Library Walk Gets Glassed

UPDATE: 25 October. UNSURPRISINGLY AND ENTIRELY AS PREDICTED ALL THE OBJECTIONS ABOUT LIBRARY WALK AS DESCRIBED IN THE YELLOW PANEL BELOW WERE FRUITLESS. THE 'MINDED TO APPROVE' DULY BECAME 'APPROVED'. THE CITY MACHINE STEAM-ROLLED THE OBJECTORS.

WHILE all eyes will be on the planning biggies on Thursday – 600 (600!) serviced flats on River Street and the conversion of Library Walk into a conservatory – there are other minor matters on the agenda that will affect life for people living in the city and beyond.

Like a new Dominos Pizza takeaway under Tempus Building opposite Manchester Arena;  formal approval for a new bar/club on Stephenson Square that appears to be there already;  the refusal to allow a 15 storey student block in Hulme because of lack of demand and an 11km mountain bike track through Philips Park and Clayton Vale.

The bike track is the idea of the City Council, will be free to use, include specialist skill areas and hopefully host various national and regional events.

The idea is to get more people using the historic park and while there have been murmurs of complaint from dog walkers that they risk being mown down the planners say the points where path and track cross are few and the skill areas will be fenced in.

This seems to be a GOOD IDEA.

The residents of Tempus and the nearby Beaumont Building think Dominos is most definitely a BAD IDEA.

Forty people wrote in citing noise, disturbance nuisance and traffic chaos as no-no to pizza to go. Parking and access is tight in the area but throw in an Arena event and a Buy One Get One Half Price deal and the residents say the roads will be blocked with randomly parked cars making it impossible for emergency services to get through.

The ground floor units were always destined to be commercial, though the original permission is for A3 restaurant/cafe use and Dominos want it changed to A5 takeaway.

They argue that they will make a substantial investment in fit-out to a unit that has been empty since the building was completed, and create 20 jobs.

The City planners, who ten years ago insisted on mixing commercial and residential on every scheme without foreseeing this clash of interests, are minded to approve.

Dominos Are Hoping For The Right Result

Over in The Northern Quarter more residents are unhappy about what some call mixed use development and others sleepless nights.

An application is in to turn the ground floor of Hilton House at the bottom end of Hilton Street, junction Tariff Street from retail to restaurant and looks set to be approved.

There are fifteen letters of objection from residents plus one from Councillor Kevin Peel. Peel points out that the application is a bit late as the bar has been fitted out since September and the owners have even held an event there for people to take a look.

He also points out that residents fear the cumulative impact of an increased number of licensed

premises, in particular bars, on crime and anti-social behaviour. He wants a new crime impact report, looking at all current and pending applications, before these premises get the go-ahead.

This would seem to be a SENSIBLE IDEA.

Over in Hulme developers wanted to build a 15 storey tower on the car park behind Boundary Lodge on Boundary Lane proving 104 student bedrooms in 30 flats - main picture at the top of this page.

But neither the neighbours nor the city’s universities want it and it’s recommended for refusal.

In a general joint statement about student accommodation the Vice Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University and the President of the University of Manchester say there is “a real danger of overprovision within Manchester resulting in a high level of vacancy. This is influenced by the introduction of the full £9,000 tuition fee for undergraduates, an 8% reduction in applications to higher education and the trend for more local students to live at home.”

MMU has seen a 27% reduction in applications from first year students to live in halls.

In summary, it says: “There will be no growth and a risk of reducing numbers. It is underlined that new student halls should only be built if there is a clear identified demand or if it replaces old stock.”

They forgot to say that the visualisation in brown brick of the proposed building is truly dismal as well.

Or maybe the building of 600 flats on the other side of the Mancunian Way will be enough accommodation to be going on with.

An EMPTY IDEA.

And finally in Withington we have a PRAGMATIC IDEA.

A developer wants to knock down the Ladybarn and District British Legion on Beverly Road and on the site build a terrace of seven town houses and two pairs of semis.

In return the British Legion would relocate a short distance to the former White Swan Pub which the developer would do up for them and build an apartment block on land next door.

It’s a good bargaining tactic.

The original club, which was formed after the First World War, was one of the first five clubs that joined together to form what  is now known as the Royal British Legion and has been on the same site for 81 years.

But it is struggling to survive and is facing the real prospect of having to close its doors, mainly due to the current building being too large for its needs, uneconomic to run and in need of repair.

The deal is that they get new premises and hopefully go on for another 81 years if the developer gets permission to build. They would move their plaque with them.

 The deal may be done as both applications are mind for approval.

The Planning and Highways Committe kicks off at 2pm on Thursday - click here.

You can follow Jill Burdett here.