Canal27ways

Category: Blog

  • Weekly Update November 10th-16th

    Saturday 10th November

    Remembrance South Manchester Synagogue 

    Invited by my good friend Bernard Sharp to attend the synagogue for their remembrance. Great to see such a large civic turnout for such a poignant event. It’s quite a cycle to Bowdon but thoroughly worthwhile for such a nicely balanced service which started with laments and ended with Happy Birthday. 

    Sunday 11th November

    Civic Remembrance

    Really well attended civic remembrance parade at Stretford Cenotaph. I’m always uncomfortable as a councillor on these days; my predecessors were after all, the recruiting sergeants for such a tragic loss of life in the Great War. Young men sent for sacrifice in a war between empires. The Peter Jackson film ‘They shall not grow old” shown in the evening was just so moving and presented real-life footage of the appalling circumstances we placed those boys in. Just awful.

    We will remember them.

    Monday 12th November

    Caught up with emails after a busy few days. We’d had a carpet fitted on the Friday so everything had been squeezed into one room.

    Attended the Town Hall in the evening for briefings.

    Oh and went to see the gasometers.

    Tuesday 13th November

    Really informative presentation from the Trafford Assist team. I used to work in Social Security. This would have been called urgent payments, then social fund. What really impressed me today was the extent to which the staff were empowered to look at the cause. We still don’t put enough money into welfare; it’s very much the manifestation of a civilised society but they’re a great team and I was really impressed.

    Wednesday 14th November

    Distracted by Brexit. What a mess. Seems fitting that this was the week we commemorated the loss of life in the Great War. That was probably the last time we had such a pathetic elite in the centres of Europe. Is there anybody in London or Brussels, Government or Opposition, who realises the enormity of this car crash? Do they not realise that actually people expect their representatives to be working for solutions, not this daytime gameshow disaster piece set on repeat?

    Anybody not swearing at the news this week has my absolute respect. I didn’t manage it.

    Thursday 15th November

    Escape to sanity. Afternoon stint volunteering in Lostock Library and then a really positive meeting of Lostock College Governors.

    Friday 16th November

    And a delightful meeting at Stretford High meeting Mrs Brindley, the school’s deputy head to tell her about our ambition to have more children walking and cycling to school. It looks like it’s something we can work together on, particularly with the civic quarter being on their doorstep.

    Because Stretford High School is so popular, it means the catchment is relatively small. It has a huge proportion of it’s pupils travelling less than a mile. Yet so many of those kids are driven into school. Lindsay pointed out the irony of encouraging a daily mile once they’re in school when the journey into school could be made part of the day. That said, there are reasons why families prefer to drive their kids to school and mostly it’s not the school, so we have to bring other agencies (highways, police, mosques etc) into it. But it seems such an appropriate time to be doing this; and it should be a measure of the success of the civic quarter that more Stretford High School pupils are walking and cycling to school.

    I genuinely believe we can be transformational.

  • County Matters

    County Matters

    Cycled over to Ashton on Mersey for a spot of canvassing in one of our targeted wards. Getting to know Ashton on Mersey a bit better these days. I have a long relationship with the town without regularly visiting it. As a kid I looked out over a playing field at the side of the then ‘new’ motorway. Beyond that was the River Mersey and beyond that, Ashton. There was no bridge, so Ashton was very much out of reach in those days.

    Ashton lay on the Cheshire bank of the Mersey. The River Mersey has long been a border river, once the border between Mercia and Northumbria and for a millenium the border of Cheshire. I’ve always been proud to be a Lancastrian and whilst we were cycling on different routes to Cheshire places like Lymm and Manchester Airport as quite young kids, I’ve never lost that attachment to Ashton as the border town that you could see but couldn’t get to.

    I’m quite proud to be a ‘Manc’ as well as Lancastrian and the two identities have never been odds with each other. The fact that Lancashire County Cricket Club is head-quartered in our patch of M32, only has meaning in the context of that Lancastrian identity and I think it’s something to keep hold of. Political administrative boundaries come and go, wards are redrawn, combined authorities created and abandoned, even northern powerhouses. But there seems something reassuringly permanent about the old counties even if they have no governance function. It’s probably the solidity of the geographical boundaries that reinforces but it also feels that there’s something important to our identity that is often missed or even dismissed.

    I celebrate the fact that people self identify with the historic counties in their addresses whether it be Bolton, Lancs or Sale, Cheshire. I would love to see more more county boundary signs nationally but particularly within Trafford. Some of this is irrational, some might say absurd, but our multiple identities matter and have value, let’s keep those county lines.

    British Counties Campaign website


  • Media Praise for Altrincham (and mine for Partington)

    You may have seen media praise for Altrincham’s regeneration recently, such as this article in the online local government journal Local Gov. It’s a worthwhile read. In many ways the Partington transformation has been even more impressive despite its much smaller size.

    Altrincham has benefited from a focus on the assets within the town centre and recognition as to the extent of its catchment. Similarly Partington town centre now has an impressive 100% occupancy rate. These two Trafford towns may be polar opposites in affluence but there are similarities in how their town centres function.

