Plans to transform part of East Manchester into a world-beating sport and community facility have taken two leaps forward today as planning permission for the project is approved.

Key funding for a new sixth form college has also been given a government green light.

A joint venture between Manchester City Council, Manchester City Football Club and urban regeneration company, New East Manchester, will develop a 16-acre site in Beswick that will create brand new leisure, education and employment opportunities in East Manchester.

Connell Sixth Form College, run by the Bright Futures Educational Trust, is a key part of the vision for Beswick that will also include a new leisure centre with public swimming pool. It is proposed that a sports research centre, offering a world-class research and diagnostic facility to advance the academic study of sport and health will be developed as a second phase.

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Wider plans also include improved local shops, car parking and improvements to the road layout and public realm to create a more pedestrian friendly environment.

The Department for Education has agreed the capital funding required to build the new Connell Sixth Form College - key to the Beswick project in meeting a growing demand for sixth form places in the area.

The college will be completed in time for the beginning of the academic year in 2014, but the college is planned to open this September 2013 – initially based at The East Manchester Academy for the first year.

Planning approval has been granted after a period of consultation – including an exhibition of the plans at The Beswick Library, which is still available to the public – and allows work on site to begin later this year.

(CD/H)