Brownfield sites wasted

I NEVER thought I would agree with Coun Pat Karney (Battle in Town Hall to Shape the Future of Manchester, M.E.N., September 21) but he does seem to be right with his comment about the council leadership being inept.

The council is to build thousands of houses on open grassland in Collyhurst.

In a M.E.N. article of 2016 there were 11,000 vacant/empty properties in Greater Manchester.

Over the years, hundreds of terraced houses have been demolished with communities being torn apart and now we have a housing shortage (apparently).

These properties should have been refurbished and brought back into use. Instead, they were demolished, leading to many areas becoming neglected and derelict.

Driving along Oldham Road through Miles Platting towards Manchester is one section which has lain derelict, unsightly and an absolute disgrace for many years, with what was once The Empress picture house now consisting of only external walls with boarding round the base, surrounded by several overgrown derelict areas of land.

What must visitors and tourists think when using this major route into/out of Manchester?

We’ve all seen photos of the aftermath of World War Two showing extensive bomb damage to buildings, and that section of Oldham Road could easily be used as a film backdrop for a new war film.

What makes it even worse is that the latest Lord Mayor of Manchester is one of the councillors for Miles Platting.

It is time council officers took a trip round every street in Manchester and noted areas of dereliction/brownfield sites which could be utilised before the council does what it’s good at and destroys yet another piece of open grassland (they will anyway despite ‘consultations’). They should also consult with their Council Tax department and see which properties they haven’t received Council Tax payments for and investigate and either force owners to bring properties back into use or issue Improvement Notices to at least tidy them up. Observer, Moston