Wall is not to blame for state of Gardens
I HAD heard about the concerns regarding the concrete wall part of the Piccadilly Gardens and potential change.
I think that the neglect of maintenance has much to answer for. The slate paving blocks are a hazard to pedestrians, the other loose paving slabs also, the abandoned part of the fountain and the failure to clean the concrete walls.
For a city centre garden park this is a disgrace and can be seen as a lack of pride by councillors in a tourist attraction.
The cuts Manchester has suffered over 10 years of austerity and the loss of £30bn of funding – owing to all the political policies of the Tory governments – are the cause of many environmental problems.
These problems include street sleepers and drug addicts who may be homeless trying to soften the agony and pain they suffer.
What evidence have the councillors got that Manchester citizens hate the wall? Is there a petition of thousands of signatures demanding that the gardens are redesigned?
Tadao Ando is a world famous architect who, amongst many other awards, has received the Gold medal of the Royal institute of British Architects and the international Pritzker Prize for his work.
Let us not blame the work of this great designer for the problems created by our Tory governments.
I admire the council for accepting the Tadao Ando design in the first place – it was the right decision.
Modifications have had to be made in the light of the usage in a northern city with its pretty grim weather and these have tweaked the design where necessary and beneficially.
The worn grass is a sign of great usage and popularity of the garden. Why not use artificial turf instead?
The fountain is a marvellous seasonal attraction, let us enhance it. Let us maintain the pavings and the plants, clean the wall and green it with tumbling plants and enhanced lighting that already exists in the paving below the wall.
Demolition and blaming the politically-created problems of the area is acknowledging that the Tories have destroyed our northern grit. It is said that the gardens cost £10m to produce years ago and that a new design and total replacement will cost a further £10m.
Let’s be positive, we have a great city centre and Piccadilly Gardens we must show that the Tories won’t beat us.
Frank Williams – former city council architect and town planner
Council must ditch coal
TAMESIDE’S leader, Brenda Warrington, wants it both ways (M.E.N., March 3).
She has belatedly joined the other nine Greater Manchester councils in declaring a climate emergency. Yet she still defends the Tameside-managed GM Pension Fund for its enormous investments (around £1.4bn in direct holdings) in the fossil fuel industry.
She is right to mention the fund’s investments in renewable energy but if we only increase the amount of renewable energy without clamping down on the exploitation of climate damaging coal, oil and gas reserves, then greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise, fuelling the climate emergency.
Coun Warrington claims that the fund is influencing the fossil fuel industry but we have seen no evidence that this tactic of ‘engagement’ has prevented a single tonne of CO2 pollution.
Fossil Free Greater Manchester has suggested an easy way for the fund to show it is taking the climate emergency seriously: ditch the coal!
It currently holds nearly half-a-billion of investments in coal mining companies. Yet, coal is the dirtiest, most dangerous fossil fuel and the single-biggest contributor to the climate emergency.
Taking funds out of the coal industry is the most important move that financial institutions can make to limit the destruction of our climate. The scientific consensus tells us that to keep global heating within 1.5°C we must decrease the use of coal for energy generation by 78 per cent by 2030. This means divesting from the coal industry now.
Let’s see Tameside council show that its climate emergency declaration is serious by following scores of other investors in ditching the coal in 2020.
Mark Burton, Member of Fossil Free Greater Manchester
PM is not fit for purpose
BORIS Johnson is notorious for being lazy and self-centred – which is why he has delegated so much power to Dominic Cummings. Johnson’s briefings from civil servants must now be four pages long, preferably two, because of his indolence.
Margaret Thatcher devoured detailed paperwork. Johnson’s laziness is revealed in national crises like the massive floods and the global coronavirus epidemic.
Now information on the locations of new virus cases is to be rationed. More confusion and control freakery by Cummings, while Johnson twiddles his thumbs?
The inexperience in government of Johnson and his leading ministers is very troubling. The Prime Minister’s problematic Foreign Office stint was his only government post. A Prime Minister who can’t be bothered to read key paperwork and cowers from media scrutiny is not fit for purpose!
Now he is faced with numerous allegations of bullying and the threat of a unprecedented and protracted court case for constructive dismissal.
This will drag on for months unless Johnson takes swift, decisive action.
Johnson’s former boss and editor at the Daily Telegraph, Max Hastings, wrote in his opinion: ‘The Premiership will lay bare his absolute unfitness for it.’
Pete Milory, via email