pmrnchester City Centre Map , d r r

Manchester City Centre Map (1967)

This report has been digitised by Joe Blakey and

Martin Dodge from the Department of Geography,

University of Manchester. The digitisation was

supported by the Manchester Statistical Society’s

Campion Fund.

Permission to digitise and release the report under

Creative Commons license was kindly granted by

Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives,

Manchester City Council.

(Email: archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-

NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. 20 July 2013.

City and County Borough of Manchester

City Centre Map 1967

J S Millar B Arch M-TPI ARIBA City Planning Officer Town Hall Manchester 2 061-CEN 3377

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

1.Historical and Regional Context 5

2.City Centre Uses 13

3.Circulation and Communications 27

4.Environmental Standards and Objectives 39

5.Comprehensive Planning Proposals 55

6. Implementation 73

7.Summary 81

Appendices

Maps

Acknowledgements

Foreword 1 , The City Cen t re Map, b r ~ n g ~ n g together Inany s e p a r a t e hut ~ n t e r - r e l a t e d policies and p roposa l s , is to f o r m the b a s ~ s for f u r t h e r consultations with those interested In the plannlng of the Cen t ra l A r e a of Manches te r .

2 . The principal contents of th is r epor t have a l ready been the subject of consultation over a long period with the va r ious Chief Officers and Depar tments of the Corporat ion, wit11 the City Engineer of Salford, and with a wide range of organisations, including the C h a m b e r s of T r a d e and Comrnerce . Valuable advice and a s s i s t a n c e h a s a l s o been given by the regional r ep resen ta t ives of the Mill istr ies concerned with land use and t ranspor ta t ion p rob lems ,

3 . If t h e r e i s one c e n t r a l theme running through these proposals it i s the importance and value of civil ised ci ty life and the need f o r c a r e and at tention t o be paid to the quality of environment . The fundamental relat ionship between t ranspor ta t ion and land use planning h a s meant that the c loses t collaboration h a s beennecessa ry a t e v e r y s t age between the Depar tments of the City Engineer and the City Planning Off icer . The co-operat ion and a s s i s t a n c e given by o the r Chief Off icers and Corporat ion Departments, par t icular ly the City Archi tec t and the City E s t a t e s Officer i s gratefully acknowledged.

4 . Finally, it i s encouraging that s o many intending developers and t h e i r profess ional a d v i s e r s recognise the need f o r a comprehensive approach and the wisdom of taking a longer t e r m view of both the i r own and the C i t y ' s i n t e r e s t s . It i s s o much s i m p l e r and speed ie r to submit and deal with p ro jec t s on a p iecemeal bas i s and the patience generally shown in the infinitely m o r e difficult and c o n ~ p l e x t a s k of r e l a t ing development proposals t o wider planning considera t ions i s apprec ia ted . Only by a combination of effort , with public and pr ivate i n t e r e s t s working together a s a t e a m , c a n the objectives s e t out in th is r e p o r t be r e a l i s e d .

( lef t ) City centre looking south east

lntroduct ion 1. The context o r point of departure in considerin) these draft proposals for the Central Area i s the City Development Plan which was submitted to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in 195 1, and approved in 1961. As modified by the Minister, the Plan showed the Central Area by a general notation for principal business and shopping uses t o s e rve the town a s a whole with the exception of an a r e a situated broadly between the Town Hall and the Courts of Justice which was shown for 'general civic, cultural o r other special uses ' . (see Map No. 3) .

2 . The Minister expected that in due course more comprehensive and detailed proposals for the City Centre would be prepared, af ter there had been opportunity t o c a r r y out fur ther study and r e sea rch . These views anticipated to some extent the advice contained in the Bulletin 'Town Centres , Approach to Renewal', which was published jointly in 1962, by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the Ministry of Transpor t . This recommended that a non-statutory 'Town Centre Map' should be prepared by Planning Authorities, incorporating more detailed proposals for central a r e a s than the Development Plan technique had made possible.

3 . The Town Centre Map would be accompanied by a more detailed written explanation sett ing out the major planning objectives in the Central Area and the proposals would f i r s t be presented in draft form, t o encourage comments and maximum participation by interested bodies and the general public. After full consideration had been given and any amendments made to the draf t proposals, it would then be open to the Authority toadopt the Town Centre Map by resolution. The Minister would then be able t o consider any mat te rs , fo r example, comprehensive development a r e a proposals, which came to him for decision, in the context of the overall proposals for the cen t r e .

4 . The Town Centre Map concept, in i t s turn has been very much a forerunner , o r a mile- stone, along the course of thinking which led up to the proposals of the Planning Advisory Group 'The Future of Development Plans', which were published in 1965. The Group's basic c r i t i c i sm of the Development Plan system, a s existing, was that it was too detailed for some purposes, namely the sett ing out of the broad strategic planning objectives for the a r e a a s a whole - which were the main concern of the Minister and yet not sufficiently detailed to provide a positive guide t o the form and quality of development a t the local planning level. It advocated, therefore , that a more broadly based 'Urban Structure Map' should be prepared on the strategic level,

whilst local o r d i s t r i c t plans, a t a l a r g e r sca le would be p r e p a r e d in respec t of the inore detailed p roposa l s including those f o r Action A r e a s where development was imminent . Only the s t r u c t u r e plans would r e q u i r e the Min i s te r ' s approval, whilst the local plans would be adopted by the Authority a f t e r consultation with in teres ted par t i e s .

5 . T h e Government h a s now announced i t s intention t o p r e p a r e new planning legislation, taking into account the recommendations of the Planning Advisory Group, and the draf t City Cen t re proposals have been p r e p a r e d wit11 par t i cu la r r e g a r d t o both the Bulletin on Town C e n t r e s and the P . A . G . p roposa l s . The City Cen t re Map can , the re fore , be regarded as a local o r d i s t r i c t p lan. It i s p repared in the context of the approved Development Plan f o r the City, but ant ic ipates a s f a r a s is possible a t the p resen t t ime , the Urban S t ruc tu re concept which wi l l recognise m o r e adequately, the C i t y ' s p lace i n the Region. In the words of the P . A . G . r epor t : -

'The emphas i s i s on the dynamics of urban gr0wt.h and renewal , on the relat ionship between land u s e s and t r a n s p o r t . . . . The pr incipal a i m , however, is t o provide a basic planning document which i s capable of express ing in a c l e a r and integrated way the policies and objectives that a r e t o shape the town's fu ture . '

6 . T h e Cent ra l Area of Manchester s e r v e s a n a r e a much l a r g e r than the City i t se l f . I t i s essent ia l ly a regional c e n t r e and the extent and c h a r a c t e r of its functions and act iv i t ies is both growing and changing. The r e p o r t begins by consider ing i t s position in the regional context and the need t o provide m o r e a t t r ac t ive and efficient shopping, commerc ia l , socia l and higher education faci I i t ies ; a c e n t r e of a t t r ac t ion t o s e r v e south e a s t Lancashire and nor th e a s t C h e s h i r e .

7 . Then follows a n analys is of the f o r m of the City Cen t re i t se l f and of the principal ac t iv i t ies that occur within i t , how the land is used and the t r e n d s likely t o affect land use in the f u t u r e .

8 . Problems of congestion a r e common to a l l m a j o r c i t i e s and improvement of a c c e s s i s a fundamental necess i ty if the economic well- being and p rosper i ty of the City is t o be atded by physical planning. Research into the regional t ranspor ta t ion pic ture i s by no means complete , but the pr inciples of c a r parking provision in re la t ion t o highway capacity, the needs and safety of the pedest r ian , and the respect ive ro les of public and pr ivate t r anspor t a s applied t o the planning of the conurbation cen t re , a r e deal t with in the section on Circulation and Communicat ions .

9 . Not l e s s important i s the need t o make the City Cen t re a n a t t r ac t ive and worthwhile p lace t o visi t , whether it is to work, t o shop o r t o live and although they cannot be quantified easily, human s c a l e and values and s tandards of quality will have a g rea t deal to do with the s u c c e s s o r otherwise of any renewal s c h e m e s . The need t o conserve what is good and of value and the questions of intensity, c h a r a c t e r and amenity provisions in a r e a s requir ing redeveIopinent, a r e d iscussed under the heading of Environmental Standards and Object ives .

10 . In o r d e r not to f r e e z e a s t r e e t sys tem inher i ted f r o m the days of the h o r s e and c a r t , to enable reasonable s t andards of day lighting to be obtained, t o c r e a t e open space and amenity a r e a s a t reasonable cost , and t o ra t ional ise pedestrian and vehicular circulation, i t i s e ssen t ia l that many p a r t s of the cen t re , r ipe f o r redevelopment, should be dealt with on comprehensive l ines . Comprehensive proposals o r advisory s c h e m e s have been put fo rward and accepted in principle by the City Council a s a guide to development o r a s a prelude to the submiss ion of f o r m a l amendments to the Development Plan. The r e p o r t identifies and d e s c r i b e s these proposals and d e s c r i b e s in broad t e r m s the u s e s which would be appropr ia te in var ious p a r t s of the Ci ty . Although these s c h e m e s together cover the g r e a t e r p a r t of the c o r e of the City Centre , the re s t i l l r emain considerable a r e a s , par t icular ly on the f r inges , f o r which no detailed proposals have yet been p r e p a r e d .

11. Finally, questions of timing, c o s t s and ways and means a r e considered in the section on Implementation and a digest of s o m e of the m o r e important r e s e a r c h information is included in the appendices .

1 2 . T h i s repor t a i m s t o s u m m a r i s e and br ing together the relevant r e s e a r c h and r e s u l t s of work c a r r i e d out in relatioA t o the City Cen t re s ince the Development Plan was p repared and it incorporates the decis ions which have s o f a r been taken by the City Council . At a t i m e when technological and socia l change is s o rapid , no plan may be regarded a s a 'once and f o r a l l ' operation and the City Cen t re Map, a s now put forward, does not a t tempt t o do m o r e than demonstra te the principal problems that need to be tackled a t the p resen t t ime and provides a f ramework f o r fu ture development in response t o conditions and needs a s they now ex i s t and a s they can be foreseen a t th is point in t i m e . It is a l s o hoped that it will provide guidance to prospective developers , a rch i t ec t s , consultants and the general public on policies s o f a r adopted f o r the Cen t ra l Area and show how they fi t into the wider p ic tu re .

1. Historical and Regional Context

North West Region -major urban areas- existing and proposed motorways

1 . The Centra l Area of Manchester , once the h e a r t of a Medieval inarket town, today s e r v e s a metropoli tan region of about 2.5 million people, whilst 10 million people l ive within a fifty mi le r a d i u s . The c e n t r e provides a continually expanding range of s e r v i c e s f o r a n a r e a and population which extends f a r beyond the adminis t ra t ive boundaries of the City and which i s second only to G r e a t e r London in s i z e . The City Regions cen t red on Liverpool and Manchester together suppor t a population of over 4 million, and growth and indust r ia l development h a s occured par t icular ly along the l ines of communication which link the two g r e a t c i t i e s . This densely populated 'Mersey belt ' of the North-West a l ready has many of the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of a virtually continuous metropoli tan region o r ' super conurbation' within which the widest range of indust r ia l activity will be found together with a high degree of personal mobility and choice of employment .

The growth of Manchester

2 . Manchester (and i t s immediate neighbour Salford) i s s t ra tegical ly si tuated a t the foot of the Pennines in the south-eas t of Lancash i re . F ro in e a r l i e s t t i m e s location and topography have been favourable to i t s growth a s a cen t re of t r ade and communications se rv ing a wide a r e a . The Medieval c e n t r e was si tuated n e a r where the Cathedral s tands today, c lose t o the confluence of the Irk and the Irwell, and a t the c r o s s i n g of Deansgate and Market Street , roads es tabl ished in Roman t i m e s . By the 16th Century the City was a l ready a thriving marke t town and t rading c e n t r e of g rea t impor tance . Long before the Industrial Revolution, industry was f i r m l y es tabl ished in the Manchester a r e a and with i t s a r r i v a l Manchester became the c e n t r e of a pat tern of indust r ia l se t t lements located on the foothills of the Pennines.

3 . Without a revolution in t ranspor ta t ion methods and l ines of communication however the phenomenal economic and population growth which took place in the 19th Century and which we know a s the Industrial Revolution, would have been impossible . Manchester pioneered wate r t r anspor t in the f o r m of the a r t i f i c ia l canal and became one of the t e r m i n i of the f i r s t r egu la r r a i l passenger s e r v i c e . The f i r s t t r anspor t routes in the industrial e r a were the cana l s , although the City g rew along the l ines of communication a l ready exist ing, Deansgate and Market S t ree t ; a t the s a m e t i m e an intensive network of rai lway S was developed throughout south-eas t Lancashire , following a largely rad ia l pat tern with Manchester a t the c e n t r e . The charac te r i s t i c f o r m of the total t r anspor t network, rai lways a s well a s

c Growth of city region

6

roads , may only be apprecia ted with r e f e r e n c e t o the surrounding se t t l ements and par t icular ly the a r c of cotton towns t o the north, but what is c l e a r i s that access ibi l i ty , centra l i ty and convenience, then a s now w e r e of s u p r e m e importance to the life and growth of the c e n t r e . The resul t was not a planned city but a concentration of interl inked act iv i t ies in the c e n t r e . Railheads and marshal l ing y a r d s were brought through the industrial co l l a r into the h e a r t of the City and the pa t t e rn which the City C e n t r e has today, was s e t . With the optimism and dr ive s o charac te r i s t i c of Victorian England, the Ship Canal was completed towards the c lose of the 19th Century and within a decade the g r e a t r epos i to r ies of Whitworth S t ree t , where the Region's exportable wealth could conveniently be s t o r e d p r i o r to dispatch, had been buil t .

4 . If the es tabl ishment of the rai lway t e r m i n i a s s i s t e d the concentration of buildings, goods and people in a relat ively s m a l l and compact a r e a , then the appearance of the s t r e e t t ramway in l877 followed by the electrif ication of the passenger l ines t o Bury in 19 15 and Altrincham in 1931, acce le ra ted the p r o c e s s of population d i s p e r s a l which with the help of the pr ivate c a r continues today .

5 . The vas t economic change and physical expansion of Manchester in the 19th Century w e r e accompanied by equally g r e a t population changes . By the middle of the 19th Century Manchester was the c e n t r e of a conurbation with a population of well over a mill ion; the number doubled within the next fifty y e a r s although th i s concealed the outward movement t o the suburbs which began in e a r n e s t dur ing the e a r l y decades of th i s c e n t u r y .

6 . T h e adminis t ra t ive a r e a of the City did not r each i t s population zenith until 1931 when the irihabitarlts numbered just o v e r 770,000. After that date, the movement outwards began increasingly t o affect land beyond the City and the numbers living within began t o fa l l . In the City C e n t r e , the fa l l in numbers began v e r y much e a r l i e r , the f i r s t s igns being recorded in the Market S t ree t

a r e a which had 2'/, 000 inhabitants in 185 l but only 17, 000 by 187 1 . This tendency towards the d i s p e r s a l of r es iden t ia l population h a s continued t o affect the c e n t r e , and today i t h a s virtually no res ident ia l population .

Population and Housing

7 . In mid 1965 the population of the City Region*( the approximate l imi t s of which a r e shown on page 8 ) was just over 2 . 6 million which was not significantly different f r o m that in 193 1. A growing r a t e of na tu ra l i n c r e a s e following the w a r was balanced by substant ia l outward migrat ion resu l t ing in a s ta t ic overal l si tuation. Towards the end of the f if t ies however, and par t icular ly s ince 1961 due t o a marked reduction in outward migrat ion and a higher b i r th ra te , the population h a s begun t o i n c r e a s e . The es t imated population f o r 1981 in the City Region based on na tu ra l inc rease and n i lmigra t ion would be in the o r d e r of 2 .95 mill ion ::':'. Planned levels of fu ture movement out to new towns, and e s t i m a t e s of voluntary migrat ion, however, both suggest that the population in 1981 may be about 2 . 7 mil l ion. It would s e e m , therefore , that a t l eas t a f u r t h e r 100, Cl00 people will need to be provided f o r within the City Region a r e a by 1981; moreover ,changes in the population distr ibution within the a r e a will inthemselves be quite considerable following c losely upon the s lum c l e a r a n c e p r o g r a m m e s being undertaken by Manchester and other author i t ies which will r e l i eve congestion in the inner a r e a s .

8 . Within the City of Manchester i tself , the population w a s about 660,000 in 1961. It h a s a l ready fallen to about 600, 000, a s the resu l t of redevelopment and recen t s tudies suggest that i t may fa l l t o a m o r e stable level of about 550,000 in 1981, It is evident therefore,

*See Appendix A for definitions of City Regiori and City. "* Estimates based on Registrar General's Statistics; a more detailed account of population trends will appear in a forthcoming report on the City Region.

that whilst the Ci ty ' s population will continue to fa l l f o r a t ime , the to ta l population of the City Region will move in a n upward di rect ion. The pat tern of res idence in relat ion t o the Cen t ra l Area is becoming m o r e d i spersed than hitherto, s o that t ranspor ta t ion and personal mobility a r e the mos t important f ac to rs in a s s e s s i n g the relat ionship between the c e n t r e and i t s r es iden t ia l catchment a r e a .

9 . Population change i s ref lected in housing needs , one of the City Region's g rea tes t p rob lems . Natural i n c r e a s e in households is however only one e lement of housing need, by f a r the biggest f ac to r being the replacement of the Region's 200, 000 o r s o substandard dwellings. The City f a c e s eas i ly the biggest problem in th i s r espec t and a t the end of 1966 s t i l l had approximately 46, 000 s l u m s . Apar t f r o m a few sca t t e red pockets, the l a rge proportion of th is proper ty su r rounds the City Cen t re , a s shown on Map No. 1 although s igns of change a r e a l ready very evident. Whilst total population changes in the City Region have a m o r e d i rec t bear ing on the future of the c e n t r e , the population levels of the a r e a s immediately adjacent to the c e n t r e will show a decline as redevelopment p r o g r e s s e s . At the s a m e t l m e the quality of local s e r v i c e s will improve whilst d i s t r i c t c e n t r e s which will c a t e r f o r local shopping needs and provide l imited office accommodation, a r e to be located in s o m e of these a r e a s . Th i s emphasises the im.portance of improving access ibi l i ty t o the City Cen t re where the specia l ised shopping and other s e r v i c e s a r e essent ia l ly geared to the l a r g e r sca le Regional r equ i rements , r a t h e r than t o the res ident ia l a r e a s that l ie in c lose proximity t o i t .

10 . Employment t r ends a r e a n important r e m i n d e r of the interdependence of the c e n t r e and i t s h inter land. Between 1959 and 1965 the en~ploynlent p ic ture f o r the City Region fluctuated continuously; overa l l change f o r the period was however, negli@ble, although th i s was not the si tuation within s m a l l e r a r e a s o r

City Region -existing and proposed roads

even within tlie boundaries of Manchester County Borough.

11. Two major factors have influenced employment in recent y e a r s . Firs t ly , the policy of the Board of Trade, which has placed the emphasis on locating new development in the manufacturing industries in dis t r ic ts of high unemployment and has thus tended to discourage industrial expansion in Manchester and i t s environs; and secondly the upheaval in the textile industry where over 40,000 jobs were lost between 1959 and 1965. Despite this, the unemployment figures in both the City Region and the City have been consistently below the national average, whilst activity r a t e s have remained high, thus indicating a cer ta in resil ience in the economy of the a r e a .

