The City Council, Manchester Life and Great Places today launched a community consultation with Ancoats and New Islington residents and businesses to gather feedback on how the neighbourhood needs to evolve as a home for families, aspirational young people and local businesses.
The joined-up approach will ensure Anplace for inclusive opportunity on the edge of the city centre. The findings will also help inform priorities for other developers considering future activity in the neighbourhood.
Four sites within this consultation focus on kickstarting regeneration of the Poland Street area of Ancoats to connect it into the heart of Ancoats, now seen as one of the UK’s most successful neighbourhood transformations. The two housing sites identified in New Islington would continue regeneration efforts which have previously centred around the marina.
Following consultation feedback and subsequent individual planning applications, work is expected to start in 2021 to ensure neighbourhood transformation momentum continues. New housing, jobs, and economic activity in East Manchester along with accelerating sustainable mobility initiatives will support Manchester’s COVID recovery plans.
The six schemes will be designed to give the neighbourhood an open and safe feel to encourage active travel and community interaction. The City Council will also lead a process with all developers across Ancoats and New Islington to improve the existing public realm and create new open and green spaces.
The mobility hub concept will incorporate shared car and cycle parking for residents and visitors, electric vehicle clubs and charging, and a last-mile delivery consolidation centre to reduce vehicle movements and street parking. The requirement is to enable local streets to be prioritised for walking, cycling and community interaction over vehicle movements. It will help the City Council to deliver its City Centre Transport Strategy.
Sir Richard Leese Leader of Manchester City Council, commented:
“Future development across Ancoats and New Islington is a significant opportunity to ensure the past five years of transformation delivered by Manchester Life and others continues to see East Manchester emerge as an inclusive place of employment and opportunity for the city’s residents.
“Maintaining this momentum and focusing on the needs of the city is vital as Manchester recovers from COVID-19. Through our working partnership with Manchester Life and Great Places we can ensure a coordinated approach to identifying community priorities and delivering on the city’s current housing, economic and sustainable transport priorities.
“The City Council will also use this exercise to guide a public realm and green space improvement exercise across the neighbourhood.”
