ARENA WARS
CITY CENTRE BUSINESS BOSSES UNITE AGAINST PLAN FOR NEW VENUE
MANCHESTER Arena and a collection of city centre businesses have spoken out against plans for a huge new indoor concert venue in the city.
Plans for the 23,500-capacity arena next to City’s Etihad Stadium have been submitted to Manchester council and are available for public viewing, but no date for when the application will go before the town hall’s planning committee has been set.
Applicants OVG Manchester Ltd, linked to American sports and entertainment company Oak View Group, say analysis forming part of its proposal shows the city can sustain two enormous venues.
The firm says a new arena, with ‘world-leading technology,’ would help to ‘grow the overall entertainment market within Manchester and attract a wider range of larger and more impressive live events to the city.’
But Manchester Arena, which has revealed its own major redevelopment proposals, and a number of Manchester entertainment, retail, hotel, property and hospitality businesses disagree.
They say they are concerned over the £350m project’s ultimate impact on city centre trade of all types.
The group includes ASM Global, operators of Manchester Arena; Manchester Arndale; Aviva Investors; DTZ Investors, on behalf of The Printworks and King Street; Living Ventures, owners of Australasia and Grand Pacific; the Manchester Hospitality Network and Prestbury Investments.
They said initial plans emphasised the proposed new venue would ‘benefit’ leisure offerings in the city centre.
The group said the planning application includes proposals for a 181,000-plus square foot ‘food, beverage and retail space.’ They said independent analysis from consultants has found ‘significant flaws in the evidence supporting the planning application.’
“It raises legitimate concerns around the impact a second major venue – for which there is no market need – would have on Manchester Arena, its redevelopment and the
Living Ventures boss Jeremy Roberts vibrancy of the city centre economy,” they said in a statement.
The Arena and others cited independent research conducted last year, which claimed two 20,000-plus capacity arenas in Manchester ‘are not sustainable’ and could ‘drive events and footfall to an out-of-town location, with a negative impact to the city centre economy.’
The group also said its analysis showed OVG’s projections for event attendance ‘are completely at odds with historic projections’. The privatelyfunded facility would become the biggest in Britain. “In fact, the event attendance levels needed to sustain two major arenas in Manchester are even higher than the proposal’s projections,” added the statement. Concerns have also been raised over city centre air quality and the transport network.
ASM Global, operators of Manchester Arena, said: “We firmly believe that this planning application presents a very real threat to not only our venue and transformative redevelopment plans, but to our neighbouring hotels, bars, restaurants and stores, at what is an already fragile time. This application relies on evidence that fails to consider the full picture in Manchester, and during these times it is essential that any major changes to the city are in the best interests for its people and businesses.
“It is also counter to planning policy in the Manchester Core Strategy and the National Planning Policy Framework, which aims to protect city centres and towns from major out-oftown developments. Independent analysis clearly demonstrates there is no demand for a second major venue in Manchester.”
In a statement on behalf of Living Ventures, co-founder Jeremy Roberts said: “Support for the city centre has never been more important as we recover from Covid-19, and Manchester city council need to support the considerable investment which has already been made to the city centre brand and identity, not just for current investors but also for future investor confidence in the city’s hospitality and leisure entertainment sector.”
Support for the city centre has never been more important Jeremy Roberts of Living Ventures