Chris: ‘Try before you buy’

of these interventions on the roads until the maps were released.” He added “It just feels like it’s one big experiment.” Organisers behind the project say it was always the intention for consultations to take place over the course of a six-month trial, which was due to begin next month. “The comments we receive over the next few months will influence the proposals,” Levenshulme Cllr Basat Sheikh said. “No permanent changes to road layouts or physical changes such as permanent bollards, planters, barriers or cameras will be installed until after this final design has been agreed.”

One concern in the area is that the scheme would not succeed in reducing traffic, but will simply push it on to deprived streets. “Routing traffic through the above areas is at the detriment of the health, welfare and wellbeing of residents who already live in an area of deprivation,” one resident posted on the Levenshulme Bee Network website. “Do our children not matter as much as children in the filtered zones?,” another resident asked. Some feel enough wasn’t done in the original consultation to ensure all residents were given an opportunity to share their thoughts. “Levenshulme has a large elderly population and also a large nonEnglish speaking population,” resident Jacob F Briars, who runs a walking group in the area, said.

“They didn’t post leaflets asking for opinions across all of Levenshulme, the majority of it was done online and only available in English.

“In my eyes, that is outright discrimination.”

One resident, Heather, who didn’t provide her surname, has been speaking to residents in Levenshulme and Burnage since the maps were released and said there’s been an overwhelming sense of confusion.

“Some businesses also believe plans haven’t properly considered how closing certain streets off will impact them.”

Resident Sarah Perry thinks existing infrastructure should be improved before there is a focus on a new street system. “They could

CHRIS Boardman, Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester, said the plans were part of making the city ‘healthier and greener’ for everyone.

“Giving people a safe and attractive place that makes them feel able to walk and cycle to shops and schools is a huge part of realising that vision,” he said.

“Nowhere are these changes

really clean up the Loop,” she added.

“Levenshulme really needs this money, but it could be used to make the Loop nice and safe for cyclists and people walking using the infrastructure that’s already there.”

However, some residents have been keen to share their enthusasism for the project.

“This is a step in the right direction” one resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

“It’s a bold move and there will be some people who are going to be upset about such dramatic changes to their daily routines but this is a great opportunity to turn things around and lead by example.”

Posting on the Bee Network website, another resident said: “Being able to cycle and walk as a matter of normality will vastly improve my life and the lives of those on my street.”

It just feels like it’s one big experiment Jeremy Hoad, chairman of Levenshulme Community Association

more needed than where people live, which is why I’ve been delighted to see the Levenshulme project develop, a countryleading program contributed to by hundreds of people, from all parts of the community. True to the community-led approach, the pioneering plan is to ‘try before you buy’ and install the plan with temporary measures.”