There could be a new park in Manchester if plans submitted yesterday go ahead.
Manchester City Council has proposed creating a new ‘green heart of Ancoats’ as part of the neighbourhood’s regeneration story.
It’s good news for all those who campaigned for the former Central Retail Park to be turned into a green lung, although this particular proposal is a little further away.
The planning submission focuses on three areas, including Ancoats Green, a new public realm on Prussia Street, and Jersey Green.
Ancoats Green will include walking and cycling routes from Poland Street to Butler Street, and from Portugal Street to the Rochdale Canal.
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Lit walkways will improve safety and resident comfort while travelling through the area at night.
The location of Ancoats Green. Credit: Planning documents
The routes will also connect the wider community to the new ‘Ancoats Mobility Hub’, designed to reduce vehicle traffic in Ancoats.
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It’s hoped that the investment into the area will ‘encourage active travel as the natural option to move across the neighbourhood’.
The ‘green transformation’ of Ancoats includes 600 sq metres of new planting, 4800 sq metres of wildflowers, and 748 sq metres of wetland planting.
It also includes a 76% net increase in trees, with any trees removed because of disease replaced by two new trees.
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32% of the new surfaces will be made from reclaimed material, which create permeable sustainable drainage systems.
How the Ancoats Green area looks currently. Credit: Google Maps
The new public spaces will also celebrate Ancoats’ rich glass and bottle manufacturing history, which will be referenced through the design of the entrance ways and street furniture.
Ancoats Green is expected to complete by 2024, with new play areas (including accessible play equipment), open green spaces and generous footpaths.
Granite paving stones from Albert Square – removed during the Town Hall’s renovation – will be re-used here too.
Following that, Jersey Green works will commence in 2025 with improved footpaths and additional seating, and the removal of the Jersey Street Bridge to create a new green corridor.
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Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Ancoats and New Islington is a great place to live, and we want to make the area even better with more and new green spaces, and a play park for children to reflect the growing number of families living there.
“We are committed to creating more and improved green space across the city and provide access to high quality parks close to where people live and work.
“Although this is a challenge in the city centre, this investment is a statement of our intent to deliver green space for our communities – and the proposals for Ancoats join a range of green investment either underway or completed.
“This includes the new Mayfield Park completed last year, Cotton Field Park in New Islington – which will open out to new green space at the former Central Retail Park – and Electric Park, the city’s first zero carbon green campus.
“Longer-term, the Victoria North regeneration programme will deliver 43ha of new interlocking green space from the city centre through to Collyhurst.
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“These are examples of the long-term ambition we have for Manchester to create a greener, cleaner place to live – that celebrates active travel and provides opportunities for our residents to walk and cycle through attractive green neighbourhoods.”
Featured image: Supplied
Property
Transformational plans set to be approved for ‘major’ new Manchester city centre park
Emily Sergeant
‘Transformational’ plans to regenerate an underused Manchester city centre site are set to be approved next week.
Following ‘overwhelming’ public support for proposals set out in a public consultation earlier this year – where more than 90% of respondents supported the key principles – Manchester City Council says its executive is expected approve an ambitious vision for the Water Street neighbourhood at a meeting next week (Weds 8 July).
The Water Street Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) is set to create a city centre district developed around a new urban park.
The SRF is described as being a ‘high-level blueprint’ for future investment that will guide development through the planning process.
The plans are comprised of a new landscape-led neighbourhood that combines homes – including 20% of them being ‘affordable’ – improved public spaces, enhanced walking and cycling connections, and ‘significant’ new green infrastructure centred around the River Medlock.
Sustainability was highlighted as an area of importance to local residents in the consultation, and to meet these demands, the plans include increased biodiversity, sustainable drainage features, and a largely car-free neighbourhood to support Manchester’s zero-carbon ambitions, as well as the new urban park being at the heart of it all.
The new neighbourhood will also offer plenty of new jobs, skills, and investment opportunities.
“The wider Water Street area has seen major regeneration in recent years with world-class investment at St John’s and Aviva Studios on its doorstep, alongside impressive residential developments,” explained Cllr Gavin White, who is Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and regeneration.
“This renewed regeneration framework will help guide investment to bring this area up to the same ambitious level with new housing, including affordable housing to create an inclusive new neighbourhood, complemented by a brand-new city centre urban park.”
Featured Image – Manchester City Council (Supplied)
Property
UK’s most popular commuter towns named and four are in Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
The UK’s most popular commuter towns have been named, and four of them are here in Greater Manchester.
Where are the most popular commuter towns in the UK right now?
Well, new data collated based on the number of people enquiring about available properties on Rightmove has revealed the locations where buyer demand is highest, and with Manchester being one of the largest cities in the country, of course there’s some Greater Manchester towns on the list.
Rightmove says that choosing the best commuter town requires buyers to balance a number of factors – including property prices, travel times, and local lifestyle.
To narrow it down, the property platform has chosen to focus on commuter towns within a 45-minute rail journey to the target city, and with at least 20,000 people living there.
For Manchester, it’s Stockport that’s taken the title as the city’s most popular commuter town, as amazinly, it generated 70% more enquiries per listing than Manchester itself.
The UK’s most popular commuter towns have been named / Credit: James Feaver (via Unsplash) | Manchester City Council
Being just an eight-minute journey from Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport has an average property price of £308,299.
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, the picturesque Stockport town of Marple takes second spot on the list, while the Tameside town of Stalybridge comes in third place, and Rochdale also features in the top five, alongside Warrington – which is just outside of our region’s borders, but is only a short 22-minute train journey into the city centre.
Transport options is obviously one of the most important factors in what makes a town a so-called ‘commuter town’.
Stockport benefits from around six fast trains per hour, while Stalybridge and Rochdale offer four per hour. Marple is less frequent at two per hour but still attracts strong interest, likely due to its lifestyle appeal and stunning setting on the edge of the Peak District.
Price growth has been strong across most of the Manchester commuter towns, with Stalybridge (+6.1%) and Rochdale (+5.8%) seeing notable increases year-on-year.
However, average prices for four out of the five commuter locations on the list were higher than the average Manchester property price (£261,891), suggesting that lifestyle factors were a stronger draw for Manchester’s surrounding towns.
Daisy Jackson -
15th February 2023 