12 . In 1965 there were 385, 000 jobs within the boundaries of the City itself which represented an overall decline in employment of 17,000 since 1959. The most marked decline in employment was the loss of 11,000 jobs in the distributive t rades, half of which a r e a t present located in the Central Area, and this could be attributable to decline in textile warehouses, improved mechanical handling techniques and decentralisation to avoidcongestion. Today in fact, l e s s than 3% of the working population of Manchester a r e e m ~ l o y e d in the textile industry. However, there has been considerable growth in other se rv ice industries during the ~ e r i o d ; 10, 000 in professional se rv ices alone, an increase of 28% which has been spaced widely throughout the City; 2, 100 in miscellaneous services , an increase of 6%, with other significant increases in insurance, banking and finance and public administration. Whilst a l l these figures a r e fo r the Couilty Borough,preliminary analysis suggests that the City Centre has shared in this growth, particularly of miscellaneous serv ices and public administrat ion,

13. The Central Area a s might be expected, provides the largest concentration of

employment in the City Region with about 160,000 jobs, in 1965, o r about 12T7 of the total and about one third of the jobs in the City The wider a r e a within a two mile radius of the Town Hall- which includes the docks and part of the Trafford Park Industrial Estate, provides about one quarter o r more than 280,000 jobs - of the City Region's employment,

14. There seems little doubt that the Central Area of Manchester like most metropolitan centres appears to be undergoing a qualitative change with a concentration of higher order functions, whilst a t the s ame time maintaining stability in quantitative t e r m s . The t rends s o f a r evident suggest that if ratiorialisation in the distributive t rades is complete, then employment in the Central Area should show a steady, though small increase up to 1981, although more significant growth could occur , dependent on national policy on the location of office employment.

15. The experience of London, Paris and other cit ies suggests that the second o r third City, places like Manchester and Lyons, will to some extent provide an overflow for the growing number of administrative, management and office jobs. This process can be seen in Manchester in a limited way with the expansion in banking and government offices, the National Computing Centre, the Regional Headquarters for the B.B.C ., the new Business School and indee'd the expansion in higher education, research and laboratory facili t ies. If these t rends point t o the future charac te r of the centre, then again the most important single factor a s it has been in the past, is undoubtedly the need for improved accessibili ty.

Communications

16. At the beginning of the Century the Manchester a r e a was only some five miles in diameter but in a generation, the built -up co re ribboned twelve miles along the radial t r am routes . Although in the last twenty five years o r so the total population has remained

virtually the same, the route-free motor vehicle, at f i r s t the bus and now the private c a r , has helped to fi l l in the green wedges, extending the potential radius of the City to between ten and fifteen miles and i ts potential a r e a of residence to over 700 square mi les .

17. The dispersive effects of the motor vehicle on population a r e in marked contrast to the concentration of cer tain major functions to be seen in the City Centre itself, and the delicate balance between these tendencies depends above a l l on freedom of movement to the cen t r e . Efficient t ransport , appropriate to differing functions, i s probably the only effective way in which the social advantages of residential dispersal and the econonlic and other advantages of concentrating activities of a metropolitan character , dependent on a large catchment a r e a , may be reconciled.

18. The commuter services by road o r ra i l - the physical expressions of interdependence - a r e essential to the City Centre, which grew and prospered a s a direct resul t of the development of m a s s transportation facili t ies. Large scale residential expansion, particularly on the south side of Manchester, initiated by the railways and later consolidated by the motorcar, has been boosted successively by the introduction of improved diesel and la ter e lectr ic , train s e rv i ces . The modernisation of Trails-Pennine r a i l facilities - routes which c a r r y the heaviest amount of freight traffic, has added a fur ther dimension to regional communications and more recently but of equal importance to the City has been the electrification of the main railway line to London; the possibility of i ts extension to Scotland i s now being studied. The popularity and success of these recently introduced rapid inter-city ra i l se rv ices point to the increasing role of the centre a s a major regional transport interchange; a t the same t ime, the City's municipal a i rport at Ringway which serves a population of around 15 million, has become a major irlternational a irport and there has been a rapid increase in a i r freight and passengers .

19. The development of the national motorway system i s a lso beginning to make itself felt and cominunications between the regions have already been improved by the construction of the M. 6; by the ear ly 1970's the City will be directly linked with the M. 6 along the line of Princess Road and Princess Parkway, whilst the Mancl~ester/Preston Motorway (M. 61) should be completed by 1970, together with the M . 62 Trans -Pennine Motorway, now under construction. All these proposals will a l so have an important impact on the pattern and extent of inter-city and inter -regional movement, and will make the serv ices of a metropolitan cent re available to an even la rger population.

The future role of the Central Area

20. The dispersal of population is in large measure a response to social and technological change; personal mobility and higher standards of living a r e tending to enlarge the sphere of influence of the centre and the overall population it se rves will correspondingly increase . It may be expected that any future reorganisation of local government will be in the direction of the establishment of effective planning units and, together with the formulation of economic policies for the re@on, these will be additional factors in determining the balance between concentrat ion and d ispersa l .

2 1 . There a r e c l ea r economic advantages to account for the continued growth and adaptability of the various city and metropolitan regions; the Manchester centre i s no exception, but if the centre , providing a s it does for a growing range of specialist se rv ices in close proximity to a large market of consumers, takes advantage of economies of scale , there a r e a l so disadvantages a r i s ing from various forms of congestion, delay and cost of transporting raw mater ia l s . At the same t ime i ts great strength and resil ience encourages and a t t rac ts growth and a n eillployed populaticn of hundreds of thousands c rea tes i ts own market for s e rv i ces .

22 . It must be accepted, that there i s a degree of competition between the Central Area of the City and other towns in the Region,. particularly in t e r m s of shopping and other specialised se rv i ces . The future role of the cent re will r e s t t o some extent on the acceptance throughout the Region, of a hierarchy of ' cen t res of attraction' and in this respect the independent tradition of some of the older surrounding towns and the growth of the new such a s Wilmslow, should not be overlooked. In the general sense however, the future of the Regional centre appears assured; it is an essent ial part of the European cultural tradition of 'living in ci t ies ' where the commercial, economic and political functions a r e inextricably bound up with the educational, a r t i s t ic and social life of the community. A concentrated, lively and civilised heart to the City and the Region i s therefore seen a s a basic policy objective.

-7 4 i f - : rar*(

2.City Centre Uses 1. T h e City C e n t r e is about 1 . 5 s q u a r e m i l e s in extent, bounded generally by the val leys of the Irwell and the Medlock with the main line rai lway s ta t ions , Piccadilly, Exchange/Victoria and Cent ra l forming a t r i ang le within which mos t Regional activit ies a r e located.

2 . Grea t Ancoats St reet m a r k s the broad l imi t s of Centra l Area u s e s on the nor th eas te rn s ide ; Mancunian Way i s now the effective southern boundary and a p a r t f r o m John Dalton College and the buildings of the Insti tute of Science and Technology, i t s e p a r a t e s the cen t ra l commerc ia l a r e a f r o m the main par t of the Higher Education Precinct and the res ident ia l a r e a s of Brunswick and Hulme.

3 . Although the River I rwel l is the na tu ra l boilndary on the wes te rn s ide and f o r m s the adminis t ra t ive boundary between the two author i t ies , the Manchester Cen t ra l A r e a and the adjoining a r e a s of Salford a r e in p rac t i ce closely i n t e r - r e l a t e d . Exchange Station and Victoria Bus Station, both d i rec t ly opposite Manchester Cathedral , a r e si tuated in Salford, whilst r ecen t office development o c c u r s on both s ides of the boundary. F r o m a communications

5 - 3 Land form City centre from the west

point of view. in p a r t ~ c ~ ~ l a r , i t is e s s e ~ ~ t i a l that the re should be a CO orcllnated approach, and the p r imary hig,hwa) network proposals put forward In th is r epor t havc been worhcd out ~ o l n t l y with tile Clty I71ig11lecr ancl P l a ~ ~ n i n g Offlccr of Salfo L-c1 . Silnilarlu, a r e a s which i t is evident s l i o ~ ~ l d be plaiinecl c o m p r e h e n s ~ v e l v extend on both s ldes of the bouncialy, an exanlple being the a r e a surrounding Manchester Cathedral , and in these c a s e s the proposals concerned have been the subject of joint consultation and acceptance by A~lancliester and Salford foint Planning C o l n n ~ i t t ee .

4. T h e City Cen t re r e p r e s e n t s by f a r the l a r g e s t concentration of eiliployillent, containing those cornmercia l , s e r v i c e and governmental ac t iv i t ies , without which i t would be difficult to identify the City Region a s a corpora te whole. Some of i t s main fea tu res and c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s indicate that it i s a regional c e n t r e of wholesale and re ta i l t r a d e , se rv ing a marke t ing a r e a second onIy to Londorl and d i s t inghshed by a g rea t var ie ty of depar tment and chain s t o r e s , fashion, furnishing and speciali ty shops . It is a cen t re of regional and local government, a principal banking c e n t r e , the m a j o r provincial c e n t r e of the newspaper publishing- industry and a m a j o r c e n t r e of television, radio and telephonic communication. It i s a l so a hub of mc~s ica l and a r t i s t i c l i f e , offer ing a growing- variety of socia l and entertainment faci l i t ies and a cen t re of '

University and Higher Educa t io~ l - the development of which i s inextricably bound up with the l i fe of the c e n t r e . Finally i t i s linked to one of the coun t ry ' s m o s t important por ts and is the cen t re of a complex national, regional and local network of road, r a i l and a i r communications. T h e growth of a i r t r a v e l , and l a t t e r ly the g r e a t i n c r e a s e in a i r f re ight t raf f ic , underline the importance and future potential of Manchester Airpor t to the prosper i ty of the City and the Region.

5. T h e City Cen t re proposals cover approximately 1 , 100 a c r e s , containing a l l the a r e a s allocated f o r Centra l A r e a purposes in the Development Plan a s well a s a r e a s allocated f o r indust r ia l uses within the l ine of Mancunian Way and the l ine of the proposed lnner Ring Road ; th i s a r e a of study i s shown on Map 2 and i s defined in Appendix A .

6 . In general t e r m s , the t r e ~ i d s affecting the Cen t ra l Area a r e common to many of the l a rger c i t i e s which w e r e o r i g n ~ a l l y indust r ia l , namely tlie growth of office and aclmillistrative f ~ m c t i o n s accompanied bv an i n c r e a s e in se rv ice employment, the concentration of re ta i l t r a d e outlets and the r e p l a c ~ n g of warehousing ancl o ther declining activities by Inore iiltensive and profi table u s e s .

i . T h c major problems OS the cen t re a r e fami l i a r ; growiilg congestion, tlie co~lf l ic t

l~etween pcdestrlan and vehicular- t raf f ic , ~ n a d e q ~ r a t e facl l i t ics f o r efflclent servicing and a s t ree t sys tem unsulted to modern t ranspor t rcqulrerl lel i ts ,

S. T h e Citv Centi-e has reached a c r i t i ca l s tage in i t s developmeilt with a high proportion of obsolete buildings, whic11 p r e s e n t s the opportunity to renew and r e c r e a t e a m o r e efficient and convenient c e n t r e worthy of the region it s e r v e s . T h e object i s to h a r n e s s the f o r c e s of change so a s to reconc i le iinproved access ibi l i ty with higher environmental s t andards and to obtain maxiinurn advantage f rom limited r e s o u r c e s .

9 . T h e r e a r e a r e a s in mos t m a j o r c i t i e s which m a y be readi ly identified a s devoted to par t icular ac t iv i t ies ancl u s e s ; th i s pat tern of activity i s v e r y marked in Manchester w h e r e the principal groupings a r e : -

(i) r e ta i l shopping ;

( i i) offices, banking- and i n s c ~ r a n c e ;

(iii) civic functions ;

(iv) warehousing ;

(v) enter ta inment

10 . h4ost of these u s e s occur in tradit ional locations within the c o r e of the City Cen t re a s defined in Appendix A and the distr ibution of uses i s r e f e r r e d to in Tab les 1 and 3 01 Appendix C . Shopping i s concentrated on Market S t ree t , Oldham St ree t , Deansgate and the S t . Ann ' s Square and Lower King S t ree t a r e a . Upper Icing Street i s t h e tradit ional bailking a r e a around which insurance and office u s e s have become es tabl ished ; the m a j o r group of civic buildings l i e s to the south of th is a r e a and h a s a t t r ac ted o ther office functions. Entertainment uses a r e l a rge ly c o n c e n t r a ~ e d on Oxford S t ree t and Peter S t ree t whilst warehousing occupies mos t of the a r e a south- eas t of Mosley S t ree t a s f a r a s the Rlver Medlock and i s densely concentrated along Whitworth S t r e e t .

11. h1 the following sectiorls the exist ing and proposed uses contained in tlie City Cen t re a r e examined in m o r e deta i l .

(i) Shopping

12. T h e City C e n t r e s e r v e s an extensive hinterland ancl a population f a r in excess of the 600, 000 people who l ive within the City. It is es t imated that it pe r fo rms a regional function f o r about 3 . 5 million peoplc and th is could well i n c r e a s e to 4 inillion by 1981 ; f r o m f igures given iri t h e 1961 Census of Distr ibution i t attraciecl about 14%) of the Ci ty Region's t r a d e .

13. The regional c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h e cen t re a r e sliowl~ I,y the high proportion of the c o r e

Market Street looking towards Piccadilly

SHOPPING

devoted to depar tment ancl varlet \[ s t o r e s , with clurable goods accoc~nting f o r al>proxiniately '77% of the total tu rnover . T h e Study Area contalns al~ocrt 7 million s q u a r e feet of shopplng accoinmodation with about 5 m i l l ~ o n s q u a r e feet contained within the c o r e . Depar tment , va r i e ty and chain s t o r e s account l o r about 40x of the total shopping a r e a in thc c o r e , o r about a th i rd of al l the sliop7ing in the CentraI A r e a , a s show^: in table 7 of Appendix C .

14. T h e main shopping a r e a is centred on Market S t ree t , with a continuous f rontage of fashion and shoe shops , dominated by m a j o r depar tment and var ie ty s t o r e s a t each end . T h e s t r e e t is the hea r t and c e n t r e of the pop~11ar r e ta i l fashion t r a d e ancl i s in effect a c o r r i d o r , o r connecting link, in a shopping pattern which i s ' Z ' shape 011 plan and about 1 ,000 y a r d s in length.

lli. It i s not a v e r y compact shopping c e n t r e and has tended to be polarised; the 'qual i ty ' shoppiilg

1 h a s concentra ted in t~he vicillity of King S t ree t , S t . Ann's Square and the Kendal Milne Depar tment S to re , whi ls t the 'popular ' shopping h a s centred around L e w i s ' s and Paulden's s t o r e s a t the e a s t e r n end of Market S t r e e t and along Oldham S t ree t w h e r e a n u m b e r of s t o r e s , including-C. and A. Modes and Affleck and Brown a r e to b e found ; Piccadilly Gardens h a s d iscouraged the expansion of shopping f u r t h e r e a s t w a r d s towards Piccadilly Station.

16 . T h e remova l of Marks and Spencers to a new building in the Market Place a r e a , (the s i t e of the medieval m a r k e t place and incidentally of the f i r s t 'penny bazaar ') which f o r m s a pivot be - tween Market S t ree t i tself and the S t . Arm's Square a r e a , h a s tended to c lose up the gap left by w a r damage and the redevelopment pote~l t ia l of the Market S t ree t and Market Place a r e a s f o r shopp- ing is l ike ly to contribute to a m o r e coinpact and continuous pattern in the f u t u r e .

17. A s u b s l d i a r ) ~ c lus te r of shopping i s to be found in the en te r t a inments a r e a on Oxford S t r e e t , which cxtcnds f r o m S t . P e t e r ' s Square to Cxford Road Station. Motor c a r showrooms a r e located just beyond the main shopping a r e a in Pet e r S t ree t arid between Kendal Milnes and the ra i lway viaducts a t the southern end of Deansgate . T h e charac te r i s t i c pat tern of r e t a i l and s e r v i c e shopp - ing r e f l e c t s the way in which the c e n t r e h a s g rown.

1 s . A shopping study w a s unc1ertal;en in 1962 with the p r i m a r y objective of es tabl ishing the location, c h a r a c t e r and extent of shopping exls tmg a t tha t t i m e , broadly within the a r e a defined a s the c o r e in Appendix A ; a t that t i m e many m a j o r s c h e m e s to provide arnbit ioc~s shopping developments w e r e being put fo rward by deve lopers . Although t h e r e is an l~ndoubtecl delnand f o r s o m e additional and well located shopping s p a c e , if al l the inajor s c h e m e s which have been put I'orward tentat ively

o v e r the past s ix o r seven y e a r s had been built, the present total shopping a r e a i11 the c o r e would have been increased out of a l l propor t ion. Some developers optimistically tend to a s s e s s t h e potential of the i r s c h e m e s agains t exist ing conditions on the b a s i s that they will be ' f i rs t off t h e g o - a n d ' . Schemes c a r r i e d out 011 such a b a s i s would b e n ~ u t u a l l y self-defeating and permiss ions given could be virtually l icences f o r fa i lu re .

1 9 . Increased shopping faci l i t ies in one location m a y b e a t the expense of faci l i t ies e lsewhere and th i s would c lea r ly have s e r i o u s affects, resul t ing in derelict ion and fragmentation of the shopping c e n t r e .

20; Although i t i s a lmos t impossible to predict with any d e g r e e of cer ta inty o r accuracy, p rec i se ly how much shopping; the City Cen t re will eventually support , the view has been taken that new m a j o r shopping development should be located to consolidate the shopping a r e a and phased to keep ill s t e p with evident demand. ":l:* T h e fact that llluch of the shopping c e n t r e i s obsole te and substandard suggests that whatever the ul t imate position, considerable redevelopment and replacement i s e ssen t ia l to maintain and improve i t s position a s a c e n t r e of a t t ract ion. T h e pattern of the shopping cen t re needs reshaping and advantage taken of the oppartuility to provide good c a r parking faci l i t ies f o r the motor i s t shopper , m o r e convenient. a c c e s s to public t r a n s p o r t , and sa fe and inviting conditions fo r the pedest r ian .

21, T h e redevelopment in depth of t h e mainly obsole te a r e a to the nor th of Market S t ree t , together with a s c h e m e f o r which outline planning consent h a s been g ran ted in the Market Place a r e a , would, if implemented o v e r t h e next decade, i n c r e a s e t h e total shopping f loor s p a c e in t h e study a r e a by 700,000 s q u a r e feet o r 10% - on the assumption that t h e r e w a s no reduction in the a r e a of shopping e lsewhere in the c e n t r e .

