Plans for a huge redevelopment at Bolton's ageing Crompton Place Shopping Centre have hit another stumbling block after the project missed out on £16m in funding.
The scheme, which includes a 110-bed hotel, 150 homes and huge retail and offices spaces, hit a snag last month when the two developers involved parted ways with Bolton council.
Chinese giant Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI) and Liverpool real estate firm Granite-Turner left the project, but council bosses still own the plans and could hand them off to a new developer if one can be found.
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After losing the two firms initially involved in the scheme, the local authority submitted a bid for £16m of funding from the government's 'levelling up' project.
But, despite Bolton being granted a £20m to help with the construction of a new medical sciences college, the town missed out on the Crompton Place grant.
Speaking after losing out on the cash, Bolton council leader and former council regeneration chief, Coun Martyn Cox, said: "I think they really wanted shovel-ready schemes.
"The medical college we can get going quickly but Crompton Place is much more complex because of various issues over rights and a lot of different leases.
"I just think it's a more complicated scheme."
Crompton Place is one of a number of a number of major projects set to bring Bolton forward and change the face of the town centre, with an emphasis on homes alongside shops in the middle of the borough.
Bolton council has already spent £14.8m buying the former shopping centre, and planning permission is in place to see the building demolished.
But, the project would need a backer willing to take on the current plans or present their own.
Asked what will happen next to the Crompton Place plans, Coun Cox said: "We only got the answer at the end of last week, so we will have a think about it over the next week and take it from there.
"It's disappointing but it's not going to stop our redevelopments."
