Buildings ‘left to wolves’
the city council first renamed this part of the city the Northern Quarter, our aim was to support independent businesses and building owners and allow the area to develop organically,” he says.
“The vast majority of the area remains independently-owned and independently-run, which means the character of the Northern Quarter is retained.
“However, that does not mean we haven’t had to fight for that independent spirit to continue - and there has been many examples of the council stepping in to ensure buildings are protected, including enforcing building owners to develop key sites.”
That includes, he points out, actively encouraging developers to seek independent firms as tenants.
He insists that as a conservation area, alterations are looked at ‘keenly’ by planners to ensure ‘the right balance is struck, in terms of preserving the fabric of the area and allowing appropriate new development to come forward.’
Nevertheless some of those in his own council are not convinced.
The latest chapter in the Northern Quarter debate unfolded at Thursday’s planning meeting, when the committee declared itself ‘minded to refuse’ an application for an aparthotel on land running along Back Turner Street from Shudehill to High Street - despite repeated insistence from its officers that this was an appropriate scheme.
Key objections related to its height at the Shudehill end, on land that has subsequently turned out to be owned by the council itself. It remains unclear how much the town hall is - or was - intending to lease the site for if it gets planning permission.
The row has become more than just a hotel application, however, turning into the latest proxy for concerns about the development of the Northern Quarter more generally, including the power of developers.
One neighbour, Ben Reed, furiously dubbed it ‘the end of the Northern Quarter as it has come to be’ at planning, while city centre spokesman Pat Karney has warned that ‘these developers do not own Manchester.’
Nevertheless the scheme’s architect 5plus - which has also designed the apartments due for 42-46 Thomas Street - points out cities ‘do not stand still.’ And the Northern Quarter is too large and varied to have one uniform character, argues director Phil Doyle.
“Cities are organic things that expand, contract and evolve,” he says.
“Every site is, also, different and comes with its own distinct context, issues and opportunities.
“We can all relate to the Northern Quarter in terms of its attributes, but to take the Northern Quarter as a whole as an overriding character doesn’t make sense.”
The area also needs to be seen through a longer lens than the last few years, he believes.
“Its quirkiness in many locations is loved, but in certain instances it’s still the broken place it was 40 years ago after the big shops left Oldham Street for the Arndale and the rag trade was on its knees.
“So Newton Street is different to Dale Street, Piccadilly Basin is different to Oldham Street and High Street/Shudehill is completely different to Thomas Street.”
That is unlikely to satisfy those councillors who have taken a stand against the application, possibly - to the less charitable observer - with one eye on the upcoming all-out local elections. Many residents on the sharp end of city centre planning disputes in recent years may also wonder why their own objections to height or daylight loss did not see the committee take on officers in similar fashion.
But if nothing else, the dispute reflects rising concerns about the human and social effects of development in the city centre generally and Northern Quarter in particular, including a perceived ‘light touch’ approach to those with the cash.
City centre councillor Beth Knowles, who is standing down in May to concentrate on her housing and homelessness role for Andy Burnham, feels the town hall could do far more to stop property speculation taking over.
Despite Sir Richard Leese’s assertions, she questions why the Northern Quarter is even in a conservation area if the council is going to allow chunks of it to fall down ahead of demolition. In the absence of a building having a listed status, the council should make an effort to bestow its own protections, she suggests.
“There is currently little evidence of active conservation of any heritage in the Northern Quarter conservation area,” she argues.
“Heritage is not just buildings, but evidence of our proud history and the residents that have lived in them.
“I would like to see efforts made to draw up a register of buildings of worth in heritage capital, not just listed bricks and mortar - buildings which we would be poorer for losing as a city.”
Two decades after council bosses were first re-branding the Northern Quarter in a bid to attract investment, they have arguably become victims of their own success.
Perhaps, argues a growing chorus of voices, their focus now needs to shift a little from development to preservation.
Not to preserve it in aspic, but to stop its fabric disintegrating, suggests Coun Knowles - including by working with private developers, a skill for which the council is famed.
“I understand buildings have to be demolished if they are a health and safety risk, or cannot be renovated if they have fallen into disrepair,” she says.
“But the point is: we need to save them before they enter that state.
“We only have these next few years to do so in the Northern Quarter.”