Plans in for new Manchester park

That’s not a park… that’s barely enough for a football pitch. Why not double the size of the “park” and put 6-8 skyscrapers on the site instead?

“park” 🤣🤣

I would just call this public realm. It’s good public realm, but it’s certainly not large enough to be considered a park.

Minimalistic is what it’s all about

Absolutely no disregard to Planit who do fantastic work (and have done here with the space they’ve been allocated) but what an absolutely wasted opportunity this whole area is. It is truly baffling why with all that land (and an established popular marina abutting the rear of the site) that they’d have the landscaping predominantly against Great Ancoat Street. There should have been a solid line of buildings along the street and the park stretching the rear of the site (even if the service road has to be maintained and design around it) to extend the marina and create a picturesque and usable space for many people, shielded from the traffic and the noise by the buildings themselves.

I dont know why they keep calling it a park. its just the basic public realm and external circulation space any development of this size needs to provide. They need to stop making such a song and dance about it.

Gonna do anything to support the 200+ skaters that have used this space for the last few years?

Why does manchester council insist on creating green spaces that are literally nothing but concrete and paths with a few trees and patches of grass, this is not rewilding or a true greenspace in any capacity. Whats also interesting is that instead of addressing the skatepark that has been thriving on the space creating a community and community sustained skatepark you straight up act like it doesnt exist. instead of integrating this into the space or doing something around it you just plan on evicerating it like the council seemingly is okay with doing with anything that the community holds close to their hearts, like so many other places in the city centre by creating a “new space for the community” you only gentrify and serve to push the community that is already there further and further away

The continued disregard for the Skateboarding community in Manchester is clear with these mundane plans. The council knows that within the space currently resides a DIY skate park known as Gooseside. If Manchester wants to become a place with a flourishing youth population PROVIDE THE RESOURCES. Skateboarding is an olympic sport and should be considered as one when taking into account what this space will be used for. If you look at South Bank Skate Park in London, it attracts many tourists who go specifically to watch the skateboarders, why can’t Manchester have its own South Bank? Why not use the money WE provide to create a safe environment for skateboarders of all ages with a café to generate some sort of income?

Incorporate the existing diy skate park! It’s an important and widely used asset to the community

And a skate park to replace the current DIY one there the local community has done such an amazing job with?

As MC said, why not make the park bigger by reducing the number of buildings and doubling up on the density of the remainder.

Where are the handrails on the stair cases? Where are the backs and arm rests on seats? How would a mobility scooter user access those raised greens with their family? These are simply things that may sound trivial, but can make a huge difference to people who struggle with their mobility. Planit should know better than this.

Handrails for the stairs are promised in the planning application itself.

December 06, 2024 at 12:44 pm

By Julia Hatmaker

The Manchester skate scene has been a vital part of the city’s culture for decades. DIY skateparks like the one being destroyed for this to be built, are built out of passion and fill the gaps left by a lack of dedicated facilities. While a public park is a great initiative, it’s essential that skaters aren’t left behind. The council should work with the skate community to incorporate a purpose-built skate area into the new development.

where is the grass?! Once again developers put first!

Just not good enough.
People are asking for the development to be taller so that they can have more green space. It’s a YIMBY for both. Yet they throw this crap at us and you get the oddballs telling us to walk to Mayfield or take a tram to Heaton Park. Or even worse, list out the other areas of awful public realm that they tell us to be grateful for. Absolutely clueless about what this area genuinely needs and how people use a city. It’s not offices they are vital in this location, as based on oddball logic they could build them at Mayfield. But they’re not, are they?

Such disappointing plans. Not sure why they haven’t maxed out buildings on the eastern half of the site, providing for the government offices plus mixed use tower, then used the entire other half, being southwest facing and abutting the canal and connecting to Cotton Fields for a proper park to serve the 10,000+ residents due to make Ancoats / New Islington home! These plans will be regretted in 10 years time.

