Manchester council leader Bev Craig says a proposed 'digital campus' on the fo rmer Central Retail Park could help to create a ring of green spaces encircling the city centre.
Cllr Craig told a meeting of the council's executive that there was ‘an opportunity’ to ‘knit together’ a series of green spaces in the Ancoats, New Islington, and Piccadilly areas of the city centre. The meeting saw the authority announce plans to build a ‘digital campus’ on .
The park closed in 2019 and its future has been much debated as campaigners called for the 10-and-a-half acre site to become parkland. Council bosses have instead decided to build the ‘digital campus’, which government departments could move into.
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Opposition councillors have instead called for more parks to be created. Lib Dem Cllr Alan Good, Liberal Democrat, said: “With the cut price sale of New Islington Green and how overcrowded Cotton Field Park is on sunny days, Ancoats needs more green space.
“Now we see that the limited public realm planned next to the new offices might now be delivered at a later date, it’s just another example of the council’s leadership ignoring the 600 residents who said they wanted a proper park on the site.”
At the meeting, Cllr Craig challenged similar points that residents’ feedback was in favour of building a park on the land, saying it was ‘mixed’. However, she added: “There was a real appetite for high quality public spaces and more green spaces in and around Ancoats and New Islington.”
And Coun Good’s fellow Ancoats representative, Labour’s Coun Irene Robinson, appeared at the meeting to welcome the move. She said: “The green space planned – linking Cotton Fields to Great Ancoats Street – is a real step forward from previous plans.
“It links to the work the city council is doing to improve other green spaces in the area, including Ancoats Green. I’m keen to see the planning application for the park on this space and work with residents on developing and getting my hands muddy in projects on the space. “
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Cllr Craig went on to say that the green space included in the office development — which is expected to be revealed formally in the summer with a design team appointed — could be just the start. She said: “Irene Robinson has had me out looking at places like Medlock Valley and some of the opportunities that we could have there around green space on people’s doorstep. I think there is an opportunity to be able to knit a lot of this together to make sure that people enjoying Ancoats and New Islington continue to have high quality spaces on the doorstep.
“Ancoats Green is a start, but then thinking about how this site connects into Cotton Field Park at the heart of New Islington on the marina, how that reaches across to Medlock Valley, a very significant green space site that will then ultimately potentially connect into what we’ve got in Mayfield Park.
“I think, definitely, there’s a lot to be seen coming forwards in terms of green spaces in and around the city centre.”