22. In these c i rcumstances , and cer ta inly until the point of balance can be worked out m o r e accura te ly in a regional context, it would appear unwise to permit o r provide f o r extensive shopping development in o ther p a r t s of t h e City Cen t re , which would b e l iable to dilute and d i s rup t the shopping pattern to the disadvantage of both t h e new and t h e old. T h e f i r s t pr ior i ty m u s t be to improve the access ibi l i ty and quality

* Shopping floor space statistics for the City Region area are not yet available. Ever] if the existing and proposed floor space was available for a l l the central areas of the County Boroughs, there would still be many other variables t o take into account. It will be necessary to carry out more sophisticated studies into shoppin on a broader basis although it is hoped to derive Rrther useful information on the journey to shop and household expenditure patterns when the S. E . L. N . E . C . transportation study material bcconies available.

of the present cen t re , taking advantage of i t s redevelopment potential. If renewal , not only of the shopping a r e a , but of o the r p a r t s of the Cen t ra l A r e a s t rengthens the position of the regional cen t re and s t imula tes d e n ~ a n d beyond this capaci ty , then consideration can be given to the development of o ther potential shopping a r e a s .

23 . T h i s policy, which of c o u r s e r e f e r s to m a j o r shopping development and not to s m a l l e r groups of subsidiary and convenience shopping, is not new and h a s been in operatioil f o r a number of y e a r s . T h e f i r s t Comprehensive Developilleilt A r e a proposals which have been submitted to the Minister of Housing and Local Government a r e centred on the Market St reet a r e a , and underline the p r i m a r y objective of redeveloping the regional shopping c e n t r e in i t s existing tradit ional location. They have been put fo rward agains t t h e background of a consistent policy of res i s t ing l a r g e s c a l e shopping developments on unrelated o r f r inge s i t e s which would have mili tated agains t the consolidation and improvement of the Ci ty ' s main shopping c e n t r e .

24. T o be competi t ive, t h e r e i s no doubt that Manches te r ' s shopping- c e n t r e wi l l r e q u i r e to be not only convenient and efficient , but a l so outstandingly inviting and a t t r ac t ive . Deta i ls of the proposals f o r the development of the Market St reet a r e a a r e r e f e r r e d to on Page 5 6 of th is Report .

( i i ) Offices

25. Offices and banks now account f o r about a q u a r t e r of the total g r o s s f loor s p a c e in the study a r e a ; t h e r e is an equal amount of warehouse s p a c e but the s i m i l a r i t i e s end t h e r e . A q u a r t e r of the 14 million s q u a r e feet of office s p a c e h a s been built s ince 1948 ; over 60 ,000 people o r 42 % 01 the working population in the cen t re , a r e office employees . In con t ras t , t h e r e h a s been a s t eady decline in warehousing functions and employment and l e s s than 1 9 , 0 0 0 persons a r e employed in th i s s e c t o r .

26. T h e a r e a immediately south of Market St reet and bounded by C r o s s S t ree t , P r incess Street and Mosley S t ree t , contains mos t of the m a j o r banks, the Stock Exchange, the General Post Office, insurance companies and associa ted professional offices ; th is i s the c o m m e r c i a l h e a r t of the City w h e r e the p res t ige buildings are to b e found, such a s the MidlandBank and Ship Canal House on King S t ree t . T h e tradit ion is being continued and buildings recent ly completed include the new Barclays and Will iams Deacons Banks, and a new Headquar ters f o r the Dis t r i c t Bank is being constructed on King S t r e e t ,

2'7. Some of the e a r l y post-war office development was c a r r i e d out on s i t e s acquired by

Iqlng Street- the cornrnerclal t~ear t

OFFICES

the City following war damage, and the great majosi-ty of the schemes wil-icil liave been,or a s e 11einq huilt ,are for. owner occupation o r for a defiXite client. Where offices have been built to let , a s a commercial venture, there has so far,in general been little r ea l djfficulty in letting them. 'The establishment of regional offices of various miiiistries, and the sleed to replace substandard accornmodation,l~as undoubtedly corltributed towards a steady dernand for space.

28. The office development in the Central Area i s highly concentrared ; there a r e over 8 million square feet in the core a r ea alone which contains all the banks, most of the insurancc offices and virtually all the professional offices. (see table 8 of Appendix C). Two important exceptions however, a r e the fine developments of the Co-operative Wholesale Society Headquarters and the Co-operative Insurance Society Building, which a r e situated a t the junction of Corporation Street and MiIler Street, outside the commercial heart,and further developnlent i s likely to take place in this a r e a .

2 9 . The re i s no doubt that there will be a con- tinuing need fo r new office accommodation, if only to replace the least satisfactory element of the 10 million square feet of pre-war offices, which cannot be made economically capabie of meeting the minimum standards called for by the Offices, Shops and Railway I'reinises Act of 1963. The re i s a considerabie volume of office space in former warehouse buildings, particularly in the Whitworth Street a r ea , where some of the buildings a r e very substantial structurally and this emphasises the decline in warehouse functions and the reluctance to pay higher rental values fo r new accommodation. With one exception, there has been li t t le evidence of office space in new buildings remaining empty for any length of time, although there has been a steady growth in the amount of old property becoming vacant. (See table 9 off Appendix C). Banking and insurance functions a r e growing and so also is the demand for m o r e space by Central and Local Government.

30. One of the difficulties which undoubtedly slows down the process of redeveIopment, i s that althougl-1 many office premises a r e substandard, firins a r e not attuned to the prospect of paying economic rentals for new accoinmodation, even although the corresponding figures in Central London might be three t imes a s great .

31. The ra-te of growth of comnlercial activity will depend on wider economic factors and on the effect of riatiorial policies aimed a t restr ic t ing office growth in the Midlands and the South East . LC the trends of the last ten yea r s a r e projected, rnost office building i s likely to be replacement, and [he allocation in the City Centre Map will be more than sufficient to take account of this and any additional net growth.

The Town Hall --centre of civic functions

(iii) Civic Functions

32. T h e Centra l A r e a provides the location f o r both the ceremonial and adminis t ra t ive functions of the City Council. T h e s e a r e a t p resen t mainly accommodated in the Old Town Hall and the Town Hall Extension. T h e s e buildings f o r m the nucleus of the 'Civic A r e a ' allocated in the nevetopment Plan f o r genera l civic , cultural o r o the r specia l u s e s . Within th is a r e a , which extends westwards as f a r a s the River Irwell between Bridge S t ree t and Quay S t ree t , a re si tuated the Police Headquar ters , the Courts of Jus t ice , the Ci ty ' s Education Offices - now located in Crown Square , and a number of o ther buildings completed in recen t y e a r s .

33. A r e p o r t by t h e City Architect and the City Planning Officer on municipal accommodation (Appendix F , Report No. 18) recent ly analysed the growth in Local Government s e r v i c e s and employment. At the present t i m e about a third of the municipal offices a r e located outside the civic group and i t w a s es t imated that if the r a t e of expansion of s e r v i c e s dur ing the past fifteen y e a r s w e r e to be projected, an additional 800,000 s q u a r e feet of s p a c e would b e likely to b e requ i red over the next ten to fifteen years , to a l levia te overcrowding, to c a t e r f o r additional staff apd those a t present accommodated outside, the Town Hall, and f o r extensions to the Centra l L l b r a r y and the Police Headquar te r s . It i s proposed that s i t e s that can readi ly be linked to the Town Hall should be acquired f o r municipal purposes to provide f o r p resen t and future needs Plans have been approved f o r a new Majgst ra tes ' Court , to be built adjoiuing the Courts of Justice m Crown Square and t h e r e is a l so a proposal to e r e c t a new County Court and extensions to the exis t ing Courts of Jus t ice .

(iv) Warehousing and Industry

34. T h e significant fact revealed in the 1966 Land Use Survey,is the extent of warehousing space distr ibuted evenly throughout the study a r e a , while industry i s concentrated in the f r inge a r e a s . (As shown in T a b l e 10 of Appendix C) . T h e City Cen t re was tradit ionally

9 5, -, G,: . . - g;. ;,L . .

"

, F

the location for textile warehousing and distribution ; many of these uses a r e now housed in obsolete buildings o r in a r e a s made obsolete by inadequate servicing facili t ies. The canals and r i v e r s a t an ear l ie r date provided access and water resources for warehousing and industry respectively ; a number of industries s t i l l remain in the Medlock Valley on the southern side of the Central Area,some of which have not changed for a hundred yea r s . Many of the older industrial uses a r e declining, especially those connected with cotton and textiles generally and even if Board of T rade policy on location of industry w e r e to change, Central Area locations would not be suitable for the establishment of major new industries, At the present t ime, establishments dependent on a high level of se rv ice accessibility a r e tending to move outside the central core to s i tes better related to the pr imary road system and from a planning point of view it i s desirable that this trend should be encouraged to f r ee the central s t ree t system f rom a s much heavy goods traffic a s possible.

3.5. These various trends may be seen now,with many s to re s taking deliveries to their premises direct f rom the factory, whilst Lewis 'S and Kendal's have their warehouses well outside the Central Area . The Manchester Guardian and Evening News a r e also planning to move from their congested s i t e in Cross Street. The Abattoir, former ly located in the Water Street a r e a , has already moved out to a modern complex of buildings a t Philip's Park andwithin a few yea r s the Smithfield Wholesale Fru i t and Vegetable Market will close after a new market , to be built a t Gorton, i s completed.

36, T h e locational c r i te r ia for industrial and s torage uses include good access to the national motorway system by means of the pr imary road network, absence of congestion and the availability of land lending itself to economic development that will enable modern handling techniques td he used. The linkage to the Central Area i s now essentially on the distributive side and now that the ' l iner t ra in ' concept of railway freight se rv ices i s being developed, good road access to the freight terminals and t ransfer

depots replaces direct r a i l access a s a cr i ter ion.

37. The City Centre Map assumes that decentralisation of warehousing and industrial uses will continue to take place from the central core a r e a of the City. The removal of warehousing f r o m the core alone would re lease a large a r e a of land for commercial and other purposes. It is envisaged that the a r e a required for industrial use will increase by about a fifth, but in the future this will include provision fo r warehouse and s torage uses moving out f rom si tes in the core , with their high values and attendant problems of accessibility, servicing difficulties and congestion,

38, The industrial allocation (which will include s torage and warehouse functio'ns) amounts to 28'1 a c r e s and i s located largely on the south- eastern and south western s ides of the Central Area. This should be adequate to ensure that light industrial o r warehousing concerns which have important linkages t o Central Area functions, can be relocated in close proximity and yet obtain good access and servicing arrangements .

(v ) Entertainrnent

39. Manchester i s known for i ts high level of musical and ar t is t ic activity but unfortunately this i s not altogether reflected in the extent and cluality of the facilities available. Apart f rom the reconstruction of the F r e e Trade Hall following war damage, the recently opened University Theatre, and the new Renold Building of the Institute of Science and Technology which i s made available for musical and other activities, there has beenno modern o r post-war accommodation built for music, opera, ballet, sport o r recreation, in the Central A r e a . Major Entertainment in the form of cinemas, theatres , public halls, clubs and restaurants , the Midland Hotel, Y . M . C . A . , and the Central Library a r e located mainly along Oxford Street and Peter Street , on the southern side of the City Centre . Apart f rom the Opera House, situated on Quay Street, and the City Hall off Deansgate - which i s used for exhibitions, the Palace Theatre, the

Night life on Oxfor'd Street

L ibra ry Theatre , the F r e e T r a d e Idall, the Alber t Hall, as well a s most of the C i t y ' s main c i n e m a s - including the Gaurnont and the Odeon, :I a r e a l l in c lose proximity . About 60% of these , fac i I i t ies l ie within a q u a r t e r of a mi le of the junction of Oxford Street and Portland S t r e e t . T h e City A r t Gal lery , the Portico L ibra ry and the Li terary and Philosophical Society a r e a l l c l o s e a t hand.

40 . T h e City Cen t re Map proposals provide f o r a n a r e a of 35 a c r e s on e i t h e r s ide of Oxford

. - . St ree t t o be redeveloped predominantly f o r cul tura l , enter ta inment and l e i s u r e act iv i t ies , including the es tabl ishment of a major regional a r t s and enter ta inment c e n t r e within the a r e a + . -

1 a +? --

bounded by Charlotte St reet , Portland Street , - .

Chepstow Street , Great Bridgewater St reet , Lower Mosley S t ree t and Mosley S t r e e t . T h e City Council, in March 1965, author ised the preparat ion of Comprehensive Development Area proposals in respec t of the area proposed f o r the A r t s Cen t re a n d c e r t a i n adjoining lands, a t present occupied in the main by old warehousing accommodat ion.

4 1 . The main impetus which led t o the proposals for an A r t s Centre c a m e f r o m negotiations that took place and a r e continuing with the A r t s Council ,witl~ a view t o the es tabl ishment of a new Opera House with a res ident company, that would enable f i r s t c l a s s opera and ballet facil i t ies to be es tabl ished on a semi-permanen t bas i s f o r the f i r s t t i m e outside London. T h e support of the Minis ter of A r t s f o r th i s proposal h a s been expressed and a suitable s i t e is available within the a r e a .

4 2 . Negotiations a r e a l s o proceeding with a view t o the establishment of a new live thea t re project within the c e n t r e and discuss ions have been held with the National F i lm T h e a t r e f o r the inclusion of a cinema a l s o . In the meant ime, the National F i l m Thea t re plan to es tabl ish themse lves in the a r e a and build up an audience by uti l ising a n exis t ing c inema in Oxford S t r e e t .

ENTERTAINMENT 43. Another importa.nt e lement to be provided \\\

in the proposed A r t s Cen t re i s a n extension to the main City Ar t Gallery in Mosley Street and res tauran t S, offices, studios and other faci l i t ies would a l s o be included. Comprehensive planning proposals have been p r e p a r e d f o r the whole of a wider a r e a indicating how t h e s e va r ious enter ta inment and cul tura l u s e s might be re la ted and these a r e descr ibed l a t e r on in th i s r e p o r t ; a working party i s a l s o investigating the provision of a Museum of Science and Technology within th is a r e a .

4 4 . Pre l iminary proposals have a l s o been put fo rward f o r about 23 a c r e s of land a t present occupied by Cent ra l Railway Station (the c l o s u r e of which h a s recent ly been approved by t h e Minis ter of Transpol-t)and the Deansgate Goods Yard whlch h a s a l ready c l o s e d . Th is a r e a i s par t icular ly suitable f o r the provision of m a j o r c a r parking faci l i t ies t o s e r v e the Ci ty Cen t re a s a whole, but the s i t e could a l s o be exploited f o r rec rea t iona l and enter ta inment purposes . It h a s been suggested that the fine T r a i n Hall, l i s ted a s a building of a r c h i t e c t u r a l o r h is tor ic in te res t , might be used f o r exhibition purposes , although no decis ion h a s yet been made and a l ternat ive proposals f o r th is use, outside the City Cen t re , a r e a l s o under considerat ion. The exis t ing City Exhibition Hall which is si tuated nearby,will be affected by a major highway proposal and i s reaching the end of i t s useful l i f e . The introduction of a var ie ty of u s e s fo r rec rea t ion and exhibition purposes on th i s s i te , (which i s adjacent to the enter ta inment a r e a of the City) would enable advantage t o be taken of a variety of s e r v i c e s including c a r parking and would undoubtedly a c t a s a s t imulus t o other development in a n a r e a which is otherwise just outside the main c e n t r e of ac t iv i ty .

45 . A regional c e n t r e of the s i ze and importance of Manchester should be able to offer a range of enter ta inment and l e i su re pursu i t s second t o none, and the mos t efficient u s e of costly faci l i t ies f o r opera , ballet o r s p o r t will c l ea r ly be achieved if they a r e located in the h e a r t of the conurbation where

they a r e most readily access ib le t o the l a rges t population and c a n s e r v e the widest catcliment a r e a . Moreover , the es tabl ishment of p r i m a r y faci l i t ies of th i s nature will genera te a demand f o r l imited se rv ice act iv i t ies such as res tauran t s , coffee b a r s , night c lubs and hote ls - a l l welcome fea tu res of the l ife of a City which i s a l ready m o r e lively ' a f t e r h o u r s ' than many of i t s coun te rpar t s .

(vi) Education

46. T h e c e n t r e h a s s t r o n g educational t radi t ions Originally Chethams School (which s t i l l r e m a i n s adjacent to the Cathedral) , t h e G r a m m a r School, Owens College and the Mechanics Insti tute-later . to become the College and then the Institute of Science and Technology, w e r e a l l located in t h e

HIGHER EDUCATION

c e n t r e . As the City grew s o m e moved out and today higher educational faci l i t ies a r e now located in t h r e e main a r e a s .

47. Owens College developed into the Universi ty complex we know today,some dis tance to the south of the cen t re , and o ther City Colleges have a l s o been built in th is a r e a , with the new John Dalton Collzge of Technology within the c e n t r e nor th of Mancunian Way. T h e Manchester Universi ty Institute of Science and Technology h a s expanded, and the or iginal College Building in Whitworth Street i s now only one of a complex of i t s buildings within the c e n t r e ; the new College of C o m m e r c e , the Mather Tra in ing College and the Cen t ra l G r a m m a r School fo r G i r l s a r e a l l located nearby . In addition t h e r e a r e colleges f o r fu r the r education on the opposite s i d e of the cen t re , namely the new St . Jolm's College and the College of Building in Hardman S t r e e t . All these insti tutions m e e t a regional demand and provide a s e r v i c e that only a l a r g e c e n t r e of population can suppor t .

48. T h e original Development Plan allocated 12 a c r e s within the study a r e a fo r educational purposes . T h e expansion of higher education faci l i t ies meant that th is allocation w a s insufficient and in 1956 and 1961 the City Council decided to r e s e r v e a fu r the r 27 .5 a c r e s p r i m a r i l y f o r extensions to the Institute of Science and Technolagy. Subsequently, amendments to t h e Development Plan have been approved which recognise t h e s e and o ther al locations totall ing 31 a c r e s , a s f a r a s the study a r e a i s concerned. In addition two col leges , the St . John 'S College of F u r t h e r Education and the College of Building have been built on 9 a c r e s of land originally al located f o r genera l cul tura l o r o the r specia l u s e s and the new College of C o m m e r c e and the Mather Tra in ing College occupy 6 a c r e s of land originally al located fo r Cen t ra l A r e a purposes . T h e additional land requ i red f o r education within the study a r e a h a s thus resu l t ed in the original Development Plan allocation being inc reased by s o m e 46 a c r e s and th is i s ref lected in the City C e n t r e Map, which m a k e s provision f o r 58 a c r e s to be devoted to educational and all ied purposes , including the National Computing

Cent re development

49. T h e requ i rements of the Universi ty, the Insti tute, the City Colleges and t h e United Manchester Hospitals a r e being co-ordinated by m e a n s of the joint planning proposals f o r the Higher Education Precinct , an a r e a of 280 a c r e s , which have been drawn up by M e s s r s . Wilson and Womersley and which a r e r e f e r r e d to in m o r e deta i l l a t e r in the r e p o r t . It is possible that f u r t h e r a r e a s between t h e Higher Education Precinct and the h e a r t of the Ci ty Cen t re a t p resen t p r i m a r i l y occupied by warehousing and indust r ia l u s e s m a y eventually have to b e considered f o r educational purposes and t h e s e a r e a s will be the subject of f u r t h e r study.