I see the skateboarding community are all over this. . The reason this site has thrived is that no-one else currently uses it. As soon as other users are introduced, it becomes hazardous with pedestrians at risk, people unsure what direction the next boarder is coming from. Not conducive to shared use.
The skateboarders should try and get the top floor of the Arndale car park to use. . No-one to upset, out of the way and with the Council’s wish to reduce cars in the city centre, could be happy to give up the parking. You could get a bar and cafe up there as well

I agree with Anon of 11:45 – I’d be interested to understand why the buildings are not aligned along GAS to provide a shield from what is basically a noisy and smelly dual carriageway, and therefore allow the “park” extension to have more space directly next to Cotton Field “park”. Is there a genuine reason for this or is it just poor place-making?

I read a sign once that i feel is relevant here

This is Manchester, we do things exactly the same as any other city that has sold its soul to the highest bidder, pursuing growth at any cost, prioritising profits over people, parading an over cooked version of our history & culture to overseas investors whilst bulldozing all remaining outposts of character back home. Forcing local people & their lively hoods from any last slivers of land that could potentially hold yet another rental tower.

This is far too little, far too late

Be the beautiful Manchester i moved to 11 years ago, not the profit lead hell hole you’re becoming

A waste of money why don’t you build affordable housing that people can actually afford to rent

For a Council that has otherwise been leading the way for the north in many respects, MCC’s attitude towards skateboarding has always been bizarre and backwards. Whilst cities across Europe, and even the UK (see Hull, Brighton, Nottingham and others) have been embracing skateboarding, Manchester has always taken the prohibition approach and treated it as if its a crime. They have already ruined iconic cultural destinations such as Urbis and Lincoln Square. Even Liverpool City Council, which is generally depressing in comparison to MCC provided four, free to use concrete skateparks around the periphery of the city, and has allowed New Bird DIY to remain in situ. For the second city in the UK, the fact that the only outdoor skateparks are Projekts, which is not free to use, and Fallowfield which is wooden and dilapidated is nothing short of disgraceful. As another commenter posted, it is now an Olympic Sport and the Council needs to get with the time and provide the city with the world class facilities it deserves. If the Council isn’t prepared to work with the skateboarding community to integrate the existing Gooseside DIY into these proposals, then this site represents a golden opportunity to deliver a state of the art concrete facility. You see things like the new Beach Plaza in Hove (Brighton) and realise that the familiar north / south divide is even affecting skateboarding provision. Its time for Manchester to buck that trend and this is the site to do it.

Because the skyscrapers would make it too windy for the park to be usable

Hardly Stourhead, is it? More of a verge!

What is it with people in Ancoats and New Islington who want green space on their doorstep. Others have to walk to access green space elsewhere in the city, Just walk northwards along the Rochdale Canal into Miles Platting where there is green space or eastwards along the Ashton Canal to Phillips Park where you can experience a fantastic Victorian Park.

“Because the skyscrapers would make it too windy for the park to be usable”
Then why are they building skyscrapers next to other parks in the city?

“What is it with people in Ancoats and New Islington who want green space on their doorstep.”
Who wouldn’t want green space in a city when the other nearby green spaces get rammed at any sign of sunlight? Who wouldn’t want to live in a city designed to improve residents lives?

This makes me so happy. Parks are so vital to quality of life. London would not have the same appeal if it wasn’t for it’s great parks.
We need more. We’ll done MCC

Park or car park

Perhaps save Gatley golf course which is already a green space?

This needs to happen not enough skateparks around Manchester area especially central Manchester

I’m gonna just go ahead and proclaim my front yard a ‘park’

While I am always up for public spaces in the city centre, I struggle to see the councils acknowledgement of the current users of the space. From this article, the brownfield site is regarded as a wasteland, yet this wasteland has hosted a thriving community space for skateboarders in what was otherwise a stage for antisocial behaviours. I am astonished that this piece of DIY urbanism and culture building stuff hasn’t been credited and therefore paid homage to as a criteria for the new design.