    The article praises Altrincham’s introduction of narrower carriageways and more street crossings to slow traffic. A thing I love about Partington’s centre is that despite generous car parking, it feels that it’s just as accessible on foot or by bike. Given it’s in the middle of a residential area, that makes perfect business sense. Altrincham needs people to come in via public transport and on foot to sustain its thriving evening leisure economy. As a consequence, I never feel that it’s unexpected to travel in on modes other than the car to shop in these centres. There’s street furniture and connecting pathways/bikeways to avoid the traffic. And whilst it may be that most of the custom to these two towns is reliant on the car, my mental image of them is of people in the street talking to each other.

    That last point is important. It’s not just about the variety of retail, you’ve got to get the customer into town in the first place. I suspect that we’re psychologically conditioned to expect to see certain things as we enter a town centre and by quite a young age we know when we’re in a town centre, even if we’ve never been there before. The characteristics we’re so clued into probably include shop fronts and people, movement and bustle.

    I am convinced we want to see shop-fronts and people on foot even if we come in by car. It’s psychological confirmation that it’s a town centre we’re in.

  • Mad as Hell

    Mad as Hell

    Becoming Howard Beale

    I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad.

    So, I want you to get up now.

    I want all of you to get up out of your chairs.

    I want you to get up right now and go to the window.

    Open it, and stick your head out, and yell:

    I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

    Howard Beale; a character played by Peter Finch in the movie Network

    The Vision 2031 thing!

    What is this thing called Vision 2031? When did it become a thing? Why is it cited in every council report? Who is the author of 2031? Where is the 2031 documentation? It isn’t real so stop citing it!

    Consultation

    It takes a special sort of talent to attend a consultation event and suggest that people ought to be grateful. You don’t want views, you want to tick a box.

    Amey

    You can’t even report an overflowing litter bin to them. It takes talent to come up with this crappy contract.

    I’m getting to the point where I’m opening that window and yelling at the top of my voice “I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

    Featured image: Chatgpt

  • Stretford Masterplan Refresh

    Stretford Masterplan Refresh

    The refreshed Stretford Masterplan has been published. Essentially, it’s still capitalising on the anticipated influx of students arising from UA92 and the provision of living accommodation and student facilities in Stretford Town Centre. However, the amount of living accommodation on the Lacy Street site is significantly reduced alongside reduced ambition on the canalside.

    Aims of Masterplan

    The delivery of the UA92 proposed development will form the centrepiece of the refreshed Masterplan to transform Stretford, bring significant additional activity and expenditure to the Town Centre, support the evening economy, provide additional direct and indirect job opportunities, bring vacant buildings back into use, accelerate the delivery of other sites and act as catalyst for further investment.

    Essoldo


    The Masterplan imagines opportunities to bring The Essoldo back into use. Since I’m struggling to remember any previous declaration of positive intent towards the Essoldo prior to the first draft, this aspect still has to be welcomed.

    The interdependence with new student/residential development on Lacy Street is still apparent and if that residential component is reduced (which seems to the way we’re heading), getting the Essoldo back in use might be more difficult.

    The former Essoldo building itself would provide opportunities for the provision of student amenities and other uses accessible to the whole community, including the potential for a relocated and significantly enhanced library facility.

    A new pedestrian link would be provided through to the canal opening up access to this important asset.

    Edge Lane

    There’s less mention of Edge Lane than in the first draft. It’s still in the plan and the key task remains:

    Securing the reuse of the Essoldo building and vacant units along Edge Lane

    Lacy Street

    This has always been where the Masterplan gets contentious. At one point there was a proposal that the University itself would be developed here before the Kellogg site came into play.

    I was never convinced that having a university in the centre itself had as much regenerative potential as suggested by a certain local councillor colleague.

    Then we had the proposal below from the first draft that many considered overdevelopment.


    There are definitely question marks as to the financing of this scheme and the viability of the council’s development partners. I don’t think it’s entirely down to a public backlash that the scheme is reduced.

    The revised masterplan abandons the ambition for dense accommodation here and says of Lacy Street;

    The Council will undertake further masterplanning work to develop more detailed development proposals for the site in early 2018. This will comprise a significantly lower and less dense scheme than that considered during the public consultation and will incorporate the provision of affordable/key worker housing, alongside some student accommodation and retail/food and drink uses at the ground floor level.

    So, all we can say is reduced density and perhaps this area is less of a focus of in the rejuvenated Stretford.

    The Mall

    Development at this site should be outward facing and make best used of the opportunities to improve the public realm around the Mall and support the delivery of a wider mix of town centre uses. In the longer term, subject to private investment, there are opportunities to ‘open up’ or redevelop other areas of the Mall, such as King Street or Arndale House

    The Mall is clearly continuing to be a problem.

    Leisure Facilities

    I did feed back in the consultation that I felt the town centre could sustain a sports/leisure centre in addition to the one going in at the UA92 campus. I still believe that.

