Green light for overhaul of Manchester’s Roman Gardens
Site custodian Castlefield Forum has been granted approval to improve the “unloved area”.
Plans for the overhaul of Manchester’s Roman Gardens resurfaced in April, six years since proposals to improve the area were given the green light by Manchester City Council.
Now, the local council has signed off the scheme, paving the way for a package of improvements aimed at making the area more inviting.
Plans to revitalise the Roman Gardens – thought to be where the original settlement of Manchester sprang from around 2,000 years ago – come hot on the heels of another public realm project close by.
The 125-year-old Castlefield Viaduct was recently brought back into use as a garden and heritage attraction for the first time in 50 years.
The forum is working alongside design studio BDP to progress the Roman Gardens project.
A masterplan for the area was first unveiled in 2014. At the time, the forum, established in 2010, said it was “one of the saddest and most unloved areas” in Castlefield.
To learn more, search for application reference 136246/FO/2023 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
Good call , needs it.
By Anonymous
I would love to hope that the area created will be all Age Friendly as the Manchester title states but I am not hopeful, will it be AFbenches and easy pathways for wheelchairs , rollaters, sticks etc. Will there be plenty of public toilet facilities? Probably not😞
By Freddi Greenmantle
Brilliant effort on improvements to the green space in this part of the city.
Victoria North and Mayfield to add to the list as well.
However, to anyway who lives, works or even visits the city centre regularly, you will know that this is nowhere near enough.
We need mass pedestrianisation, improvements to the canal network and to progress the Irwell River Park. MCC need to demand more from developers to achieve this.
By Anonymous
If they want this place to be much loved, and for it to have a bit of oomph and the X factor, the should and must line the paths with palm trees.
By ZiffZaff
Absolutely agree that it needs to be updated. It was clearly built on a budget in the first place. But it also needs regular maintenance. This is where Manchester does a terrible job. It builds a park, then rarely maintains it so it falls quickly into disrepair until it’s in a terrible state and then there’s a huge cost to rebuild it again.
Look how the rest of the developed world does things… they “maintain”. Yes… this means people cutting lawns, tending plants and flowers, cleaning litter and repairing vandalism. But it makes a difference.
By EOD
Great stuff. This part of Castlefield, including under the railway arches has long been overlooked.
By Bob