SpareRoom comes to Northern Quarter

Beautiful building but the public realm including all the pavements throughout the northern quarter is in a shocking state and really let the area down.

Anon – that’s the point! The NQ is edgy and grimy. Mmm grime.

I can’t understand this obsession with the NQ. I don’t even feel safe walking down a street!!

Manchester’s problem is,it has too small a population from which money can be sourced.With a population half Birmingham’s and a city centre of a similar size,it is hardly surprising that the infrastructure is neglected.The litter is an embarrassment.I struggle to believe I’m in Western Europe sometimes,when I walk through Piccadilly Landfill.

The NQ is a fantastic district with a regular street pattern and some spectacular architecture like the above. An environment conducive to walking and street activity will make a hell of a difference to the feelings of safety and civility in the Northern Quarter and that’s where funding for public realm is so important.

Manchester has not had the scale of European and government funding thrown at it for this type of intervention that Liverpool has so it needs to be a bit more creative. The Stephenson Square greening scheme was a start but the area needs much more. Any ideas?

We have a population under 600,000, a fifth of which are students and don’t pay council tax. A vast majority of people who come into the city don’t live in it, and many of the homeless aren’t from here. Manchester has been very hard done by, Central Government should realise this.

@ Cheshire Boy, you must man up son, or stay in the countryside.

@shaka – hard done by! Are you kidding?

Local gov have had a 40% cut in their budgets with the more deprived urban authorities affected far more than affluent due to a lower tax base and higher needs. For an authority like Manchester which effectively provides services to a vast number of non-resident visitors to the city centre this amounts to a triple whammy.

After the council’s current roads programme I’d like to see funding prioritised to public realm improvements from Piccadilly throughout the centre especially the northern quarter.

@anon – maybe the £78 mil given to the city for The Factory cultural building from the government – or the £9 mil they have also pledged to its annual running costs – could have been spent in other areas? … you can’t have your cake and eat it…oh wait…

@Jollyjoe The Factory was part of the devolution negotiation in the same way that bailing out NLM, in addition to agreeing their large on-going central gov subsidy was part of Liverpool’s. I doubt either city would have been successful in negotiating a one off capital project for improving public realm.

Happily for Liverpool, they had already benefited from a EU / NWDA funded scheme of improvements which has provided some really high quality public realm throughout the centre. Manchester should aspire to the same even if funding it is not going to be so easy.

@anon – who’s talking about Liverpool? Am sure most cities, and towns, in the North would take nearly £80 mil towards a cultural facility – and £9 mil ongoing annual costs – over some fancy granite setts that will only end up covered in chewing gum and litter!!

@jollyjoe Similarly, I’m sure most areas would accept the bail-out proposal for NML along with the huge on-going subsidy negotiated as part of Liverpool’s devolution deal.

But it doesnt matter whether you’re talking about the Factory or NML, they’re both irrelevant as funding for flagship cultural provision was never going to be diverted to pay for ‘fancy granite setts’ as part of a devolution settlement.

Any sensible ideas?

@anon – like I said you can’t have your cake and eat it – and I don’t know why you’re asking me, when you clearly have all the stats and answers, it should be me asking you?