Dear xxx,
Following the recommendations of the Neighbourhoods and Environment Scrutiny Committee on the Great Ancoats Street scheme.
The scheme has been designed to deliver enhanced crossings for people travelling on foot or by bike, to allow them to cross this major road more safely and travel more easily between the city centre and the flourishing Ancoats area. The aim of the scheme is to improve the physical environment of Great Ancoats Street, one of the main arterial routes around the city and part of the Manchester Inner Relief route whose purpose is to keep traffic moving around the city rather than encouraging motorised traffic in the city centre. This extremely busy road is often perceived as a harsh barrier between the city centre and the Ancoats neighbourhood. When the work is finished there will be a safer, more accessible link between the city centre and the Ancoats neighbourhood and the physical environment of the road will be improved.
Consultation for this scheme included both local residents and businesses as well as with our stakeholders:
- TfGM
- Ward Members
- Cycle Reference Group
The consultation was public and so open for anyone interested to share their views. Each person that provided feedback to the consultation has been individually contacted with bespoke responses. Further, the scheme is not on the GM bee lines network and during the recent city wide consultation about the network very few people responded asking for this road to be included.
The technical advice from professionally qualified engineers is that it is not possible to include safe cycle routes along with the other pedestrian and environmental improvements. These pedestrian benefits include new and improved crossings, some of which are shared with cyclists, plus tree planting and de-cluttering of footways. As well as delivering a significantly enhanced experience for pedestrians, this scheme maintains capacity for traffic on Great Ancoats Street and will avoid congestion at either end of the scheme and smaller, unsuitable surrounding roads being used as ‘rat-runs’ by cars, which would lead to reduced air quality and more risk of collisions across Ancoats and the Northern Quarter.
Working with the GM Mayor’s Challenge fund, I am planning to bring forward plans for a Piccadilly-Victoria cycle and walking route. This will run parallel to Great Ancoats Street to the south and will improve travel by foot or bike in the area. This £11.6m scheme will provide the safe cycle routes at the heart of the Northern Quarter. Consultation for this cycleway and more details about the plans will be available by the end of the year.
Plans will also be brought forward for the Northern & Eastern Gateway which will run parallel to the Great Ancoats Street to the North, to improve travel by foot or bike in the area. This £4.1m scheme will connect the neighbourhoods of Ancoats, New Islington, New Cross, New Town, Redbank and the Green Quarter by creating a high-quality, continuous east-west walking and cycling route.
Over the summer there will continue to be communications and engagement in the area for residents and businesses to make sure they have the latest information about the Great Ancoats scheme.
A further consultation, when we do not have the option to change the scheme would undermine future consultations. Therefore, we will not be taking the recommendation forward.
Kind Regards.
Councillor Angeliki Stogia
Executive Member for Environment, Planning & Transport
and Labour and Co-operative Councillor for Whalley Range
Executive Members’ Office, Manchester City Council, Level 4, Town Hall Extension, Manchester, M60 2LA (Sat Nav Postcode M2 5DB)
Phone: 0161 234 3310 (Internal 801 33310) Mobile: 07901 528 750 Fax: 0161 274 7001
Email: cllr.a.stogia@manchester.gov.uk
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