( v i i ) Residential

5 0 . Until midway through the nineteeth century a l a rge proportion of the population actually lived in o r c lose t o the City C e n t r e . The growth of the rai lway s y s t e m and the inc rease in warehouse functions resuI ted in res ident ia l uses being pushed f u r t h e r out f r o m the c e n t r e .

5 1 . In m o r e recen t t i m e s development f o r c o m m e r c i a l purposes h a s reduced s t i l l fu r the r the provision of res ident ia l accommodation and although about 4, 000 p e r s o n s st i lI remained a t the l a s t census i n the study a r e a , only the Lower Byrom Street a r e a may be identified a s remotely res iden t ia l in c h a r a c t e r . Even in th i s a r e a , a p a r t f r o m the fine and well c a r e d f o r Georgian town houses on John Street occupied in the main by medica l consultants and professional offices, m o s t of the remaining accommodation is sub-s tandard and much of it is subject to c l e a r a n c e p roposa l s .

5 2 . F r o m a planning point of view t h e r e i s a s t rong 'p r ima facie ' c a s e f o r r e v e r s i n g the h i s to r ica l t r end and encouraging the re- es tabl ishment of res ident ia l u s e in the Cen t ra l Area of the Ci ty . The r e a s o n s include : -.

(i) T h e provision of accommodation fo r

people working in o r near the City Centre and reduction of the 'journey to work' problem, cr i t ical f rom an accessibility point of view.

(ii) Provision of dwellings in the City Centre of whatever kind, adds to the overall housing stock and i s likely to make a contribution,directly o r indirectly, to the housing programme.

(i i i) People living in the centre would stimulate the growth and prosperity of the centre itself, enabling grea te r use to be made of the facilities provided. They would help to bring life to the City a t a l l hours and introduce the more human scale and element. particularly recognisable in par ts of London and other capital c i t i e s .

53. Unlike shopping, offices and commercial development, residential accommodation i s the one use where it i s possible to say that there i s virtually no limit to the demand, provided it can be built at a cost which can be afforded and provided also that it is ca r r i ed out on a scale that enables good environmental conditions to be obtained. The greatest environmental obstacle was overcome when the City Centre became smokeless and it i s the economic hurdle that now has to be surmounted.

54 . The resul ts of surveys have confirmed what had previously been suspected, namely that the a r ea which was allocated in the Development Plan for business and shopping was more than adequate t o meet foreseeable needs. There i s now a l so considerable evidence that the r e a l demand for commercial development on the periphery of the centre is by no means unlimited. The introduction of residential use would not only serve to take up some of the 'slack' resulting from the replacement of declining warehousing uses by much more compact and intensive office development, but it would in turn stimulate the provision of fur ther shopping and other facilities that would otherwise not be viable, thus contributing to the commercial life of the centre a s well.

55. A way of helping to off-set the land cost element, a reflection of the high values associated with the previous Central Area uses , i s to include a proportion of commercial development in any scheme, the mixed uses providing an opportunity to achieve an interesting and t ruly urban sca le . There a r e several ways in which i t is proposed residential accommodation should be provided on redevelopment : -

( i ) Where there is the opportunity to c rea te an a rea which is predominantly residential in character , although including a relatively small percentage of other commercial uses, and where the a rea i s sufficiently large to provide the ancillary facili t ies necessary fo r ordinary family living. It is

considered that the Smithfleld a r e a wlll be sultable f o r th is f o r m of development, once the Wholesale Market moves to ~ t s new s i t e in Goston, and compre l~ens lve planning proposals a r e a t present In c o u r s e of preparat ion.

( i i ) The next c a s e i s where the s i t e i s of sufficient s i z c fo r the redevelopmeilt to c r e a t e a new irnproved environment of i t s own, but not sufficiently l a rge to consider the provision, f o r example, of educational f ac i l i t i e s . Again a proportion of the land cos t would be absorbed by the inclusion of a n e lement of con imerc ia l development. The Lower Byrom Street a r e a , a l ready r e f e r r e d to, is suitable f o r th is f o r m of development, the Deansgate frontage f o r example, being devoted principally t o commerc ia l u s e s . Again detailed proposals a r e a t p resen t in c o u r s e of preparat ion.

(iii) Finally t h e r e is the opportunity t o include a n e lement of res ident ia l accommodation in predominantly c o m m e r c i a l development. An example is the proposal a l ready approved f o r the Corn Exchange a r e a in the vicinity of the Cathedral , where a block containing flat units i s incorporated above the podiurn level . Other a r e a s which would lend themselves to a proportion of housing a s pa r t of the comprehensive development,include the a r e a to the e a s t of Lower Mosley Street , the Cen t ra l and Deansgate Goods Yard a r e a s and the Market S t ree t redevelopment a r e a .

56. In relat ion to the l a s t two categor ies , t h e r e i s no doubt that the re is a latent demand fo r accommodation of a specia l ised na tu re ca te r ing in the main for professional business people, single people and s ina l l households who would best he able t o make us'e of City Cen t re faci l i t ies and would not r equ i re the full range of community s e r v i c e s normal ly planned in associa t ion with a res ident ia l a r e a . Th i s i s , of course , subject again to the qualification that the c o s t s should be within reason and that the f la ts themselves and the i r outlook should be reasonably a t t r ac t ive . T h e r e i s no evidence,as yet , in Manchester of any general demand by f i r m s t o maintain accommodation f o r visi t ing executives, in the way that i s common in London, but, if suitable accommodation were available, in te res t might well develop.

57. About 100 a c r e s of the study a r e a a r e considered to have potential f o r res ident ia l development and dependent on more detailed

study, it is possible that accom~noda t ion could he provided f o r a p p r o s ~ i n a t e l y 2, 000 dwellings .

58. The City Cen t re p e r f o r m s a n addit ional regional f l ~ n c t i on i n providing resident-ial llotels and anci l lary functions which c a t e r fo r business vis i tors , conferences and meetings, a s well a s complell ienti i~g tlie l e i s u r e faci l i t ies of the City. The Cent ra l A r e a contains th ree m a j o r hotels, one of which h a s been built in the l a s t five y e a r s , but t h e r e is s t i l l a s e r i o u s shor tage of hotel r o o m s of modern s tandard .

59 . Discuss ions have a l ready taken place with developers regard ing the inclusion of hotel facil i t ies in the Market Place development, the north Market S t ree t Area and Lower Mosley S t r e e t . Another location that could appropriately include a n hote l within proposals would be the l3yrom St ree t a r e a of lower Deansgate .

(vii i) Transport

6 0 . When the ra i lways and c a n a l s w e r e es tabl ished they did not in g e n e r a l penetra te t o the c e n t r e of the City, but provided t e rmina l s on the f r inge with l a r g e a r e a s devoted t o goods t raff ic ; these uses today represen t approx in~a te ly a n eighth of the land a r e a in tlie City C e n t r e . Many of these faci l i t ies , in pa r t i cu la r c e n t r a l goods depots, canal bas ins , and other anc i l l a ry warehouses , have become redundant and the land i s now non-operational and r ipe f o r redevelopment . As a resu l t , l a rge a r e a s of land around Piccadilly Station, Cen t ra l Station and the Deansgate Goods Depot will become available f o r o ther purposes; s imi lar ly , the Rochdale and Asliton cana l bas ins , c losely assoc ia ted with the land a t Piccadilly Station, a r e in a de re l i c t condition and offer considerable opportunit ies f o r redevelopnlent .

6 1 . T h e r e i s adequate land within the c o r e of thc City t o c a t e r f o r shopping, office and genera l c o m m e r c i a l r equ i rements that a r e likely t o be required in the fo reseeab le future and detailed considerat ion is being given t o the possible uses which could be located in these fo r lne r t r anspor t a r e a s . The City is s h o r t of land f o r both open space and res iden t ia l purposes and in addition,many of the s i t e s r e f e r r e d to a r e par t icular ly well located f o r m a s s c a r parking-.

62 . The Rochdale Canal, whilst s t i l l navigable in the City Cen t re i s no longer used commerc ia l ly ; i t could however, provide a pleasant pedest r ian systein in the soutliern pa r t of the City Cen t re , linking var ious open s p a c e s and appropr ia te public u s e s between the canal basin and Centra l Station. Th i s

would then provide a lil-ik to the proposals now under considerat ion f o r that section of the Rochdale Canal t o the e a s t of the City C e n t r e .

L,.and Use Changes in Perspective

63. T o s u m m a r i s e , the proposals f o r future land use (Map 7) r e p r e s e n t significant changes in al locations, based on a m o r e detailed knowledge of exis t ing use ca tegor ies and t r e n d s than h a s been possible h i ther to . The m o s t important i s a reduction of about 100 a c r e s in the a r e a al located in the Development Plan fo r shopping, con imerc ia l and civic u s e s , which a r i s e s p r imar i ly f r o m the knowledge that these uses , even when generous allowance i s made f o r anticipated growth, can be contained in a m o r e compact a r e a . The decline in warehouse and s to rage u s e s and the real isa t ion that these can no longer be c a r r i e d out efficiently in the hear t of a g r e a t c o m m e r c i a l c i ty , i s a fundamental f a c t o r in th i s r e - a s s e s s m e n t .

64 . Instead of being grouped with office use , the s t r u c t u r a l changes which a r e taking place in the requ i rements of the texti le, warehousing and distr ibutive t r a d e s have been recognised by providing f o r warehousing in a n a r e a on the per iphery of the Cen t ra l Area , with good a c c e s s , covered broadly by a n indust r ia l notation. T h i s a r e a is l a r g e r than the or iginal Development Plan allocation f o r indust ry and a l ready contains a high proportion of s t o r a g e and light indust r ia l funct ions .

65 . Within the reduced a r e a of about 390 a c r e s now proposed fo r Cen t ra l Area uses , t h e r e a r e s i x a r e a s compris ing some 140 a c r e s f o r which no comprehensive proposals have yet been p repared and which r e q u i r e fu r the r s tudy. T h e a r e a s north of Mancunian Way, between the Higher Education Precinct and c o m m e r c i a l cen t re p r o p e r , a r e not yet r i p e f o r redevelopment and the Whitworth S t r e e t a r e a in pa r t i cu la r contains a number of substant ia l buildings. On the e a s t e r n f r inge of the City Centre in the Newton Street a r e a , the predominantly l a rge old buildings s t i l l have a number of y e a r s of useful life remain ing whilst in the west , a l a r g e pa r t of the l inear a r e a south of Cen t ra l Station will be requ i red f o r the City Cen t re Road.

6 6 . An addit ional 78 a c r e s a r e suggested f o r p r i m a r i l y res iden t ia l use , most of which i s al located f o r business and shopping in the Development Plan; t h e r e h a s a l s o been a n inc reased a r e a a l located by amendment to the Development Plan fo r educational purposes .

6'/. About 30 a c r e s of rai lway land a r e likely to become available in the s h o r t t e r m f o r o ther use , some of which was used f o r warehousing purposes and additional land may become available in the fu tu re .

68. Although c a r parking does not appear a s a s e p a r a t e i t em in the tables, it has been a s s u m e d that in s o m e c a s e s th is will be provided a s an integral p a r t of reclevelopinent including o ther u s e s . The amount of vacant land is not indicated in the tables separa te ly a s many sites a r e only t emporar i ly vacant p r i o r to rebuilding 'and a r e general ly used f o r t e m p o r a r y parking purposes . Few s i t e s have remained vacant fo r any length of t i m e in the City Centre though the re are o ther vacant s i t e s on the per iphery, the Rochdale Canal bas in and Strangeways a r e a s being the two m o s t important .

69. The proposals would allow for change and growth; the re i s enough land t o meet a l l fo reseeab le needs , a p a r t f r o m c o m m e r c i a l r equ i rements , including socia l , cul tura l , recreat ional , educational and enter ta inment faci l i t ies - a l l the buildings and activit ies expected in a metropoli t ian c e n t r e . However, a p a r t f r o m considerat ions of land use , the re i s the a l l important question of environment; a communications and c i rcula t ion f ramework that will e n s u r e access ibi l i ty without des t roying the quality of ci ty life, that will allou7 f o r pedest r ian and vehicular circulation and the creat ion of new t raff ic f r e e a r e a s and pleasant surroundings .

3. Circulation and Communications

Mancunian Way looking east

1. Any City C e n t r e Plan has to repre; eilt a reasonable balance between the three var iable fac to rs of accessibil i ty, envirorlment and econonly enunciated in the Buchanan Repor t . Indeed i t may be sa id that the whole future of c i t i e s depends on being able to provide a sufficiently high degree of access ibi l i ty to e n s u r e that they can function effic;iently and conveniently whilst c rea t ing an environment of quality to make thein c e n t r e s of a t t ract ion. Tlie essent ia l re la t ionship between land u s e and the planning of the whole t ranspor ta t ion sys tem, public and private, i s now being increasingly r e a l i s e d and accepted, although the techniques a r e a s yet imperfect ly worked out and the r e s e a r c h and survey information needed i s complex and demanding in t e r m s of t ime and r e s o u r c e s .

2 . In the Manchester a r e a , work is proceeding on the conurbation trarisportation survey fo r the Ci ty Region, the f i r s t a t tempt to su rvey and ra t ional ise the t ranspor ta t ion s y s t e m a s a whole in re la t ion to the exist ing and future land u s e pattern, a s dist inct f r o m a purely highway planning e x e r c i s e ; the r e s u l t s of this su rvey a r e not expected to be available until mid -- 1969. Although they will c l ea r ly h e re levant to the planning of the Manchester City Cen t re , the h e a r t of the conurbation, i t i s n e c e s s a r y to make -

p r o g r e s s in the meant ime and to ra t ional ise a s f a r a s possible the c i rcula t ion and conirnunication s t ruc tu re , in o r d e r not to delay the reconst ruct ion of a r e a s that a r e overdue f o r redevelopment .

3 . T h e c i rcula t ion s t r u c t u r e on which the p resen t City C e n t r e Map is based r e l a t e s to th ree m a j o r r e p o r t s , namely the S , E . L . N . E . C . Highways Plan of 1962, the Joint Report on C a r Parking of 196'/ and the Joint Report on the City C e n t r e Road of 196'/, and i t will of c o u r s e be rev i sed and amended if n e c e s s a r y when the t ranspor ta t ion survey information i s avai lable . Reference should be made to the t h r e e r e p o r t s r e f e r r e d to above f o r Inore detailed explanations of highway planning in re la t ion to road capacity and c a r parking policy and proposals , a s this document only a t tempts to give a broad pic ture in relat ion to the plailning of the City Cen t re as a whole.

4 . T h e p r i m a r y road network proposed fo r the conurbation in the S. E . L . N. E. C . Highway Plan envisaged an expenditure of £300 million in the twenty y e a r period to 1982. and the p resen t and expected r a t e s of investrrient for the a r e a would show that i t appears

* A IIighway Plan 1962:

South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire area highway engineering committee; the other two reports are listed i n appendix F.

reasonable to regard the £300 million a s being the upper l imit for the period. Moreover, a s fa r a s tlle City Centre is concerned, the availability of routes for pr imary roads is severely limited by economic and environmental considerations. Vdhere c a r parking facilities a r e concerned, tile essence of the proposals put forward in the Joint Report on Car Parking is the balancing of parking facilities with road capacity in peak and off peak times in s tep with the improvement of the road sys tem. The s t rategy of location i s influenced by the availability of potential s i tes and a reas where a satisfactory relationship can be obtained either to the pr imary o r secondary network, according to the purpose for which the c a r parks a r e intended.

5 . To this extent, it seems reasonable to anticipate that the resul ts of the transportation survey, when available, will be more likely to lead to a refinement ra ther than a radical r e - a s ses smen t of the circulation arrangements on which this f i r s t City Centre Map i s based. With regard to public transport, studies a r e being undertaken at thc present time with particular relevance to making better use of existing r a i l facilities and their p o s s b l e extension, including the introduction of an entirely new Rapid Trans i t l ine. Although these studies a r e by no means complete, they a r e being considered against the background of the Central Area land use and circulation pattern now put forward.

The Primary Road Network

6 . The road system in the City of Manchkster Development Plan was basically a r ing and radial system, a ' spider 's web', and the innermost ring was planned to follow the line of Portlaild Street, then to run behind Central Station and along Lower Byrom Street and Gartside Street until it reached the River I r~vel l a t filbert B1-idge. It was then to run along a structural deck over the Irwell itself, coming off tlle River to run along the City Primary road proposals,which would supercede side of the Cathedral and completing the ring Development Plan alignrnents,shown in round dots

along Callnon S t ree t , joining up with Portland S t ree t again a t Piccadilly Gardens . 'The o ther road proposals c losely affecting the Cen t ra l Area w e r e a pa r t of the second ring, the Inner Ring Road, which passed in f ront of the p resen t s i t e of the C . I . S , building and along G r e a t Ancoats S t r e e t . In addition a link road, (then known a s Route 17/7) was planned on the south s ide of the Centra l Area between the City Cen t re and Inner Ring Roads; the link road i s now known a s 1Mancunian Way and i s in operat ion. 'This sys tem, with an adjustment to the Inner Ring Road, involviilg i t s rclocation nor th of and paral le l to i t s original l ine along Grea t Ancoats St reet , was the network analysed and incorporated into the 1962 S . E . L . N . E . C . Highway Plan.

7 . I t was the Ci ty Cen t re Road in i t s original f o r m that presented such s e r i o u s problems f r o m both the env i ron~nen ta l planning and constructional points of v iew. The smal l c i rcumference of the r ing, s o c lose to the c o r e , the f requency of the junctions and the location of v e r y substantial statutory under takers ' s e r v i c e s , c r e a t e d considerable engineering design problems .

8 . F r o m a planning point of view, the increas ing complexity of the road, compared with the original single level conception, had Inany undesi rable effects, of which undoubtedly the mos t s e r i o u s was the visual and actual physical separation. of the Cathedral and Chetham's Hospital, the his tor ic nucleus of the City, fro111 the r e ~ n a i n d e r of the Cen t ra l A r e a . With the exception of Centra l Station, which i s now proposed f o r c losure , all the main railway s ta t ions were outside the r ing which a l so tended to se r ious ly impede local connections to and f rom the adjoining a r e a s of Salford .

9 . In consequence, it was n e c e s s a r y to recons ider the inner f ramework in the light of new s tandards and the rev i sed proposals, which were reached 111 consultation with Salford a f t e r a considerable amount of study by both Author i t ies , a r e descr ibed In detall in the Joint Report on the City C e n t r e Road.

City Centre Road

10. 'The Pr imary sys tem, a s now proposed, cons i s t s of two main new links, tangential to the Cen t ra l A r e a . The f i r s t will run f r o m the end of Mancunian V\'ay and Ches te r Road nor thwards , enter ing Sal ford a t Albert Bridge and running on the Salford s ide , behind Exchange and Victoria Stations, to connect with the Inner Ring Road in the Strangeways a r e a . T h i s rep laces the old City C e n t r e Road along the Irwell and past the Cathedral and avoids cutting off the Cathedral and the stat ions f rom the City Cen t re ; i t ~ n a l i e s i t possible to provide much be t t e r circulation between Salford and the Manchester City Centre , whilst i t a l so reduces i t s impact on the a r e a to the west of Deansgate. 'The second main link i s on the nor th s ide of the City C e n t r e where i t is co~nbined with the Inner Ring Road to provide dis t r ibutor fac i l i t i e s . T h e complex and space consunling roadworks n e c e s s a r y between the two l inks a t Strangeways will be s i ted in an a r e a which is general ly r ipe f o r redevelopment, thus avoiding the introduction of motorway s c a l e junctions into the Centra l Area i t se l f .

