A MULTI-MILLION pound bid to transform Prestwich, Whitefield and Radcliffe is being drummed up by town hall bosses.

They are looking for £6.8 million of Government cash to boost the run-down centres in the three towns.

If the bid is successful, it could bring in a total of £48 million of public and private money for regeneration over the next seven years.

Labour leaders will soon submit an outline bid for cash under Round 6 of the Government's Single Regeneration Budget (SRB).

Bury itself has already benefited, winning several million pounds for East Bury under SRB Round 5.

Officers say the "Pride of Place" bid aims to reverse the physical and economic decline in Radcliffe, Prestwich and Whitefield town centres, which have significantly deteriorated as shoppers have gone elsewhere. The NWDA will soon tell the Bury Strategic Partnership - which brings together the council, health authority, local colleges, businesses and the employment service - whether it should proceed to draw up a full bid.

Officers concede that this bid will be more difficult to win than the SRB 5 funding, which focused on the borough's area of greatest deprivation.

Nevertheless, they think the NWDA might be persuaded to support it on the grounds that it promotes socially mixed communities and helps to tackle social exclusion.

They propose action under four themes: creating an environment for investment, combating crime and disorder, creating a community focus, and developing local economic activity. As in East Bury, moves to improve people's health will cut across all themes.

Any SRB finance would not fund major redevelopment programmes, but help fund jobs, improve the environment and generally create conditions that will make investment attractive to the private sector.

Council leader Derek Boden said: "We're looking at the way forward instead of rattling the cages of people who own shopping precincts to come up with something.

"It's an unusual and imaginative bid," he said. "There's no guarantee of success but it stands a realistic chance."

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