In addition, gooseside DIY on this site had relieved strain of other areas of the city centre, such as Lincoln Park, which has now been skate stopped. It is hard to see a future relationship between the city and skaters like many great playful cities around the world are capitalising on. I wonder when Manchester will wake up and embrace this component of its culture.

This is disgusting put the money into the Manchester homeless or one better give me the money I will make sure there is stability new jobs and I can tell you 90 percent of them all would be back in to work build more housing instead of wasting money on things Manchester don’t need, MCC thinks there’s no homelessess in manchester people must be blind they all have warm beds to go to why the homeless are still on the street in freezing temperatures alot have many talents with alot of experience if only mcc would give them the chance the majority don’t want to change but over 80 percent do do the right thing build more supported housing not parks at the momenta what are the plans for more housing? I see you deleted my last comment all gets hidden

Ye cool just ignore the skaters then. Not like they’ve spent the past few years making something out of a piece of land no one was doing anything with. There’s a community on that land. There’s so much money they’ve put into that land. Any plans should be inclusive of the community DIY skatepark, not exclusive.

Wonderful to see some green spaces actually being preserved instead of built on, for once.

Heaton Park
Tatton Park
Wythenshawe Park
I don’t think Ancoates Park is a comparison, is it?

Please please please stopped wasting the money for future plans in Greater Manchester. Saved the money for good.

So 96 trees planted but no mention of the 32 no. early / semi mature existing arboricultural features, of which 14 Category B, which will be removed as they ‘do not fit within the vision or layout for the Proposed Development’ – you couldn’t make it up.

There are clearly those with their own interests who want this space to fit their personal needs and that’s fair enough. From my perspective, any new green space close to the city centre has to be a bonus as for many decades the Council has been giving away almost all available spaces to commercial interests. This particular design looks OK as long as the greenery is maintained, and that’s a big question mark.

This is not a park. It is a green space and a minimal one at that. 96 trees is a pathetically small number for what is actually needed to extract CO2, provide oxygen and also shade for hotter summers. The lack of a water fountain or fountains is also noticeable in a part of the country where rainwater is plentiful. To call this a ‘city park’ is to demean the public benefit of the actual term. Let’s call this what it is – a corporate development promising much and delivering little.

Amazing what passes as a park these days!

Anon 5.20pm – yes London does have great parks but as in Manchester, which also has great parks, you have to travel to them. And that is what I have to do living in the suburbs!

Awful for biodiversity, little pockets of green, some small boxes ticked here. Can’t be calling this a park, look at other cities with parks (even London), parks are places where you can almost forget you’re in the middle of a city, a place to do a whole dog walk, places where wildlife can co-exist with us humans.
This is better than a concrete plaza for sure, but not a park – Manchester needs more comprehensive green space that businesses aren’t a direct beneficiary of, incidentally a nicer environment for people to experience within a city will ultimately benefit businesses in the long run anyway. Until more green space and proper parks are made space for in Manchester it will always be miserable both aesthetically and psychologically.

This looks like a great addition to the existing green space, extending Cotton Field Park and creating a much needed green buffer along Great Ancoats. Given the strategic importance of the site to the expanding city centre, it was always going to be a commercial site first and foremost and the new jobs here are a really positive story for the city, but this park area looks well thought out dealing with quite a challenging topography.

Anon at 11.45am is spot on. There is a ready made water park there, with mature trees already. This could be stunning and lift Great Ancoats Street, away from its current mimicking of Camden, New Jersey.

This is embarrassing. The nerve of MCC to call this a park, when the opportunity to make a truly amazing city park is passed over yet again to appease their beloved developers. Thank god the Victorians had the foresight to build the parks we do have. These days they’d be an afterthought for another Ian Simpson scheme.

I personally am so excited for the 30 new bins proposed… also have Planit brainwashed MCC as they seem to have forgotten other landscape architects exist?

This is just another example of what happened at the gas works in Whitworth street west, when that got developed into home cinema etc skateboarders had meetings with the council and were promised a plaza. None of the promises were kept and now security tell you off for even skateboarding through there