11. 'The third and southern s ide of the p r i m a r y road t r iangle h a s presented problems not s o amenable to solution. F r o m an environmental point of view, i t would have been advantageous to plan on thc b a s i s of Mancunian Way forming the inner -most prillzary link; th is would have uziade i t possible to enclose within the p r i m a r y sys tem both Piccadilly Station and the old and new commerc ia l development on the southern s ide of Portland Street , which i s essent ia l ly p a r t of the centra l business h e a r t of the City . Mancunian \q7ay however, was designed with a l imi ted capacity, one of i t s main purposes being to re l ieve the City C e n t r e of e a s t -west traffic proceeding f r o m the industrial a r e a of 'Trafford Park in the di rect ion of the Pennines. Traff ic generation s tudies however, indicated that the a r e a enclosed by the pr i lnary road tr iangle - if Mancunian Way were to be regarded a s the southern s ide , would have been too g r e a t an3 investigations a l so revealed

Obsolete servicing cond~tions

that Whitworth Street was incapable of being developed a s a workable solution.

1 2 . It has therefore, been necessary to accept Portland Street a s a inail1 distributor and the link on this side of the Central Area will run from the junction of the Inner Ring Road with a diversion of Oldham Road, along Newton Street, Portland Street, Chepstow Street and behind Central Station to join the new western link through Salford. It i s proposed however, that the length along Portland Street would ultimately be depressed, to allow adequate secondary c r o s s connections and minimise environmeiltal disruption. The junctions with the London Road radial and the secondary route along Cannon Street have been designed to avoid the damage to the space enclosing Piccadilly Gardens that would have resulted from the original Development Plan proposals.

13. 'The pr imary road network d e s c r ~ h e d above has been tested by the carrying out of' prelinlinary traffic generation studies, details of which a r e included a s an appendix to the Joint Report on the City Centre Road.

The Secondary System

1 4 . Within the triangle formed by the pr imary network, la rge scale road improvemeilts have been discounted because of the cost,not only in financial but in environmental t e r m s . The secondary system is being colisidered in conjunction with the strategy of c a r parking, aimed a t siphoning off a s much a s possible of the private c a r traffic directly from the p r imary systems, leaving the secondary system to de'al in the main with public transport, servicing and short -stay traffic. It is based essentially on the existing main s t ree t pattern, which has a restr ic ted capacity and the intention i s to enable the best use to be made of this network by planning for the separation of pedestrians and vehicles, by limitcd improvements to the main routes and by the use of tralfic management teclliliques where these can be adopted witliout ser ious

Proposed primary and secondary road network

environmental ef fects . In a r e a s where comprehensive deve lop~nen t i s planned, the opportunity will be taken to modify the network, par t icular ly in relat ion to the provision of improved se rv ic ing fac i l i t i e s .

15. In the c o u r s e of study, consideration was given to the possibil i ty of improving traffic flow by the u s e of an extensive one-way s y s t e m with i t s par t icular advantages of simplifying turning rnovernents a t c r i t i ca l junctions, but investigation revealed that the layout of the Cen t ra l A r e a did not readi ly lend itself to a solution on these l ines ; the l ikely r e s u l t would have been complex, inconvenient and confusing. In the s h o r t t e r m , a one -way t raff ic management scheme h a s been approved affecting Market S t ree t and Cannon Street , but lh i s is intended only a s an in te r im m e a s u r e until Cannon S t ree t c a n be improved and the main shopping a r e a of Marke t St reet can b e devoted to pedest r ian u s e . Eventually, when i t i s p o s s h l e to c a r r y out improvements to the Pr incess Street/John Dalton Street route,it i s intended that th is should r e v e r t to two -way working, which would enable Oxford Road (the corresponding inward rou te in the present one-way sys tem) to provide v e r y much m o r e convenient local connections between the City C e n t r e and the Higher Education Precinct .

16. T h e main routes which will r e q u i r e to be re ta ined for t raf f ic and where ce r ta in improvements and widenings will be n e c e s s a r y , include C r o s s Street /Corporat ion Street , in a north -south direction and John Dalton Street / Pr incess Street , In an e a s t -west d i rect ion. T h e r e is a danger that these s t r e e t s could a t t r a c t through-traffic a c r o s s the Ci ty C e n t r e by providing m o r e d i r e c t routes than the p r i m a r y network, but i t i s considered that the difference in design s tandards and speeds , the frequency of signal controlled junctions on the s t r e e t sys tem and i t s r e la t ive congestion, will r e s u l t in the p r i m a r y network being se lected a t all but the quie tes t t i rnes .

1'7. In many c a s e s , the main s t r e e t sys tem conveniently s e p a r a t e s a r e a s of different

Proposed pedestrian system shown in fine dot

32

uses and charac te r i s t i c s , but in s o m e c a s e s , a r e a s of comrnoil environmental c l l a rac te r occur on both s ides of a s t r e e t which i t will be n e c e s s a r y to r e ta in a s a main s c c o ~ l d a r y rou te . In such c a s e s , conlprehensive redevelopn~ei i t proposals a r e designed, a s far a s possible, to allow f o r g r a d e - separa ted pedest r ian ancl se rv ic ing s y s t e m s that will enable the a r e a to function a s a whole, f r e e of in te r fe rence f ro ln ext raneous t r a f f i c .

Pedestrian Circulation

18. In consider ing the c i rcula t ion s y s t e m f o r the Cen t ra l Area , the needs of the pedest r ian have received pa r t i cu la r atten'ciol~ and fo r a ilumber of y e a r s the principle of separa t ing pedest r ian a n d vehicular t raf f ic has been adopted in the design and considera t ion of redevelopment p roposa l s . T h e Ci ty C e n t r e Map indicates a sys te ln of connected pedest r ian r o u t e s . In s o m e p a r t s of t l ~ e a r e a , for exanlple between the Tourn H a l l and thc Cour t s of Jus t ice , th is takes the f o r m of a

'ground level precinct ' t r e a t m e n t . In o the r pa r t s , the topography i s exploited to p e r m i t an upper level c i rcula t ion with c r o s s i n g s o v e r the mail1 t raf f ic s t r e e t s , a n example being the Marke t S t r e e t A r e a where the fall of the ground towards C r o s s St reet /Corporat ion S t ree t p e r m i t s overhead pedes t r i an a c c e s s a c r o s s to the Marke t Place and St . Ann's Square A r e a .

1 9 . Pedest r ian ways, whether a t na tu ra l ground level o r a t the upper level , can be t r ea ted to provide incidental open s p a c e s and the whole sys te ln designed to provide sa fe and c ivi l i sed conditions for shoppers and those going about thei r bus iness in town; a l so , t raf f ic flow and condi t io~ls l o r dr iv ing on the s t r e e t s will benefit a s a r e s u l t . S t ree t s a t p resen t devoted to vehicles, where i t i s intended that the pedestr ian should ultinlately have precedence, include the Ci ty ' s main shopping s t r e e t , M a r k e t S t ree t , which i s a t [ ' resent p a r t of the trunk road systlem and S t . i \nn l s Square ~vhicli could cluickly be conver ted into an elegant culd g rac ious public space once traffic is excluded. King S t ree t ,

(bottom) L~brary Walk - -prlorlty for the jiedestr lan

which i s narrotv for traffic, but ideally proportioned a s a shopping way, tvould also J~enef i t ve ry g rea t ly f rom the exclusion of tl-affic, although due to the difficulty of a r rang ing sa t is factory servic ing, i t i s l ikely that i t will always have to remain open to vehicles for th is purpose a t ce r ta in t imes of the day.

20. It i s recognised that these ai lns cannot b e achieved overnight; the coilversion of s t r e e t s into pedest r ian ways is dependent on the provision of adequate a l ternat ive servic ing arrangements \\rhich in s o m e cases will only be possible when redevelopinent takes place . It i s a l so dependent on the provision of be t t e r faci l i t ies for traffic on the new p r i m a r y l inks and on the s t r e e t s that will continue to b e devoted to vehicular c i rcula t ion. Similarly, the achievement of an ii~clependent pedest r ian s y s t e m i s dependent on tile ca r ry ing out of redevelopment in accordailcc with the comprehensive planning proposals which a r e descr ibed in m o r e detaiI l a t e r on in this r e p o r t . P rogress i s a l ready being made and the new developn2ent fronting Crown Square is an example of a layout which contributes to the achievement of the ground level pa r t of the sys tem, whilst Gateway House a t Piccadilly Station and the proposals for the new Bank of England adjoining the Piccadilly Plaza, Portland Street , both incorporate provision fo r upper level circulation within the i r des ign.

Car Parking

2 1 . Two fac to rs de te rmine the amount of traffic that penetra tes the c e n t r a l Area a t the p resen t t ime, ~la i l le ly the capacity of the road s y s t e m a t the c r i t i ca l peak hours and the total arnount of parking available tllroughout the day . T h e c a r parking faci l i t ies , permanent and t e n ~ p o r a r y , a t p resen t available, slight1 y o u t s t r i l ~ the p resen t capaci ty of the roads a t -

peak t i m e s . Spaces remain available towards the end of the nloriling peak, s o that congestion is the major d e t e r r e n t f ac to r a t the lnolnent to commuters bringing in the i r own c a r s . l_;itel- on ho~vevcr , when the re is ample

3 3

Proposed car parking strategy

capacity on the roads, the shopper and business cal ler visiting the City will suffer the greatest difficulty and inconvenience in finding a parking space in a reasonably convenient location, so that the parking factor then becomes cr i t ical .

22 . The c a r parking strategy described more fully in the Joint Report a ims a t relating c a r parking provision to the present and future capacity of the road system, which in i ts turn is designed to meet the essential traffic needs of the Central Area and to make provision for a level of 'motorisation'acceptable in economic and environmental t e r m s .

23. The Buchanan Report 'Traffic in Towns' demonstrated that to provide for complete 'motorisation' in an a rea of Central London would mean displacing two thirds of the accommbdation to make room for roads and c a r parks . Another way of looking a t it,is that if each c a r were on average to c a r r y the equivalent of one and a half persons, about twice a s much space would be required to deal with the c a r s a s their occupants would require for their personal accommodation. In a survey ca r r i ed out in 1960, of the 144, 000 people who travelled into the Manchester City Centre to work each day, about 9% came by c a r , 25% by train and 66% by bus . If the 'journey to work' o r commuter ' element were therefore to be based entirely on private transport, the capacity of the approach road system would have to be capable of dealing with eleven t imes the present traffic flow a t the peak hours with c a r parking in the Central Area to correspond - clear ly an impossibility.

24. The s tar t ing point of the investigation into c a r parking strategy was the 1962 S. E . L.N. E . C . Highway Plan which was based on a traffic flow of two and a half tirnes the 1960 figure on the approach routes . On this bas i s , after making allowance for public t ransport , business and commercial vehicles, it was estimated that a maximum of 32, 000 private vehicles could be ca r r i ed by the fully improved road system at.the crit ical peak

period. In addition , i t would have been possible to provide c a r parking for shoppers and business ca l le rs who would be using the roads outside the peak hours, such c a r parks being closed during the morning and evening peak periods. Altogether i t was estimated that up 47,000 c a r parking spaces would be required in 1982, assuming the full implementation of the S. E . L .N . E . C . road proposals.

25. These ultimate figures a r e of importance in assessing the sca le and location of the a r eas that should be reserved for c a r parking purposes, but they also se rve to show that even with the Highway Plan fully implemented, little more than a quarter of all the workers in the City will be able to travel to work by c a r . Between the present situation and the position forecast in the S. E . L . N . E . C . Plan, the more immediate problem is to keep the c a r parking provision in s tep with road capacity, bearing in mind that even now there i s spa re capacity available on the approach roads a t off-peak t imes. The emphasis must be placed on facilities for essential traffic and for the relatively shor t - te rm parker, the shopper and business cal ler on whom the prosperity of the City depends .

26. The locational policy put forward in the

Congestion

Joint Report on C a r Parking, which i s reflected in the City Centre Map, a ims a t providing the grea tes t possible access h i1 ity and convenience f o r the shor t - te rm parker , whilst making it possible for the grea tes t amount of traffic to gain access to c a r parks from the pr imary road system without traversing the limited capacity s t r ee t system of the central co re . Potential land availability has of course, been a major factor in the selection of suitable locations, but i t is fortunate that a considerable amount of land likely to be redundant for railway operational purposes and other land r ipe for redevelopment, is strategically located for this purpose.

27. Broadly, the locations fall into three categories a s shown on Map 8 . The f i r s t a r e the 'gateway' o r 'outer ' parks on the radial approaches, outside the hear t of the City Centre and easi ly accessible by walking o r local bus t ransport ; these will be particularly suitable for long-stay parking. The second category a r e major ' terminal ' parks related to the central c o r e and served wherever possible by direct links f rom the pr imary system, independent of the central a r e a s t r ee t system itself; dependfng on location, these a r e suitable for both shor t and long-stay parking. Finally, there i s scope for a limited amount of 'inner' parking on selected s i tes served from the Central Area s t r ee t system itself; this will be entirely shor t -stay and would also provide operational parking for developments where i t has not been possible f o r it to be provided in the buildings themselves .

28. In new development, operational c a r parking (i . e . parking necessary for the actual running of the building itself) and adequate facili t ies for loading and unloading would of course, be required, although general parking requirelnents would be catered for by the overall Central Area sys tem. A unified and flexible pricing and timing system-for c a r parking,capable of continuous adjustment to take account of changing circumstances, will be an essential element if the best use is to be made of the facili t ies provided.

Public Transport

29. It is evident that an attractive and efficient public t ransport system is an essential component of any plan fo r a metropolitan a rea ; it will be vital for the journey to work, a n d , in the interests of the economics of the syscem itself, it i s desirable that i t should be sufficiently attractive to compete with private transport for a proportion of the shopping, entertainment and other journeys to the cent re .

30. About two -thirds of the people employed in the City Centre travel by bus, the serv ices being provided not only by the City's own Transpor t Department, but by the undertakings of neighbouring authorities and private opera tors . Bus terminal points a r e d i s t rbu ted throughout the City Centre, the major ones being a t Piccadilly and Chorlton Street Bus Stations, Stevenson Square and Cannon Street, there a r e also important terminal points a t Lower Mosley Street Bus Station, a t Albert Square, Portland Street, Deansgate/Exchange and King Street West. In addition, the Salford Bus Station a t Victoria Bridge Street adjoins the Manchester boundary. Eventually it is hoped that i t may be possible to concentrate bus station and terminal facilities in four main locations shown on

Existing and proposed pub1 ~c transport termina Is

Map S, so a r ranged that cross-Ci ty and terminating- routes will combine to give a be t t e r se rv ice through the Cen t ra l Area itself, re la ted to c a r parking and r a i l facil i t ies as par t of an inlproved overall t ranspor ta t ion sys tenl ; the location and s tandard of stopping faci l i t ies within the Centra l A r e a - integrated \ \?here possible with redevelopment, will therefore he of e x t r e m e importance. On environmental grounds i t i s highly des i rab le that the bus stat ion a t Picadilly Gardens - the nlost extensively used, be res i t ed but th is i s dependent on redevelopment p r o g r e s s in the a r e a suitable for i t s relocation and a t th is s t age i t can only be regarded a s a long t e r m poss ibi l i ty .

31. It is difficlllt to escape the conclusion that buses will always suf fe r due to the competi t ion fo r road space with other t r a n s p o r t . Congestion r e s u l t s in increased c o s t s and deter iora t ion in s e r v i c e and they become progress ively l e s s able to offer the speed and comfor t n e c e s s a r y to a t t r ac t passengers away f r o m the private c a r . Although traffic management m e a s u r e s may be designed to give p r io r i t i e s to buses , the provision of s e p a r a t e bus l anes over extensive d i s tances , a s dist inct f rom s h o r t s t r a teg ic lengths of s t r e e t s , poses a lmos t insuperable difficult ies.

3 2 . T h e railway s y s t e m , with i ts s e p a r a t e r e s e r v e d t r a c k s , h a s many potential advantages and can offer speed, comfor t and safe ty to balance against the door to door convenience of pr ivate t r a n s p o r t . 'Park and r i d e ' and bus interchange facil i t ies a t s ta t ions in the ou te r a r e a s can contribute toxvards overcoming the problem of d is tance between home and stat ion, but equally important is that t h e r e should be penetration of good local bus connections f rom the Cen t ra l Area s ta t ions to the business and c o ~ n m e r c i a l a r e a s . The r a i l sys tem i s responsible f o r c a r r y i n g about 35, 000 o r about 25!? of the workers in ttle M~inches te r Cen t ra l Area, mainly on th ree electrif ied rou tes to Wi ln~s low on the south, i l l t r incham to the southwest and Bury to the north ~ l n d

the re a r e o ther l ines to Rochdale, I r l a m , Knutsford, Hazel Grove, Buxton and Glossop, which a r e a lso used fo r colnmuting p u r p o s e s .

33. Unfortur~ately wit11 the exception of Centra l Station, (which is the l e a s t sui table fo r rai lway operational purposes and is due to c lose) the other s ta t ions a t Piccadilly, Victoria and Exchange and Oxford Road a r e by no m e a n s ideally si tuated to s e r v e the cen t ra l d i s t r i c t , being on the f r inge; in pa r t i cu la r the re i s no easy connection between Victoria and Piccadil ly. Tile l a t t e r , the main terminal stat ion fo r the rapid e lect r i f ied main l ine s e r v i c e s to London and the Midlands i s about fifteen minutes walking dis tance f rom the principal office a r e a s of King S t r e e t and Alber t Square . When Cent ra l Station is c losed, jt i s the intention of Brit ish Rail to d iver t the s e r v i c e s a t p resen t handled the re to Oxford Road, which will become of g r e a t e r importance, and to Piccadil ly.

34. At the p resen t t ime s ludies a r e being c a r r i e d out by a team constituted of represen ta t ives of the Nlinistry of 'Transport , British Rail and off icers of the Corporat ion, widl the object of examining how the exist ing r ;~i lw;~y l ines cc111 be exploited to provide a g r e a t e r contribution t~ the overa l l solution of

the transportation problem. Also a detailed feasibility study i s being car r ied out by M e s s r s . de Leuw Cather and Partners, Co~lsultant Engineers, for a new rapid t ransi t route extending f rom Manchester Airport and Wythenshawe in the south to Middleton (Langley) in the nor th . The new route would run right through the Central Area and the Higher Education Precinct and both parallel studies a r e v e r y much concerned with the provision of better through and interchange connections to enable the whole of the Central Area to be se rved from the principal ra i l and rapid t ransi t routes extending throughout the City and the Region. These a r e the f i r s t s teps towards the design of an integrated public t ransport system, whilst the extension of rapid t ransi t facil i t ies would lead to a r e -organisation 01 the pattern of bus services , the emphasis being on a wider coverage of feeder s e rv i ce s . A s in the ca se of the City Region Land Use/Transportation Survey, the resul ts of these studies will c lear ly be of relevance to the planning of the Central Area of Manchester and the present planning proposals may well need modification once decisions have been taken. 'There is no doubt that new facilities could alleviate very substantially the problems of accessibil i ty and stimulate the fur ther growth and dynamism of the hear t of the conurbation.

