In the words of City Centre Councillor Joan Davies, the soap opera has come to an end.
After eighteen months, the final application to build a controversial 122 bedroom hotel in the Shudehill area of Manchester’s Northern Quarter have been rejected by Manchester City Council’s planning committee.
The proposal was sent back to the developers last month after Cllr Basil Curley, sitting on the committee, said that having heard all the arguments he was convinced that a thirteen storey building would have a detrimental effect on the historical ethos of the area and asked that the building should be reduced to eight storey’s high and formerly proposed that the application be rejected on the basis of height.
Th proposals returned with one storey lopped off but this did not alter the view of the committee
After another passionate speech from City Centre Councillor Davies who urged the committee to reject on the basis that it does not fit in with the character of the Smithfield Conservation area and described the proposals as having the grace of a giraffe among hamsters.
Despite the developer saying that It had tried to strike the right balance on a difficult site, Cllr Curley said that it doesn’t alter the course of the application and in his view it is still too high.
