The Meteor
Manchesters Independent Media
After several months of rejection huge co-living developments are now coming to Manchester. Is it a new form of community living or another extractive product in the city’s ongoing property boom?
With strong links to the city’s financialised student housing sector, is this the type of housing we should be building during Covid-19 and the ongoing housing crisis?
As expected, the redevelopment of the former Central Retail Park was approved by Manchester City Council’s executive. But it was not without drama, as terse words were exchanged between Labour councillors and the opposition Liberal Democrat representative.
90% of locals in survey thought the area did not need any more luxury offices, as campaign group Trees Not Cars brand Manchester city council’s public consultation on future of site of former Central Retail Park “tick box activity”
The Eastlands Arena goes before the planning committee for the first time tomorrow, while co-living towers and Thomas Street demolitions return for another round. The Meteor recaps the most important proposals.
The huge Eastlands Arena proposal is backed by the American multinational Oak View Group. The owners of the Manchester Arena say the Eastlands project, near the Etihad Stadium, would take trade away from the city centre and accuse the council of having a conflict of interest in the deal.
The series trailer and episode lead-ins for the BBC documentary Manctopia are suggestive of a series seeking to analyse the inequalities associated with Manchester’s “property boom”.
Instead, this glossy reality TV entrenches a misguided message that uncontrolled investor-driven urban development is the only possible trajectory. Its winners vs losers framing negatively impacts those communities experiencing the pressures of gentrification on a daily basis.
A controversial proposal to demolish a row of listed 18th century weaver cottages in the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter was struck down in the Planning Committee meeting last week. With the survival of the buildings for now secured, how do the victorious campaigners and councillors want this local heritage to be restored and used? […]
Plans to rejuvenate the derelict Mayfield Depot offers a glimpse of hope for the city centre with promises of new homes, offices and a park to boot. But there are fears that the average resident could be priced out of the space and the green measures promised do not go far enough to protect the […]
Huge Chinese and Singapore Salford development has avoided £8.3 million in fees so far.
The 25 acre Middlewood Locks development should have yielded £8.3million in planning fees to Salford City Council but in its first two phases didn’t pay a cent because of ‘viability’ issues.
Next week, the Council’s Planning Panel will consider proposals for the third phase of 189 residential units plus commercial space, and the company has submitted a further ‘viability’ report which could lead to no payments yet again – despite the previous planning report stating that “The Council’s surveyors are confident that future residential phases will make a S106 contribution”…
How arbitrary definitions and a focus on ‘headline figures’ are exacerbating the housing crisis.