35. 'The s t ruc ture of the City Centre proposals, a s put forward would not be radically affected a s account has already been taken to some extent of those t rends . The eventual 'modal spl i t ' a s between public and private t ransport will no doubt be influenced by the quality of the public t ransport sys tem and the readiness o r otherwise, a s yet untested, of the motoris t to pay economic charges for Central Area parking facil i t ies.

4.Environmental Standards 1 . ~t i s not sufficient just t o provide good

and Objectives access ibi l i ty and the rigllt location f o r regional faci l i t ies ; prosper i ty i s relatecl to the continuance and developlnent of the Cen t ra l Area a s a c e n t r e of a t t ract ion a t a t i m e when higher s t andards of surroundings f o r living and ~vork ing a r e not only apprecia ted but a r e beginning- t o be taken f o r g ran ted . Landscaping and open space, good civic design and fine building-S, f reedom t o walk about in safety, a l l that i s meant by the word 'amenity ' a r e becoming increasingly recognised a s essen t ia l ingredients t o the s u c c e s s and survival of a metropoli tan c e n t r e and a r e Ily no means just ' f r i l l s ' to he added to the most economical and functional solut ions .

2 . A determined a t tack i s being made on the image of g r i m e and obsolescence associa ted with the towns and c i t i e s of the f i r s t indust r ia l e r a and a l ready in Manchester c lean a i r h a s made a s t r ik ing contribution t o the a tmosphere and appearance of the City C e n t r e . The cleaning of the two pri;cipal civic buildings, the Cathedral and the Old Town Hall, i s symbolic and other buildings whlch have recent ly emerged f r o m the ' da rk ages' include the Friends ' Meeting House and the Portico L i b r a r y . Owners of c o m m e r c i a l buildings have responded and in some c a s e s have taken the lead and the resul tant appearance i s often a r e m i n d e r of the quality of design and robus tness of constructioll of the Victorian e r a that h a s remained f o r s o long unappreciated.

3 . T h e r e a r e s t i l l many buildings however, that a r e physically and functionally obsolete, and extraneous traffic, congestion of people

St A n n ' s Passage -a traditional pedestrian route Manchester Cathedral -heart of the medieval town

39

The Rochdale Canal north of Wh~tworth Street West

and vehicles, noise and pollution reduce the environnlent to suh-s tandard condit ions. At l eas t one th i rd of tlie c o r e of the City needs rebuilding-, in the s e n s c that buildings a re obsolete and the lay out unsatisfactory and whilst p r e s s u r e s f o r redevelopment in these a r e a s a r e manifes t , the opportunity ex i s t s to change much of the obsolete fabr ic of the c e n t r e and a fundamental objective of the planning proposals which have been drawn up, i s the at tainment of a n environment of quality in the a r e a s ~vhich requ i re comprehensive t r e a t m e n t . In a very r e a l s e n s e they represen t a vision of a resurgen t c e n t r e that could be built t o meet known requ i rements within a reasonably shor t t i m e .

4 . T h e r e a r e many exist ing s t r e e t s and buildings however, with a c h a r a c t e r that i s worth re ta ining and h e r e the challenge l i e s in the i r integration into the new f a b r i c . The a i m i s t o h a r n e s s the fo rces of change t o produce a Cen t ra l Area that i s efficient in human and functional t e r m s but which a l s o 'has var ie ty and c h a r a c t e r . In s o m e p a r t s the emphas i s will be on c a l m and dignity, in o t h e r s on gaiety and l iveliness, whilst the s c a l e will vary f r o m the spacious and monun~enta l t o the personal and in t imate . C h a r a c t e r i s a m o r e elusive quality; physical c h a r a c t e r can be c r e a t e d in pa r t by ca re fu l and sensit ive pIanning and design but i t is a l s o built up through t ime and is a 'reflection of human exper ience, ideas and asp i ra t ions over the y e a r s . Manchester h a s a very recognisable c h a r a c t e r and the re a r e p rec ious t radi t ions which should be c a r r i e d through and developed a s a fine new City g r o w s .

Townscape Quality and Character

5 . Within the exis t ing townscape the re a r e a number of dominant e lements a s slio\vn on Map No. 5, which contribute towards the c rea t ion of a pa r t i cu la r c h a r a c t e r fo r the City Cen t re ; the bas ic topography r e m a i n s evident but the main r i v e r , the 11-well, i s general ly hidden f r o m sight and enclosed hy high development, whilst tlie h4edlocli is now

(bottom) T h e R~ver lrwell looking north froln Alberl Br~dge

The Old Wellir~gton I n n and The Oyster Bar -unique listed bu~ ld~ngs in The Shambles

(bottom3 Lower K i n g Street --a delightful shopping area in danger of environmental erosion

largely culver ted. The Rochdale Canal runs through the Cent ra l Area linking the Ashton Canal system in the e a s t to the Bridgewater sys tem in the wes t . A reminder of the Ci ty 's e a r ly days, i t f o rms a quiet backwater that c a l l s out f o r imaginative landscape t rea tment .

6 . The railway viaducts, which run on two I

s ide s of the cen t r a l co re , c r ea t e boundaries ,p not unlike fortif ications and in the past have - a tended abruptly to separa te the cha rac t e r of h ,

the a r e a s on e i ther side of them. One of F -a.->.- - -T--

these viaducts divides Manchester and . - Salford f a r m o r e significantly than any adminis t ra t ive boundary, whilst the other ha s &X--

- - presented a n obstacle to the Institute of Science and Technology in unifying the i r old buildings on the inner s ide with the new campus on the o ther . The recent addition of Mancunian Way now gives fu r ther definition t o the southern boundary of the Central Area .

7 . Within the Cent ra l Area i tself , par t icular cha rac t e r i s given by buildings of quality inherited f rom the 19th Century. Individual buildings, which have been ' l isted' by the Minister of Housing and Local Government a s being of special a rch i tec tura l o r his tor ic in te res t , a r e s e t out in Appendix E and in the preparation of comprehensive planning proposals , par t icular c a r e i s taken t o r e s to r e o r provide a more appropria te sett ing for these buildings where th i s i s possible. The Old Town Hall and the John Rylands Library in the Civic Area a r e examples that have a l ready been studied, whilst the sett ings of the fine Cook and Watts building in Portland Street , the Portico Library and the City Art Gal lery in Mosley Street have received care fu l consideration in the design of adjoining new developments. The old Wellington Inn, in the a r e a of the Shambles and the old Market Place, (which i s scheduled a s a n ancient monument a s well a s being ' l i s t ed ' , along with the adjoining Oyster Bar) h a s presented a special problem a s i t i s s o sma l l in sca le in relation t o the development that would naturally occupy the important and valuable surrounding a r e a .

St John Street -an a rea of important architectural character

8. The ' l i s t ' of buildings i s necessa r i ly l imi ted, being r e s t r i c t e d to those of the highest value, ~ ~ h i c h were considered t o be par t icular ly worthy of recognition a t the t ime the l i s t was p r e p a r e d . 'ille bes t work of the Victorian e r a i s now coming to be inc reasingly appl-ec iated, and although the l i s t i s extended f r o m t ime t o t ime , the omiss ion of buildings f rom it does not necessa r i ly mean t~hat they Live not worthy of consideration o r al-e automatically candidates for demol i t io~ l . The problem of preseving- a wort l~whi le Ihuilding is always th2t ol' f i nd ing a n appropr ia te and e c o n o n ~ i c use fo r it; I~uilclings cannot be kept e m r t y o r owners persuaded to re ta in accommodation that i s ser iously sub- s tandard 01- no longer suita hle fo r i t s purpose . It ! S somct inics possible t o find a specia l c s e for these 1,uildings such a s a museum o r l i h ra ry , but the c o m m e r c ial building of a~:chitectural and his tor ic value that I ~ a s outlivecl i t s pract ica l usefulness c o n s t i t ~ ~ t e s a l ia l~i l i ty that the owners a r e naturally reluctant to a c c e y t .

9 . Of just as much importailce a s the preservat ion of individual good buildings, is the retention of' groups of buildings o r of a r e a s of dist inctive s c a l e and c h a r a c t e r in the City Cen t re . St . John Street , St . Ann's Scluase,

the lower par t of King S t ree t and the group formed by the Cathedral and Chetham's Hospital a r e examples . In such a r e a s , the emphas l s should be on l imi ted rebuilding and the ca re fu l integration of the new with the old, together with the exclusion of through t raff ic and environmental inlprovement by lanclscaping; the Civic Amenities Act of 1967 which f o r the f i r s t t ime m a k e s provis ion f o r the p rese rva t ion of a r e a s of c h a r a c t e r , i s par t icular ly re levant t o th is type of a r e a .

Density of Development

10. In the 19th Century and indeed dur ing the f i r s t half of th is Century, the whole of a developlllent s i te tended t o he covered by building-S; th i s was clue t o the liillitations of s t r u c t u r a l techniques available and except in the c a s e of c e r t a i n l a rge e s t a t e s , the effective absence of any overal l con t ro l . A m a z e of na r row s t r e e t s u s u a l l ~ meant that lighting conditions w e r e poor, se rv ic ing and loading faci l i t ies were 1ninima.1 and t h e r e u7as l i t t le attention paid t o the re la t ionship with adjoining buildings o r to 'good n e i g l ~ l ~ o u r l i l ~ e s s ' . Most detri inental of all 147;~s the congesion caused hy the i-ntensity of developluent in the contes t of a s t r e e t sys tenl that xvas inadequate, congested a.nd tlang;crous, even i l l The clays of

the t r a m c a r and h o r s e , before motor t r a n s p o r t c a m e on to the scene .

11. The m e a s u r e usually adopted today f o r the control of density i s the 'plot , r a t i o f ; th is is defined in Appendix D and r e p r e s e n t s the relat ionship of the total f loor space in a building to the net a r e a of the s i t e t o be developed. In 1946, the then M i n i s t ~ y of Town and Country Planning published a handbook, 'The Redevelopment of Cen t ra l A r e a s ' which f i r s t put fo rward the use of a density unit f o r r e p l a t i n g tourn c e n t r e clevelopment and the f loor space index was suggested a s a n appropr ia te s tandard of measurement . Although s i m i l a r in principle t o plot ra t io , i t took into account a proportion of the width of the r o a d s o r s t r e e t s surrounding the site. In pract ice , i t proved suitable f o r use only over wide comprehens ive a r e a s ; in i t s application t o s m a l l e r s i t e s , i t tended t o give dis tor ted r e s u l t s where c o r n e r plots were concerned.

1 2 . In Manchester , plot r a t ios of about 5 . 0 a r e typical of the older and m o r e intensely developed a r e a s of the City Cen t re which of c o u r s e , a r e those which suffer v e r y s e r i o u s congestion. F o r new development a plot r a t io of 3 . 5 is normal ly adopted a s the maximum, although m o r e recent ly a f igure of 3 . 0 h a s been used in a r e a s to be developed p r imar i ly f o r shopping, w h e r e the main u s e s occur a t basement , ground a s ~ d f i r s t f loor levels and where the re is a high concentration and intensity of u s e . The plot r a t i o f igure is essent ia l ly a m e a s u r e of congestion and the s t andard adopted r e p r e s e n t s the r e s u l t s of exper ience and is re la ted broadly t o the capaci ty of the secondary s t r e e t sys tem t o c a r r y the traffic genera ted . F r o m a civic design point of view, i t has been found that in p rac t i ce a s tandard of th is o r d e r produces develol~ment that c a n be re la ted in s c a l e to t h e genera l c h a r a c t e r of the City Cen t re .

13. TVhere a n e l e ~ ~ l e n t of res ident ia l u s e is t o Ile included in a comprehensive scheme, i t i s not uncommon t o p e r m i t a density allowance e i t h e r rvholly o r par t ly a s a n ' ex t ra ' over and above the amount tllat ~vould 11e permittecl f o r

comnlercia l development a lone; this i s in recognitiion of the economic problems of providing res ident ia l development, which have a l ready been r e f e r r e d to , and a l s o because of the contribution that th is f o r m of development rnakes to the re l ief of the peak hour congestion problems of the journey t o work. Proposals of th is na tu re can only rea l ly be considered on the i r m e r i t s , having r e g a r d to the location of the pa r t i cu la r s i t e concerned and the degree of access ibi l i ty that c a n be provided.

14, It i s frequent-ly contended that l imitations on density inhibit redevelopment by not permit t ing the economic potential of expensive s i t e s t o be exploited. If th is argument was t o he accepted and density control relaxed, i t could only mean that s i t e values would r i s e even fu r the r in those very l imi ted p a r t s of the Cen t ra l Area that a r e par t icular ly a t t r ac t ive to developers . The resu l t would be that u s e s would be even m o r e concentrated and adequate se rv ic ing could not be provided. Ser ious over-development of a s m a l l pa r t of the Cen t ra l Area , a p a r t f r o m present ing insoluble design problems in re la t ion t o sca le and amenity, would a l s o tend t o deprive the remainder of the c e n t r e of i t s development potential; in the long run i t would be se l f - defeating.

15. It should be e n ~ p h a s i s e d that plot r a t io is a convenient tool and an approximate m e a s u r e of the intensity of development; it should not be seen as, nor can i t e v e r be, a substi tute f o r c rea t ive design and quality in a rch i t ec tu re . The l a r g e r the a r e a t o be redeveloped in one unified ownership, the m o r e flexibility is given to the disposition of buildings and within a n overal l plot r a t i o f igure i t is possible t o achieve many different solutions re la ted t o the pa r t i cu la r s i t e . It may a l s o be possible t o a r r a n g e the development in such a way t o produce open space and amenity a r e a s that will not only be of benefit t o the development i tself , hut udlich will make a favourable contribution to the provision of open space f o r the enjoyment of the public. The s tandards se t a r e those which exper ience has shown to

be valid in t e r m s of civic design and circulation, but they cannot be applied rigidly to each and every s i te .

16. In cer tain locations there may be a special case for marginally exceeding the figure, fo r example, to keep a building in scale where it overlooks a major existing o r proposed open space. On the other hand there a r e some s i tes in a r e a s which a r e not r ipe for general redevelopment and where considerations of servicing and accessibility would require the use of a much lower figure. There a r e also a reas , particularly those that a r e not right in the heart of the City Centre, where the existing development i s a t a much lower intensity and where it i s both economically feasible and desirable f rom a planning point of view to redevelop on a more intimate scale; in such cases a lower plot ra t io would be applicable. It should be s t ressed that the figure of 3.5 i s the maximum proposed, and it is only in the most exceptional locations and circumstances that a higher figure could normally be justified.

Open Space

17. An essential element of good civic design has always been the successful relationship between buildings and open spaces and the effect of architecture i s dependent on i t s sca.le and proportion in relation to i t s setting. The par t s of towns and cities that a r e thought to be pleasant a r e usually those where building elements and ,open a r e a s a r e well reconciled; there i s the dlose or.square, where the proportion of buildings surrounding it make it feel just the right size, o r the enclosed s t ree t where the buildings on either side a r e dominant but c r ea t e a feeling of intimacy and give protection f rom wind and weather. In contrast , there i s the' large open place, dominating in scale, which ca l l s for powerful and important building elements in relation to it o r the wide boulevard which may depend on landscaping fo r i ts enclosure and where the building elements a r e in a much looser relationship.

18. Open spaces of whatever kind, whether they a r e the predominantly hard surfaced a r e a s that form an integral par t of the built environment, o r the open landscaped a r e a s that provide the contrast and setting f o r it, a r e an essential par t of a civilised city. The pavement along a s t ree t car ry ing traffic represents the miniumum, most utilitarian solution to the basic problem of enabling people to walk from one part of the centre to another and there should be a n inter-locked system of a r e a s planned f o r more freedom of movement, where it is possible to stand and talk o r to s i t amongst pleasant surroundings. Moreover, although urban man has adapted himself t o accept, and indeed to enjoy, living in artificial surroundings of his own creation, he s t i l l feels a t heart the need to be linked t o the natural environment and to be reminded of the passing of the seasons; the provision of t r e e s and landscaping i s perhaps the most universally accepted interpretation of 'amenity', a s applied to towns and ci t ies .

19. Unlike London o r Paris, with their Royal Parks and Palaces, o r Edinburgh o r even Southport, where physical conditions have had the effect of providing open spaces a l ~ n g s i d e the main shopping s t ree ts , Manchester has i t s major parks situated on the outskirts where they cannot be enjoyed by those working o r visiting the Central Area; this i s a common situation in many of the older industrial c i t ies , which had already grown extensively before the need for open space was recognised and estates could be acquired fo r the purpose. The only substantial landscaped open space in the cent re of the City i s Piccadilly Gardens, the s i te of the old Infirmary, demolished in 1910 and originally bought for public building purposes. Although a most valuable 'lung: the Gardens have the disadvantage of being surrounded on a l l four s ides by traffic, whilst the Bus Station separa tes them from the shopping a r e a of the Piccadilly Plaza. Albert Square and St . Peter 's Square a r e both substantial

PiccadiII y Gardens ----a large open space surro~~rlded by traffic

(bottom) St Ann,s Churchyard

public places of civic character , but the actual a r e a available for pedestrians i s smal l in each case and both serve a s traffic roundabouts. The War Memorial Garden in the centre of St. Peter 's Square, in particular, i s crowded on fine summer days with office workers taking the i r lunch break, despite the noise and the fumes and dust from traffic. The open space with by f a r the greatest charac te r i s the small a r ea surrounding St . A m ' s Church, part paved and part planted; this i s f r ee from traffic and i t s contribution to amenity i s out of a l l proportion to i t s 'pocket handkerchief' s i ze . The Parsonage Gardens a r e also quiet and restful, but they a r e situated on the fringe of the main cent re .

20. Except in redevelopment a r e a s beyond city centres , such a s Hulme o r H a r ~ u r h e v in Manchester, o r Everton in ~ i v e r i o o l , 'or where a large open a rea such a s the Town Moor a t Newcastle has been preserved and can be developed for recreational use, economic limitations militate against the provision of large scale park a r e a s in the centre of cit ies despite the des i re and awareness of the need for them. It is unfortunately unrealistic to consider the creation of a St. James's Park right in the cent re of Manchester, even although such a bold move might well benefit the whole charac te r of the Central Area to such an extent that it could be economically justified if the global long t e rm view were to be taken. To think in these t e r m s , methods of financing would have to be more sophisticated than at present, to enable the public cos ts to be off-set by the benefits and increased values that would resul t over the centre a s a whole. The obstacle i s the high cost, ra ther than any evident shortage of land to satisfy commercial ancl other demands.

