Commuter Car Park 2011
The story as it develops:
Residents identified Hulme Street, where it is part of the Redbricks, as a priority area for change in 2010/11. This came out of planning events supported by the Green Zone project. Here are images of the options and designs that were discussed.
A public ‘funding bid writing’ Skills Share session (also supported by the Green Zone) produced a funding application which was submitted to the Community Spaces fund in January 2011. This application was based on residents’ preferences for the options and designs (above); it only included the existing green spaces on Hulme Street.
The main ideas in the application are
- increasing biodiversity by planting vegetation that encourages insects and other wildlife,
- planting fruiting bushes and trees and other edible shrubs on artistic and unconventional espaliers,
- creating and installing public art objects,
- designing and installing natural play and exercise objects,
- all work should involve residents at all stages from design to installation as far as possible.
The application was successful at Stage 1. First hurdle taken! This meant that the money was put aside for the Redbricks. All that residents have to do now (together with City South and all other partners, see below) is to work very hard to get the Stage 2 application into good shape by the end of 2011 (exact date under negotiation with Community Spaces as per August 2011). To achieve the successful submission, Community Spaces provide the support of an experienced and enthusiastic facilitator, Dave Hammond, who helps us through this (asphalt) jungle.
Residents and City South Manchester started dreaming together in ‘concrete’ terms about transforming the whole street into a car-free linear park. Highways and Manchester City Council were approached. As of August 2011, these negotiations are still ongoing. BCA Landscape architects have been brought on board to do research (for example what’s under the tarmac?), consultations, negotiations, designs and a whole lot more.
Hulme Street has been in the Manchester Evening News on 23 September 2011; the story already got 177 comments two days later.
City South Manchester have approved the proposal by BCA Landscape in October 2011. After consultation with representatives from Manchester City Council and Highways the proposal had to be amended and was submitted to the Planning department on 2 December 2011 under reference number 098005/FO/2011/S1. The application and all related documentation can be viewed here. A decision is expected for early February 2012.
Planning permission has been granted for HulmeSt Option 5A. This came just in time to submit the Stage 2 application for the Community Spaces funding. This has been successfull! Work is due to start in July 2012.
This is where the story is up to now. Watch out for the next chapter and please get involved if you are not yet. Come to the meetings, subscribe to the Greening the Redbricks discussion forum or let TARA (contact details on the right) know that you would like to take on a job.
