Manchester City Council Leader Sir Richard Leese has welcomed a new superstore which will help power the regeneration of North Manchester.

The new 50,000 sq ft Tesco supermarket in Crumpsall opened on Monday and it will employ 230 people with more than half of the jobs going to local people who have been out of work or on benefit for six months or more.

The store will also anchor the new Cheetham Hill Shopping Centre, which has seen the the outdated and poorly-designed district centre which prevously occupied the site demolished demolished and 26 new retail units created in a multi-million pound redevelopment.

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The environment is at the heart of the store's design with state-of-the-art technologies and eco-friendly design combining to make it the supermarket giant's greenest ever store. Its carbon footprint is 70% smaller than a standard store of similar size.

Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: "We've identified thriving district centres as an essential ingredient in the successful regeneration of North Manchester.

"Cheetham is one such centre and the opening of this store is great news for several reasons. Signficantly, it is creating hundreds of new jobs with local people filling a large proportion of vacancies.

"It will add to the strength of Cheetham as a shopping destination of choice, anchoring the redeveloped district centre.

"As a city with aspirations to become the greenest in Britain, we are also delighted to welcome the store's eco-credentials."

Other confirmed occupiers in the transformed Cheetham District Centre include Costa Coffee, clothing retailer Peacocks, Ladbrokes and Heron Frozen Foods.

(CD/JM)