    Similarly, Stretford and Old Trafford’s medical provision is in need of renewal. We haven’t replaced Bennett Street and I think there are opportunities to create something exciting combining both health and fitness in one location in Stretford.

    All-Weather pitches are still proposed on Turn Moss and I’m broadly in favour, although I hear the outcry.

    My Verdict

    Lacy Street needed to be tall (5-12 storeys). It needed to be dense.

    Many will welcome the reduced residential density of Lacy Street. I regret the reduction. My sense is that dedicated student accommodation probably was overprovided for, but that doesn’t mean tall residential isn’t the right choice here. The transport links are very good. It’s exactly the right place to build up density.
    Without that density, I worry about the ambitions for the Essoldo, regeneration of Edge Lane and the retail/leisure element within Lacy Street.

    Canalside

    I am also very disappointed with the specific Stretford Masterplan proposals for the canalside. I feel that in sacrificing the opportunity to develop the canalside into an attractive recreational setting, we’re undermining the economic stimulus provided by any influx of students.

    Stretford has excellent transport connections to Manchester and elsewhere. It has hundreds of passengers alighting at the Stretford Metrolink stop everyday, emerging onto the bridge over the canal. Having a picturesque canal is usually by default an economic blessing in any regeneration. Think of Camden Lock, think of Birmingham, even Sale. Stretford’s residents have been telling us what they value in the village centre. I felt we were on the cusp of something really worthwhile.

    The canalside has always been cited as a focal point of Stretford’s revival. It would be great to see that dream be realised. It’s a generational opportunity.

    This does not preclude student accommodation in Stretford, nor indeed on Lacy Street. Getting right a cafe/restaurant/village shopping quarter on the canalside, at ground level, makes adding the student accommodation to enhance the scheme so much easier rather than the other way round; and creates a symbiosis between the two. It’s our one chance to give purpose to the Essoldo and I think we’re bottling it.


  • UA92 Consultation 2nd November 2017

    UA92 Consultation 2nd November 2017

    My recollections of the discussions on one table about the Stretford Masterplan at Stretford public hall tonight.

    Our first topic on the table was active leisure.

    Worries over access for dog walking on turn moss. Flooding too and car parking.
    Access to pools and facilities at the new sports centre, competing with students.

    Overall disappointed that active life was not embedded into the masterplan. We’ve got the new sports centre and Turn Moss is getting new drainage; but there’s potential to build activity into every theme. There’s room for a new cycling & walking route alongside the metrolink where the old siding used to be between Stretford and the university site – where’s the imagination?

    Outdoor gyms in our parks? – why not be ambitious and give us back a town centre swimming pool in the student village?

    We could be much cleverer over the active offer.

    Next issue was the Essoldo.

    Some really good suggestions from the residents, for example rebalancing the closure of the Cornerhouse in Manchester with the Essoldo taking on a similar cultural role. Lots of worries and defensiveness against it being a Students Union. The council is not trusted. They are not believed when officers say it’s a genuine consultation and they don’t have a definite operation lined up for it. I do actually believe them over this particular issue, but I find it hard to blame residents for the mistrust.

    A56 corridor next

    …negative comparisons with Salford’s Chapel Street and Crescent where the city council has created a genuine public realm and brought the traffic speed down to a more civilised 20mph and effective safe crossing points throughout. Salford managed to avoid the Edge Lane public realm disaster by being a genuine attempt to create a living space for people and being less in thrall to the car driver.

    Less discussion about the green spaces on the A56 particularly around St Ann’s church because we were so unanimously opposed to losing either the spaces or the mature trees there.

    Finally the Lacy Street Students village.

    A lot of support for smaller scale and dissipation of student accommodation on other sites – B&Q as well as Itron. I was in a minority on this particular issue. I genuinely believe it has to be of scale in Stretford if it’s to deliver a sufficient boost to Stretford to provide any of the retail or indeed the night time offer we’ve been craving. Personally I don’t think we’re demanding enough in terms of design or facilities – I genuinely believe we should be asking the earth in terms of facilities in the town centre itself and that a swimming pool is not unreasonable. Altrincham will have one and anyway if you don’t ask, you don’t get. We should be asking for a lot more.

    I think my table judged the benefits of the large student campus as vague and uncertain and would rather not take the risk at that scale. I also don’t think we were yet convinced that the university would be successful as described when other universities were contracting. If that view is right, and it certainly has to be a possibility, then what is the contingency? None of the plans so far for the student accommodation show any sign of architectural merit and converting them to residential living is not easy. Just because it’s student accommodation should not mean it’s an ugly design. My instinct is that Trafford is not sufficiently demanding when it comes to attractive street design. Gary Neville in my view really commissioned an excellent design for Hotel Football, given the unpromising plot of land that it was built on. I want him to maintain that level of design in everything associated with this project and we need to see an improvement on what we’ve been shown so far.

    This are not official minutes but a personal impression of the discussions that went on my table.