BUSINESS academics are on a mission to help Altrincham’s high street – by teaming up with the town to bring cutting-edge research directly to it.

Researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University are leading a pioneering £250,000 project to breathe new life into the high street over the next six years, called High Street UK 2020.

The experts have linked up with 10 high street partnerships – including in Altrincham - to draw together evidence from the latest retail research.

They will exchange this knowledge through a series of local workshops, regional-themed seminars and an online support centre.

These resources will be available free to the high street partners, giving unrivalled access to research normally unattainable by local partnerships.

Prof Cathy Parker, chairman of marketing and retail enterprise at MMU and co-researcher for Parliament’s ‘High Street Britain 2015’ report, is leading the project.

Prof Parker said: “The changing nature of retail in Britain brings many benefits to consumers but is having significant consequences for communities and retailers themselves. Having suffered the impact of out-of-town shopping for some 30 years, evidence shows that the threat to high streets in Britain is now at an unprecedented level.”