Too high a price to pay for a giant tower block
AS chairman of Manchester Civic Society, I am taking action to challenge the highly controversial decision to allow a 40 storey tower planned for the city’s historic heart (St Michael’s Development).
The plans, approved by Manchester City Council, will see this massive development dominate our internationally-acclaimed Town Hall and Albert Memorial in Albert Square.
The applicant’s own planning application acknowledges the extreme sensitivity of the site. It sits inside a Conservation Area and is within 250m of 8 other Conservation Areas and 72 listed buildings.
Both the Town Hall and the Albert Memorial have Grade I listing.
Many nearby buildings, also closely affected, are also recognised as within the top 10pc of Britain’s best. And the lovely little 1830 Friends’ Meeting House, two storeys high, will be totally dwarfed by this 40 storey tower.
The key national societies which have to be consulted on a scheme such as this are unanimous in their opposition to it. The Victorian Society and the Twentieth Century Society both consider that this development oversteps the mark – it just should not be permitted.
So does SAVE Britain’s Heritage, which has spent 40 years securing the future of historical gems. Historic England has deemed the proposals unacceptable.
We in Manchester Civic Society have also been forthright in stating that this development is totally inappropriate for this site. We are not against tall buildings, but this sensitive area is not the right place for one as tall as this.
It is only partially correct to claim that two of the three buildings on site are ‘saved.’ The Sir Ralph Abercromby will lose its garden; just the white frontage of Bootle Street Police Station is kept.
We had hoped that central government would exercise its right, some would say responsibility, to ‘call in’ the planning approval for review. They did not.
I believe that Mancunians cannot stand by and let this scheme go ahead. Thousands objected at Change.org and huge numbers wrote to the City Council objecting to the planning application.
There is a case for one further review of this controversial decision. To do this, I am seeking pledges of funds for a legal opinion on whether the decision to grant planning permission by the Council was reached lawfully, and if possible to bring a challenge.
We are using CrowdJustice to crowdfund £6,000. We are two thirds of the way there, but time is short. We need to raise the rest by July 30. We are appealing for further support. The money will allow us to engage one of the best heritage solicitors in the country to look closely at the case and see if we have grounds for a legal challenge.
We hope that all who care for our grand historic city centre will help us fight back against these damaging and irreversible plans. Steve Speakman, chairman Manchester Civic Society