21 . Nevertheless, accepting that i t i s a t present impracticable to provide open space on such an ambitious scale, there a r e s t i l l tremendous opportunities to improve the charac te r and amenities of the Central Area

out of a l l recognition and t o link i t with exis t ing and proposed open a r e a s in the r e m a i n d e r of the City and beyond. Proposals have a l ready been put fo rward for rec la iming a l a r g e a r e a of the Valley of the River I rk which r u n s right up t o the edge of the Cen t ra l A r e a , c lose to the new C . I . S . development. It i s a t present in a d i s t ress ing and derel ic t condition, a re l i c of the activit ies of a past age , but when landscaped i t will become par t Sketch of proposals for landscaping the of a l inea r p a r b s y s t e m leading through and Rochdale Canal north of the city centre beyond Queen 's Park and Boggart Hole Clough to the open country of Heaton Park. Other proposals have been produced f o r the leng-th of the Rochdale Canal c losed t o navigation, which again r u n s f r o m the edge of the City Cen t re t o the City boundary and beyond. In th i s c a s e however, the Canal continues r ight through the Cen t ra l A r e a and th is leng-th can View looking towards the city centre of proposals

be exploited a s a continuous pedest r ian way, for the I r k Valley

landscaped and linking paved and planted a r e a s c r e a t e d a s a resu l t of redevelopment.

22 . Both in the c e n t r e and in other p a r t s of the ci ty, development h a s tended to ' t u r n i t s back' on the r i v e r s , but the Irwell offers considerable potential f o r landscaping t rea tment , including the provision of walkways along the banks . Proposals f o r new development a r e taking into account these long- term possibil i t ies including the t ransformat ion of the environs of the Manchester Cathedral . At tfie present tirne the Irwell i s badly polluted, but if the next few y e a r s could b r ing p r o g r e s s in cleaning the r i v e r s comparable with that a l ready achieved in r idding the a i r of pollution, then the t ime may not be s o f a r distant when the Dean and Canons c a n once again exerc i se t h e i r f ishing r igh t s . Much of the visual squalor in th is pa r t of the City a r i s e s f r o m the c lu t t e r of outworn buildings that line the banks of the River .

23. It i s on the p e r i m e t e r of the Cen t ra l Area that the re i s scope to provide the lnore substantial a r e a s of new open s p a c e . F o r example, the proposals fo r the redevelopment of the Cen t ra l Station a r e a could exploit the su r face of tlie c a r parking

decks to produce a substantial a r ea of open space, whilst the Smithfield Market a r e a and the Rochdale Canal Basin lend themselves to the inclusion of a r e a s of open space along with residential and other uses . In the heart of the City Centre however, the greatest opportunity l ies in the creation of a network of inter-linked open a r e a s through which the pedestrian may move safely, a s an integral par t of redevelopment, The traffic f ree routes, some of which will be above ground level, a r e indicated diagrammatically on Maps 8 and 9 . The resu l t s of such a policy will become increasingly visible a s redevelopment progresses . In the ear ly stages, new open areas , small and intimate in scale and designed to provide a setting for surrounding buildings, will be recognisble a s individual features and then gradually the form of the more continuous system will become evident.

24 . Already, for example, the completion of the f i r s t stage of the development adjoining Crown Square has changed the charac te r of this par t of the cent re completely; minor s t r ee t s have disappeared and the new pedestrian and precinctual form i s becoming apparent on the ground. The adjoining developn~ents of the District Bank and the London Assurance Con~pany in King Street, now under construction, represent an example of a CO -0rdinated scheme for two separate developments by different Architects. The layout is designed to include paved open space, a sculpture and t r ee s , for the use and enjoyment of the public a s well a s providing a setting for the buildings themselves and an amenity for their occupallts .

2 5 . The principle of pedestrian and vehicular separation, although a prerequisite to the achievement of sa fe and pleasant conditions for pedestrians, will not in itself transform the quali'ty of environment unless the pedestrian routes themselves a r e designed to provide interest and var ie ty . These may range from open landscaped a reas to a i r -conditioned shopping malls, the modern successors of the arcades of yesterday.

2 6 . It is important that open a reas created a s a consequence of redeveloplnent should be a t the level of pedestrian circulation, where they can be fully utilised and exploited. I11 this respect the 'podium' type of treatment, which covers the whole s i te with higher building elements above, is not by any means always a satisfactory solution, unless the surface of the podium can be utilised a s par t of the circulation sys tem. Where the main circulation i s on the ground, a much better effect i s obtained when the major building elements a r e related directly to a landscaped setting at ground level. The Seagram building in New York is a good example of thig whilst in Manchester the setting of S t . Andrew's House in Portland Street has contributed greatly to the amenity of the surrounding a rea , even although the planted setting is not itself accessible a s an open space. This a r ea and the recently planted a reas of the Institute of Science and 'Technology nearby, a r e proof, if proof i s needed, that there a r e no longer any insuperable ecological problems to be overcome in introducing g r a s s and t r ee s into the atmosphere of the Central Area .

27. In addltion to new open spaces created within the context of comprehensive planning proposals, the rationalisation of the secondary s t ree t pattern and the conversioll of certain s t ree ts and carriageways to pedestrian use provides further opportunities for landscaping t reatment . It i s proposed ultimately to close Market Street to vehicular traffic a t least between High Street and Corporation Street and possibly between Deansgate and Piccadilly Gardens and although it will probably be necessary to maintain limited access for certain vehicles, there will be considerable scope for the introduction of planting and features such as fountains and water treatment, on a sca le appropriate to the importance of the location. In the more immediate future and a s a f i r s t step, it is proposed to close the shor t length of Brown Street adjoining Market Street, which will become a public pedestrian mall linking up with the new development of the

Market Centre and the General Post Office on ei ther s ide .

between London Road and Brook St ree t .

2 8 . In CO -operation wirh the Civic T r u s t for the North West, joint studies a r e being undertaken with the object of improving the environment of a number of existing squares and s t r ee t s in the City Centre and giving g rea t e r priority to the pedestrian. St. Am's Square and Crown Square in particular, lend themselves to improvement involving restr ic t ion of traffic, although i t may be necessary in commercial a r eas to think in t e r m s of partial c losure, to meet servicing r e q u i r e m e n ~ s . S t . Peter 's Square and Albert Square a r e also the subject of study but these a r e of g rea t e r significance in the traffic pattern of the Central Area a s a whole and potential improvement is limited to re -arrangement so a s to provide bet ter access and more space for the pedestrian without seriously impeding traffic flow; redevelopment proposals may make a more complete solution practicable.

2 9 . Probably the most immediately effective transformation of the City Centre could be obtained by the apparently simple and economical expedient of planting a few hundred t rees , and he re again in CO -operation with the Civic T r u s t a study i s being undertaken with a view to introducing a s many a s possible. Apart f rom the inadequate width of pavements, by f a r the grea tes t difficulty encountered is the intensive and intricate network of services underlying the City's main s t r ee t s . Even accepting that some degree of obstruction to movement might be considered worthwhile, possible locations a r e restr ic ted to a far grea te r degree than casual observation would suggest. In a r eas where substantial changes a r e taking place the problem is , of course much s impler and a s par t of the design of Mancunian Way the opportunity has been taken to c r ea t e urban landscaping in the a r e a s formed by the roundabouts and an overall landscaping scheme i s a t present being implemented in CO -operation with the Institute of Science and Technology, for the length of this highway

30. Powers have recently been sought f rom Parliament in the Manchester Corporation Bill, 1967, to extend the provisions of Road Traff ic and Highways Legislation, so a s to permit the closure of s t ree ts o r par t s of s t ree ts for environmental, a s distinct f rom traffic reasons and to enable landscaping works to be ca r r i ed out when the layout of carriageways i s a l tered o r when they a r e no longer required for traffic. These powers, will be very valuable and provisions a re included enabling experimental c losures to take place,a speedy and effective way of testing feasibility in practice before final decisions have to be made. Although there is scope for some action in the shor t t e rm, the problems of reconciling the need for effective vehicular circulation with traffic f r ee a r e a s for the pedestrian a r e considerable and it is c lear that general improvement i s a function of redevelopment, as it gradually makes possible a more rational overall circulation pattern.

Urban Form and Skyline

31. The skyline of cit ies has changed dramatically in recent t imes . The Cathedral tower o r sp i r e was once pre-eminent and later the emphasis afforded to religious buildings became reflected in expressions of civic pr ide. In Manchester, the accent was f i r s t provided by.the relatively small Cathedral tower, overlooking the r ive r and surrounded by buildings of domestic s ca l e . Then, la te r in the 19th Century, the Town Hall, Waterhouse's masterpiece with i t s g rea t tower and sp i r e over 300 feet in height, dominated the skyline and with the new banks and g rea t warehouses brought a new sca le and vigour to the City.

32 . Ear l ie r in this Century the Calico Printers Association and la te r Sunlight House and the Midland Bank, all buildings over 150 feet in height, were built. All these buildings followed the monumental tradition and were highly modelled, with strongly individual

Exist ing skyline seen f rom Princess Parkway

(bottom) Whitworth's south west prospect of Manchester

1729

s i l l~ouet tes that g a v e var ie ty and in te res t to the skyline. It was se ldom that usable o r comtncrcia l ly justifiable accoinniotiation exceeded seven o r eight s t o r e y s , o r about a hundred fee t in height and the skyline features w e r e usually incorporated fo r s ty l is t ic reasorzs, motivated by responses not d i s s i m i l a r f r o m those of the re l ig ious buil.ders of an e a r l i e r e r a

33 . Today the conditions a r e quite d i f ferent . Advanced building ~eclinology makes it possible to cons t ruc t buildings of twice the height of lbe p in~ lac les of h e l a s t century, al l co~ ls i s t ing of functional accoirlrnodation and giving r i s e to the charac te r i s t i c tower o r s l a b f o r m s . ISow tllat the quest f o r lnonumentality can be combined with d i r e c t coinmercia l r e m r n , high buildings can be a response both to econoinic and 'p res t ige ' Ei~.ctors and the \vish to build high is txlore general than e v e r be fore . Medieval o r d e r and r u l e s of precedent have given way to a f r e e r express ion not without advantages, n o r without dangers .

3 4 . High buildings, well designed and planned in a sa t is factory re la t ionship to each other and to t l ~ e Centra l Area a s a whole, can be ex t re r i~e ly exciting and dramat ic fea tu res of the skyline, mark ing the metropoli tan c e n t r e . They rnust however, be key e lements , carefully s i ted and r e s t r i c t e d in number , because unlike the ornamental and comparatively del icate skyline features of e a r l i e r t i tnes, the m a s s O S modern s labs and toivcrs c a n eas i ly amalgamate to fo rm apparently continuous walls of buildings, destroying thei r owl1 s c a l e by s h e e r bulk and over shaclowing everything e l s e in the c e n t r e . 'The p resen t clay concept of co~l t ro l l ing the overall intensity of use in the in teresrs of voiding congestion, means that the question o l high buildings can be taken out ol' ttle purely econonlic context of maximun.1 accornmodat-ion 011 ~ n i ~ i i l n u l n s i l e , ;uld t l i i ~ for111 o i clevelopnient need be arloptecl only when the location of a c c o m ~ n o d a ~ i o ~ ~ retluisements make i t par t icular ly appropr ia te .

35. In M;lnchester, during idle l a s t decade, Ilia-h buildings bilvc coiitributcd to a new ~ l i y l i n e ---a

visible o v e r a wide a r e a ; these include the 400 f t . C . I . S . ' skyscaper ' , which ina rks the nor thern gateway to the Cen t ra l Area , the l'iccadilly Plaza dcvcloprnent that adjoins the subsl-antial open space of Piccadilly Gardens and St . Andrew's House on Portland Street , which i s a dominant e lement on the skyline if viewed f r o r ~ l the southern approaches to the C i t y . In general , tliese buildings a r e well re la ted to each o ther and the resu l t an t skyline undoubtedly emphas i ses d ramat ica l ly in visual terms,tlze m e ~ r o p o l i t a n cjuality of the City a.s the c e n t r e of a g r e a t and densely populated conurbat ion, Nevertheless in a relat ively sinall and compact Cen t ra l Area , l i t t le Inore that one inile s q u a r e , the re i s c l e a r l y a lirnit to the number of high buildings that can be accornmodated sa t is factor i ly .

3 6 . T h e co rnprehens ive adv i sory planning s c h e n ~ e s a l ready p repared fo r var ious a r e a s in the City Cen t re , each of which has i t s obv~vn

c l iasacter , provide a context within which any proposals for high buildings may be considered. These t h r e e dimensional proposal.^, which indicate the height, f o r m and s c a l e of development, suggest that the general height of huildings should be f r o m th ree to eight s t o r e y s , in keeping with the s c a l e and c h a r a c t e r of the a r e a and where high eleineilts a r e included wirhin a schetlie they should general ly not exceed l 5 s t o r e y s .

37 . Exper ience suggests that the implelnentati.on of a r igidly preconceived policy fo r high buildings i s a l m o s t impossible? even i f i t were thought to be d e s i r a b l e . 'There a r e c e r t a i n a r e a s where high building e lements a r e being actively discouraged, f o r e x a m ~ ~ l e i.n the Ci.vic Area wilere they des t roy tlze sca le aiid p r e -einin.cnce of the exist ing c ivic buildings, anci in the immediate vicinity o f the C:ar:hedsal. Generally, in the inner c o r c , d le introduction of a v e r y high building on alrllost any s i t e W-oillci s e r i o u s l y overslli.~dos\~ and overpo\vcr surrounding d e v c l o p n l e : ~ ~ and \vould sel-ioi.lsly in jure the cl lal-acterist ic s c a l e of Manches te r ' s City C e n t r e . In the approach area however, tliere inay be scope f o r the incrotiuction of

one o r two m o r e dominating e lements , but i t would be unrea l i s t i c to suggest par t icular locations in advance when the accolllmodation requ i rements which a r e reflected in the building forrns cannot be f o r e s e e n .

38. In general , the view i s taken that the introduction of dominating skyline fea tu res should be r e g a r d e d a s the exception r a t h e r than the r u l e - a s a privilege r a t h e r than a r ight and that a s t rong c a s e mus t b e made out in both functional and civic design t e r m s fo r this pa r t i cu la r f o r m of development. I t i s not s o much a question of 'allocating' s i t e s fo r high buildings, o r ccnsider ing proposals in t e r m s of th ree dimensional civic design o r l a r g e s c a l e a rch i t ec tu re a s applied to the Centra l A r e a a s a whole. Ln pract ice , d iscuss ions with prospect ive developers and the i r a rch i t ec t s take place a t the e a r l i e s t possible s t age and once accolnmodation requ i rements c a n be es t imated with s o m e degree of ce r ta in ty i t then becomes possible to evaluate a l ternat ive proposals fo r the f o r m of development . Modelling techniques, making use of a working model of the en t i re Centra l Area , have proved invaluable for th is pur pos e .

39. 'The introduction of re la t ively high e lements into the townscape makes i t n e c e s s a r y to pay much g r e a t e r attention to the anci l lary accorlllllodation that in the pas t h a s tended to r e s u l t in clutter a t roof l eve l . This i s important not only f r o m the point of view of obtaining c lean si lhouettes, but a l so because the roofs of lower buildings a r e now extensively over looked. Lift motor and equipment r o o m s , penthouses, f lues and a e r i a l mas t s , r e q u i r e to be considered a s integral and important e lements in the design of buildings and not a s 'a f ter -thoughts1 to be accolnmodated haphazardly on the skyl ine . Recent buildings have shown v e r y considerable improvement in th is direction, although the creat ion of in teres t ing and imaginative skyline t reatnlents in nloderil t e r m s s t i l l r e m a i n a challenge to a r c h i t e c t s .

Quality and Design

40. T h e planning f ramework suggests the context fo r development, giving information on uses , density and cir,culation, but t l ~ e r e r e m a i n s the c ruc ia l question of obtaining good design in building and quality of mate r ia l s and const ruct ion. Although the u s e of planning powers of control [nay avoid the wors t e x c e s s e s , i t i s impossible to legis la te f o r f i r s t c l a s s design and the r e a l problem i s mediocr i ty . Exper ience suggests that the b e s t r e s u l t s a r e obtained only when a good archi tect , willing to recognise his obligation not only to his c l ient but to the town o r City in which h e i s to build, i s allowed f reedom to work; in the long r u n i t i s a mat te r of enlightened patronage.

41 . Where quality of m a t e r i a l s i s concerned, again the p r i m e responsibil i ty r e s t s on the shoulders of the a rch i t ec t . Planning conditions can b e imposed to avoid the u s e of m a t e r i a l s that would be quite evidently unsuitable f r o m the point of view of good neighbourliness, but they will not ensure , f o r example, good finishes and detailing to avoid unsightly s t reaking and s ta ining. It is impossible f o r any Planning Authority, confronted with many development applications and with l imited r e s o u r c e s , to take c a r e of the f ines t detail and s u c c e s s will depend in the long run on the cluality, integri ty and exper ience of the a rch i t ec t concerned.

4 2 . In Manchester , the genera l approach is to afford the a rch i t ec t the maximum possible f reedom f o r express ion within the general planning f ramework, which in itself allows f o r flexibility in the interpretation, a s schemes collie to be worked out in m o r e deta i l . The bes t r e s u l t s , without doubt, a r e obtained where t h e r e i s teamwork and willing co-operation r ight f rom the inception of the s c h e m e .

43. Older buildings in the Ci ty a r e mostly of s tone o r br ick, somet imes of t e r r a - c o t t a and thei r detailing fo r the mos t p a r t ref lects the revivalis1 archi tectura l s ~ y l e s of thei r t i m e .

Continuity of character -new buildings in Crown Square

(bot tom) Quality in materials -The Commercial Union building in Mosley Street

There a r e some very straightforward and simple warehouse buildings of considerable strength and dignity together with a considerable amount of work that is of no architectural value whatsoever. The emphasis has been on individual buildings and the lack of any substantial a r e a s of continuous o r coherent architectural treatment removes inhibitions in the design of new work and a t the s a m e time emphasises the need for a more unified charac te r when renewal takes place.

44. The City Architect who i s responsible for advising on the architectural t reatment of buildings, in general has encouraged the use of mono -chromatic materials, self cleaning where possible and this is a l ready leading to a more recognisable relationship amongst the buildings most recently constructed. Where a continuity of architectural charac te r and the use of s imi la r mater ials within an a rea i s accepted a s a self -imposed objective by archi tects , the resul ts tend to speak for themselves; successful exarnples of this approach may be seen in the Civic Area and in the more recent development of the Institute of Science and Technology. There a r e few rules which can be expressed in sufficiently finite t e rms to real ly help the designer without imposing undue restr ic t ions on his freedom, and sensitivity i s required in the selection of finishes which a r e in sympathy with neighbouring buildings and the charac te r of the surrounding a r e a .

45. In the new situation where pedestrian routes will form an integral par t of development, it is necessary to pay m o r e attention to paving treatments, the choice of s t r e e t furniture and artificial lighting s o that there will be a more complete relationsl-tip between public and private works. It is also desirable that new development should be CO -0rdinated wherever possible with general iuzprovements in environment, including the introduction of traffic f r e e a r eas , so that the rllaxirnuill benefit rnay be derived from new building in transfortrling the image of the City

46. Lighting, in particular, assumes

- increasing importance with the creation of pedestrian ways, not only fo r reasons of safety but also because of i t s potential in enhancing the quality of space and architectural charac te r . The City a t night takes on a special atmosphere and in the

F', - \ entertainment and shopping a reas a bright

-4 . display of neon signs and advertisements is

W:..... . necessary to give light, warmth and vitality. p- . r ~ .:--l Liveliness and perhaps even an element of brashness , have their place in certain parts, contrasting with more restrained effects in other a r eas having a different charac te r .

