VICTORIA Street will once again be closed to traffic, and probably for a bit longer this time, as of 5am on Sunday 25 March.

Manchester City Council has reinstated the experimental traffic order that caused a stir earlier in the month but was suspended on 5 March due to incomplete roadworks that were affecting the new flow of traffic. You can read Confidential’s original article on the subject, complete with editorial comment, here.

The work has now been completed, meaning the planned closure can take place. Motorists are being advised to use the inner ring road to get around the city.

Those already in the centre will have to divert across the Irwell via Victoria Bridge and Chapel Street.

The move is aimed as an experiment to make the area more pedestrian friendly. There was a mixed response to the plans when they were first announced and it remains to be seen how the ‘experiment’ will fare.