vehicle that will unlock large-scale regeneration, high-value employment, and investment across parts of Bury and Rochdale, has been established by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The new MDC will support the development of the Northern Gateway, the largest employment-led allocation in the North. This project is expected to create the conditions for nationally significant growth, delivering thousands of new jobs, new employment space, a residential area, as well as long-term economic opportunities for local people and businesses.
The Northern Gateway Development Vehicle is a 50/50 partnership between Russell LDP and Harworth Group. An outline planning application for the nationally significant employment development was submitted to Bury and Rochdale councils in spring 2025.
The MDC builds on the momentum already established by the creation of the Atom Valley Mayoral Development Zone in 2022, which is emerging as one of the UK’s most important clusters for advanced materials and manufacturing, with strong links to innovation, skills, and research. Furthermore, the allocation of sites for development through the Places for Everyone joint development plan in 2024, and Northern Gateway being identified as one of Greater Manchester’s Investment Zone Enhanced Business Rates Area, also in 2024.
Establishment of the MDC is part of Greater Manchester’s wider ‘good growth’ approach; a new economic model designed to drive growth that is inclusive, sustainable and felt in every community across the city region. Greater Manchester is pioneering new ways of using public investment to unlock development, build investor confidence and deliver long-term economic resilience to underpin this vision.