The council is working in partnership with Culture Stockport, a group made up of local artists, makers, cultural and community organisations, to prepare an emerging Cultural Strategy for the borough called ‘The Place That Makes Itself’. Whilst the scope is wider than the town centre, the priorities include a commitment to working with the BID, the council and other partners to make sure that culture is used to animate local spaces, and the improvement of physical and digital access to objects in the archives and museum collections.

Stockroom will be the centrepiece of culture and creativity in the town centre and will have a varied events programme for the daytime and evening and across the week to encourage all to use the space regularly as part of their visits to this part of the town centre.

Opportunities to enhance the town centre's existing indoor leisure provision will be supported, including measures to secure the long-term viability of a town centre swimming facility. Development may be expected to contribute to the provision of such facilities.

The award of £2.63 million funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports in 2022 to deliver a creative campus in the town centre is a further boost to the cultural sector and a signal of intent as creative businesses continue to locate in the Market Place and Underbanks area. Supporting One Stockport Borough Plan’s ambition of ‘an inclusive and radical digital borough’, the money funded a three-year invigoration programme to transform the town’s heritage-rich historic centre into a digital arts neighbourhood, bringing forward the conversion and re-use of empty properties. The Market Place and Underbanks area continues to be a major town centre attraction for regular outdoor events including Foodie Friday and Stock Party.

Housing of various types and tenures will be encouraged in the Town Centre Living Area, as shown on the Policies Map, in balance with other suitable uses.

The council will support opportunities to develop a high-quality place to live and which capitalises on the potential for a compact urban neighbourhood in a highly accessible and sustainable location. Residential development in the town centre will be expected to make the most efficient use of land, subject to amenity, density and space standards in policies ENV 16, ENV 17 and ENV 18.

Development in those parts of the Town Centre Living Area that have been identified as having the potential for new, higher density residential communities, must be delivered in accordance with policy ENV 19. Where the redevelopment of a site and or conversion of an existing building could affect the significance of a designated heritage asset, a Heritage Impact Assessment is required.