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
The ‘loneliest house in Britain’ with no vehicle access is on the market, with £50k slashed off the price
Daisy Jackson
A former railway worker’s cottage dubbed the ‘loneliest house in Britain’ has just had £50k knocked off its asking price as it looks for a new owner.
The home is situated in one of the most beautiful corners in England, right on the trail of the popular Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge.
The house takes ‘remote living to the next level’, with no vehicular access for viewings and absolutely no neighbours in sight.
At present, 3 Bleamoor Cottages also has no mains electricity or water – previous owners got their power from a windmill and a generator.
And although you’ll be all alone living up there in the Yorkshire Dales, you won’t be totally isolated… you’ll probably have a few hundred walkers going past your front door every day.
The house is listed as an ‘exciting renovation project’, with potential to turn it into a private holiday home, a unique Airbnb or a refreshment stop on the popular hiking route up Whernside.
Darren Spratt from estate agent Fisher Hopper told the BBC: “We’ve never had anything quite like this.”
“It’s about a 20 to 25-minute walk to the property,” he added. “That’s one way to lug your shopping.”
He also said that although the home has drummed up a lot of interest, a new buyer hasn’t yet been found for it.
The property listing states: “Exciting renovation project in a stunningly beautiful location. 3 Bleamoor Cottages is a former railway worker’s home situated on the main hiking path up Whernside, in the Yorkshire Dales.
The living room of 3 Bleamoor Cottages. Credit: Fisher HopperThe kitchen of the remote cottage. Credit: Fisher HopperIt’s set in beautiful Yorkshire Dales countryside. Credit: Fisher Hopper3 Bleamoor Cottages. Credit: Fisher Hopper
“Adjacent to the famous Settle to Carlisle railway line above Ribblehead, the property presents an interesting investment, with a range of potential commercial opportunities apparent: private holiday home; unique AirBnB style experience; bunkhouse or refreshment stop on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge route. Plans will be subject to the necessary consents – this is in the heart of the National Park – but for the right buyer with vision, there is great potential here.
“Due to the unusual nature of the location, interested parties are advised that it is a 20 minute walk from the parking at Ribblehead Viaduct to reach this property. There is no vehicular access for viewings.”
When Rightmove shared the listing, they wrote: “When having neighbours is just not your thing… This home located in the Yorkshire Dales takes remote living to the next level!”
Three Greater Manchester areas named as the best places to live by The Sunday Times
Daisy Jackson
Three areas in Greater Manchester have been listed as some of the best places to live in the UK by The Sunday Times.
The publication’s prestigious Best Places to Live assesses a number of factors, from schools to culture to green space to the health of the local high street.
Now in its 11th year, the list has once again championed several towns and neighbourhoods around Greater Manchester.
But in 2023, it’s Ancoats, Sale, and Stockport that have shone.
The Times wrote: “Much has already been written about Ancoats, but its historic mills, warehouses and new-build blocks set the benchmark for hip urban living.”
Stockport. Credit: Stockport Market Hall
Of Sale, it said: “A welcoming and well-connected Greater Manchester location Sale is emerging from the shadow of Altrincham thanks to its excellent reputation for state schools, Metrolink tram connections, and the creation of a new town-centre hub in Stanley Square with cafes, restaurants and independent shops.”
And The Times wrote that Stockport had turned from a ‘bog-standard former mill town’ into a ‘funky, family-friendly alternative to Manchester’s Northern Quarter’.
The list said: “As well as brilliant independent shops, cafes and bars, it has good parks, decent schools, fast train links to Manchester and suburbs with a house for every style and budget.”
Elsewhere in the north west, areas like Penrith in Cumbria, Rawtenstall in Lancashire, and Tarporley in Cheshire made it onto the list.
The regional winner crown went to Waterloo and Toxteth in Liverpool, picking out the two suburbs for their independent shops, community vibes, and cultural scenes.
Daisy Jackson -
15th February 2023 
