Gorsey Bank is a park and former housing estate in Cheadle Heath, Stockport, Greater Manchester. It sits to the west of Stockport town centre, in an area between the River Mersey, the M60 motorway and the A560 Stockport Road.
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History
The area was populated by a cotton mill in the 19th century, which had easy access to both the Mersey and the London North Western Railway. A sand pit was dug in 1899, and used in the early 20th century before being filled in 1923.
A housing estate was built in the mid to late 1930s, including a number of terraced houses and a recreation ground. By the 1970s, the estate had become one of the worst in the Greater Manchester area, with a fearsome reputation for vandalism, burgalry and arson. A 1978 report in the Stockport Advertiser suggested the estate should be razed to the ground and turned into industrial units. By the 1990s, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council had decided to demolish the estate for redevelopment after 200 homes on the estate had become vacant and half the council-housed residents were on a transfer list. In 1999, the last remaining residents moved out and all buildings were demolished. The land sat unused for some years afterwards, and continued to attract antisocial behaviour from youths and fly tipping.
Redevelopment
In 2007, the site was cleared in order to create a new business park. In 2015, Stockport MBC planned to invest £10m to regenerate the area with a 145,000 square feet (13,500 m2) light-industrial park, creating a potential 240 new jobs.