- ,

Quality emphasised by lighting

a. -the C.I.S. bu'llding in Miller Street

5.Comprehensive Planning Proposals

1. Comprehensive planning proposals or 'Advisory Schemes' have so far been prepared for five areas amounting to about 200 acres and representing most of the core of the Central Area. Together with that part of the IHigher Education Precinct which lies north of Mancunian Way and is within the Central Area, they can be considered a s potential 'Action Areas' which a r e ripe for redevelopment and where clear pressures for rebuilding exist.

2 . I tmustbeemphasisedthat these proposals do not represent abstract conceptions; the three dimensional framework contained in them is based on uses and accommodation requirements that can be realistically anticipated and the proposals a r e intended to serve as a brief to developers and as a basis for more detailed design work. In some of the areas , development has already been completed, o r is in course of construction in accordance with the proposals, whilst in others, planning approvals have been given for developments that have been worked out in consultation on the basis of the particular Advisory Scheme.

3 . The accompanying diagrams and Map No. 9 show these parts of the Central Area for which three-dimensional planning schemes have so far been prepared, whilst a breakdown of the uses proposed and other relevant information is given in Appendix C, Table No. 6. The a reas a r e a s follows :-

Civic Area proposals COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING PROPOSALS

55

(i) The Market Street Area, extending from Shude Hill in the north to King Street in the south, bounded by Corporation Street to the west and High Street/ Fountain Street to the east .

(ii) The Cathedral and Market Place Area, extending from Victoria Station, in the nortll to St. Mary's Gate in the south, bounded by Corporation Street to the east and the River Irwell 'and Exchange Station to the west.

(iii) The area referred to as 'the Civic Area' extending from the 'Town Hall in Albert Square to the Courts of Justice in Crown Square, bounded by John Dalton Street and Bridge Street to the north, =and Peter Street and Quay Street to the south.

(iv) 'fl~e Mosley Street Area, between Piccadilly Plaza and Central Station, bounded by Mosley Street to the west, Portland Street to the east .

(v) The Central Station Area, between 'Deansgate and Lower Mosley Street, bounded by Peter street to the north and Whitworth Street West to the south.

(vi) That part of the Higher Education Precinct lying within the Central Area, between Upper Brook Street and London Road and bounded by Whitworth Street to the north and Mancunian Way to the south.

The Market Street Arsa

4 . This most important area, centred on Market Street, encompasses the heart of the regional shopping centre. Much of the property within i t has been ripe for redevelopment for lnany years and in consequence has been the subject of interest on the part of developers. It became evident at an early stage that proposals put forward for individual sites would have to be reconciled with a comprehensive design for f i e whole

area. The opportunity to rebuild in a lnanncr worthy of the location would otl~erwise have been lost and it: would have been inlpossible to deal with the existing pattern of circulation wherein Market Street is at one and the sa.me time, the City's busiest pedestrian street and a main trunk ar tery for through traffic.

S. A t the outset, the strategic pre-eminence of M ~ r k e t Street in the shopping pattern was recognised. Investigation showed that the traditional location could be exploited to provide a really fine shopping centre, capable of absorbing the bulk of tlle shopping requirements anticipated in the future; this would necessitate the removal of througl~ trafEic and llhe development in depth of the obsolete property that lay behjnd the high value frontages.

6. The basis of the scheme is that Market Street should eventually become the pedestrian way in a system of covered and open pedestrian routes planned along the traditional lines o:f movement through the area. The traffic displaced will be carr ied in past by the primary road network and in par t by an improved Cannon Street which becomes an inlportant link in the secondary system.

7 . Although proposals for the conirersion of Market Street to pedesa-ian use a r e not new, the obstacle has always been the provision of alternative servicing arrangements, particularly on the south side where the existence of the old General Post Office and the narrow depth of frontage created serious technical problem S . The denlolition of the General Post Office and its replacement by a n.ew building to form part of the Market Centre Scheme, the second stage of ~vliicli is now under colzstruction, has enabled this problem to be overcome.

8. The north side of Market Street however, provides the opportunity for lliore cornprelieiisive treatment. It is proposed that the area up to Ca.nnon Street should be developed in depth primarily f o r sh.opping (with servicing below ground level) ~vllilst the

Mat-l<et Street of the l c~ t~ r re -free of v e t ~ ~ c l e s \w i th arcadt :~ . urban lal io'scapi~i<j arid the charactctr- c:~f a permanent exhi b ~ i on

(bot toln Mar ltet Street proposals look~ni j towards t tw Royal Exchange

Pedestrian shopping malls should be l ively, w i th a var ie ty of spaces 'and character

area between Cannon Street and Withy Grove will he used in the main for principal c a r parking to serve the shopping area a s a whole (with space for approximately 2000 cars); i t will also contain a bus station and a new retail market, In addition a limited amount of shopping could appropriately be included in this part of the area to provide a continuity between the main shopping and the servicing facilities. The Withy Grove block would also be used for the relocation of a proportion of the warehousing and other uses of a similar nature a t present situated in the narrow lanes behind the Market Street frontage. The retail market, although it will serve to replace the limited retail facilities a t Smithfield which will be lost when the main wholesale market moves to Gorton, will provide a much needed new facility for the City.

9. The proposals take advantage of the change in level which occurs along Market Street to provide for two main levels of shopping, each accessible from the natural ground level a t different points along the Street. The adoption of a two level system enables independent pedestrian connections to be provided. These will link up not only with the Withy Grove part of the area, leading eventually to the new proposed residential development a t Smithfield, but also across Corporation Street into the area of the Market Place and Corn Exchange schemes. On the south side of Market Street the Market Centre development has been designed to permit an ultimate connection, when redevelopment takes place, through the site now occupied by the Manchester Guardian and Evening News and over Cross Street into the St. Ann's Square area. All these developments a r e important elements in the eventual realisation of an independent pedestrian circulation system.

10. Early action is clearly needed to deal with the evident conditions of bad layout and obsolete development existing in so much of the area, particularly to the north of Market Street and in order to ensure that comprehensive development is not impeded by

-. lransport fac i l i t ies integrated ~ n t o the developrncnt

the problem of fragmented ownership, the City Council has approved the preparation of lormal Comprehensive Development Area and Designation proposals. These have now been submitted and a r e a t present being considered by the Minister of Housing and Local Government.

11. Included within these proposals is the largely commercial and business a r e a lying between Market Street and King Street, where a considerable amount of redevelopment has already taken place and more is under construction. The emplissis in this par t of the a rea - which contains several important buildings and has considerable c h a r a c ~ e r , is not placed on very large scale comprehensive treatment but on rationalising an inadequate s t ree t circulation system and eriabljng redevelopment to take place, where this is necessary, in related units of reasonable s ize. Already i t has been possible in this a rea to achieve development of satisfactory scale and layout by means of negotiation and i t would not be the intention to invoke the powers available i f the designation proposals were to be approved, unless it became evident that reconstruction was being unduly delayed o r satisfactory units of development coul'd riot be achieved without their use. Owing to the

practical limitations on the degree of accessibility that can be achieved, there a r e no future proposals for major ca r parking provision in the area south of Market Street.

12. The eventual closure of Market Street and the introduction of the other new pedestrian routes through the area will afford the opporhinity for air-conditioned malls and continuous arcades and also for extensive landsdaping, including sculpture, fountains and water treatment. There will be facilities for children and areas for r e s t and relaxation, protected from the weather and from traffic dangers and noise. This scale of development and these types of facilities will be required to induce people into making special expeditions to the regional centre and m7il.l increasingly be taken for granted a s other centres a r e redeve loped.

within the space of a decade, the City's central shopping area could be transformed to take on something of the quality of a well set out and continuously changing permanent exhibition, supplying the variety and interests that centres with a. smaller catchment a rea a r e not able to provide. It should be lively and busy by day and brilliant and gay by nigllt . The Cathedral & Market Place Area

13. The Cathedral and Market place area, bounded by Victoria and Exchange Stations, St. h4ary's Gate and Corporation Street comprises some 25 acres . Part of the City of Salford, between the River Irwell and Exchange Station, is included within the proposals, being closely related from both the circulation and civic design points of view, and the scheme has been prepared in collaboration with the City Engineer and Planning Officer of Salford.

14. Manchester Cathedral and Chetham's Iiospital a re situated in the heart of this a rea and one of the main objectives i s to create a worthy setting for these historic buildings. A t the present time the Cathedral West Door looks out across a noisy and heavily trafficked road, over the River Irwell which is hidden from view in a deep cutting,to a jumble of old buildings

and advertisements, surnlounted by the prominent and unprepossessing war damaged facade of Exchange Station. Chetham's Hospital is also surrounded and almost hidden from view, by obsolete and inappropriate development.

15. The shortcomings of this setting have for long been recognised and an important proposal of the City of Manchester Plan, 1945, was the creation of a precinct to contain the Cathedral and Chetham's Hospital, to be achieved by the closure of the intervening Fennel Street. In an extended form, this remains a feature of the new planning proposals for the a rea .

16. War damage was responsible for the destruction of the old Market Place a.rea and also Victoria Buildings, the site of which has since been grassed and planted a s an open space. The old Welling-ton Inn, however, which is scheduled a s an Ancient Monument and also 'listed' a s a building of special architectural o r historic interest escaped damage, and survives a s one of the very few reminders of Manchester's Medieval past. The adjoining Sinclair's Oyster Bar which was restored a t a la ter period, is also 'listed', and one of the problems has been to reconcile and integrate these two small scale buildings in a sympathetic way with the renewal of the surrounding area, ripe for redevelopment.

17. Preliminary advisory proposals were prepared in 1963, although a t that time the main framework of road propcsals envisaged the construction of the City Centre Road over the River Irwell and along the line of Cateaton Street between the Cathedral and the Market Place a rea . The primary road in this position, which rnight have been a high level s tructure, presented almost insuperable environmental problems, cutting off the Cathedral Precinct from the re s t of the City Centre, ~,vhilsl. there were also serious engi-rleering dif i icu~ties . The alignment now proposed through Salford on the other side of Victoria and Exchange Stations, has enabled the planning of this axea to be reconsidered and the present proposals a r e the outcome; they have been appmved by

the Manchester and Salford Joint Committee and two major development applications for the Market Place and Corn Exchange a reas have received outline planning approval in accordance with the advisory plan.

18. From a circulation point of view the Market Place a rea occupies a strategic position; it i s the 'hinge' between the Market Street shopping a r e a and the shopping a reas of St. Am's Square and King Street and i t also marks the transition between the two-tier pedestrian circulatioil of the former, and the mainly g~ound level precinct treatment of the latter. The proposals for both the Market Place and Corn Exchange a reas provide for pedestrian movement a t both ground and upper levels; the upper level movement will run from Victoria Station, through the Corn Exchange area and across Cateaton Street, allowing for connections ac ross Corporation Street into the Market Street scheme and its associated servicing area which will include the bus station and market. The main pedestrian shopping square i s a t the lower level, virtually the existing level along St. Mary's Gate and facilities a re provided for i.nter-change with the higher level of movement referred to above. There i s also to be a pedestrian bridge across Deansgate connecting the development on the eas t and west sides.

19, The implementation of these comprehensive proposals is dependent on the closing of Victoria Street, between St. M a ~ y 'S

Gate and Cateaton Street and a number of other small s t ree ts jn the Market Place area . Serv4cing a r ranger~~en t s , which take into account the existing buildings of Longridge House and Michael House, trill be a t b a s ~ ~ ~ ~ c l i t : level, i '_ccess fo r goods vehcles wll! bt: f roin Cateaton eet for the a rea to the east of Deans yaie and l rom Blackfriars Street and Deanr,gqte, for the area to the west. The accor.~modation of tlle below -ground servicing will ir~volve the loss of about eighty c a r spaci.s in the existing underground c a r park, the access to which will be re-arranged to run from Cateaton Street, but a new c a r park

The pedestrian square in the Market Place area from which radiate upper level links to other development

on the west side of Deansgate is proposed, which will accommodate about 500 cars . It is also proposed to accommodate a new hotel on this site, overlooking the river. Eventually, a Eurtker length of Victoria Street, the length that passes in front of the Cathedral and Fennel Street will be closed, thus making possible a traffic free precinct which will contain both the Cathedral and Chetham's Hospital and extend right up to the r iver .

20. The new proposals provide for improved connections with the Cathedral Precin.ct, and an area of public open space, in substitution for the present Victoria Gardens site, is proposed in a location where it: would contribute more directly towards the setting of the Cathedral. The present Victoria Gardens, although a welcome oasis of green in an otherwise solidly built up area, a r e surrounded on all sides by traffic, and the r isk of subsidence has meant that they could not be made available for public access and enjoyment. The new area, in contrasr, would be readily accessible and i t would connect with a pedestrian square in the heart of the new Market Place shopping area which is planned in relation to the old Wellington liln and Oyster Bar. In order to facilitate pedestrian movement through the S cherne, the submitted development proposals envisage tliat these buildings will be raised a matter of six feet on their existing sites and the permission which has been granted is subject to the production of satisfactory engineering evidence that this operation can be carried out without risk of serious damage.

21 . The present advisory scheme and the more detailed clevelopment proposals which have received p1 aiming approval, ha.ve been the subject of consultation with the Dcan and Canons, and with Messrs Wilson and Wornersley, who act a s planring advisors to the Cathedral, Consultations have also taken place with the Fine Arts Cornrnissioll and in respect of the Wellington Inn and the Oyster &r, with the Miniszry of Public Building and Works and with tlne h.linj.stry of Housing and

Local Government. A report;, dealing with the present conditions in the Cathedral area and making suggestions for its improvement, has been prepared by Messrs Wilson and Womersley for the Cathedral Authorities and several of the suggestions made in this report a r e reflected in the present planning proposals, including the possibility of opening up a fronts-ge to the r iver in order that in the long run a riverside walkway may be created. Both the Market Place development scheme and other developments approved in the Parsonage area make provision for t l ~ i s feature.

22. Tlie future character of railway facilities a t Victoria and Exchange Stations is currently the subject of study by British Rail. 'The outcome is of the greatest importance in connection with the planning of the area in the vicinity of the Cathedral and discussions have already taken place with representatives of the Cathedral, British Rail, the Civic Trust for the North West, and Salford and Manchester corporation.^ , with a view to CO-ordinatirlg activities. Ff the use of Exchange Station for passenger traffic were to be discontinued, i t would make possible the removal of the bridge approach across the River Irwcll -- a co~lsistent policy in advisory proposals for this arca, wlnilst the release of certain railway land

Generous pedestrian at-ea south of Brazennose House, paved and landscapect

a t Exchange, Victoria and Hunts Balk would hasten the transformation of what i s a t present a generally depressing and grimy area, into a Catlledral precinct worthy of the name. Until railway plans have become firmer, i t is not possible to put forward Inore detailed proposals for this part of the area and when more information is available it may well be possible to modify and improve certain aspects of the present scheme.

The Civic Area

23 . The creation of a Civic Area between the Town Hall and the Courts of Justice was f i r s t proposed in the City of Manchester Plan, 1945 and an a r e a of 62 acres was allocated in the Development Plan for Ceneral Civic, Cultural o r other Special Uses. It was considered that this a rea was particularly well located for purposes connected with government and local government, although in practice i t proved difficult to correlate the progress of physical redcvelop~nent with the forecasting and emergence of demands for these special uses .

24. In order to avoid stagnation and to encourage much needed redevelopment, approvals have been given for commercial office purposes. Certain Corporation departments a r e accomnlodated in the new buildings and together with the Courts of Justice and the Magistrates' Courts which a r e now being built, i%ese uses a r e a reflection of the original proposals. The changing circumstances in relation to the requirements of government departments have always made their needs difficult to forecast with any degree of accuracy and they have tended either to build on sites o r to occupy offices which happened to be available at the time they needed the space. For example, the Regional Offices which were se t up comparatively recently, a r e situated in the Piccadilly Plaza.

25. A s far a s the Corporation is concerned, a study has been undertaken to ascertain the arnount of space llkely to be needed for future expansion, based on experience in recent

(bottom) Civic Area proposals, look~rlg to\h!ards the Town tiall

F r . 7

y e a r s and a s a result , certain a r e a s in proximity to the Town Hall complex a r e considered to be particularly suitable fo r this purpose. Apart from the question a s to whether office accommodation provided is used for public o r private purposes, there has been a consistent effort to produce a special charac te r in the development of the a r e a that would reflect i t s reht ionship to the important e lements of the existing civic centre a t Albert Square and the new Courts of Justice at Crown.Square. Moreover, within the a r e a itself is the John Rylands Library, a n important building of special archi tectural ,and his tor ic interest and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary's popularly known a s the 'Hidden Gem'.

2 6 . The way in which the area is to be treated, however, has changed radically since the City of M ~ n c h e s t e r Plan proposa.1~ and the proposals of the present advisory scheme a r e described in m o r e detail below. The e a r l i e r conception was on axial lines and envisaged a broad 'processional way' in the grand manner, connecting Albert Square and Crown Square, the Town Hall tower forming a terminal feafxre a t one end and the Courts of Justice closing the vista a t the other; the 'processional way' would have been a road open to vehicular traffic. The new proposals prepared jointly with the City Architect, in contrast , are precinctual in character , consisting of a s e r i e s of interlocking and landscaped pedestrian spaces of varying scale. The emphasis is essentially on a m o r e intimate human scale , different: in charac te r f rom the main commercial a r e a s of the City, with opportunities fo r continuously changing views.

27. Walking through the a r e a from Albert Square, where an increased sense of enclosure will be provided by a. more unified t reatment of the frontage opposite the Town Hall, a large pedestrian 'place' will be entered, smal le r than Albert Square bu.t still of substantial scale; this will be paved and landscaped, with cafes and restaurants and roonl fo r people to sit: and to s t ro l l at wil.1. J,ooking. back,views of the Towil Hall tower

will be contained by the comparatively restricted openings leading through into Albert square itself. The buildings in this par t of the scheme a r e in general planned to be of an average height of about seven storeys, although a little more vertical emphasis could appropriately be obtained in the transverse block planned parallel to Deansgate which would close off the 'place' on the Deansgate side; the scale is designed not to compete with the Town Hall since the facade and tower of this would still tend to dominate and provide a focus. Brazennose House on the north side, has already been constructed and pedestrian ways through the building a t ground level allow glimpses to be obtained of the 'Hidden Gem' and communicate with the existing system of narrow pedestrian ways that lead through to St. James's Square, King Street and St. Aim's Church. Some old development opposite Brazennose House, between Brazennose Street and Queen Street, has now been demolished and although the si te is a t present being used fo r c a r parking, i t i s now becoming. possible to discern on the ground the ultimate proportions of the new open area .

28. Passing out of the larger 'Brazennose Place' a se r i e s of smaller open spaces is then reached. The f i rs t opens out on to Deansgate itself and then after moving below the road by means of an underpass, the waLker emerges into a further oblong shaped landscaped area, designed primarily to provide a setting for Ryland's Library which occupies the north side. The long side elevation of Ryland's has always been almost hidden from view and the new proposals will enable the building to be properly appreciated not only a t close quarters, but also from some distance along Deansgate. From this area , an enclosed quadrangle is entered, surrounded by development of four and five storeys designed to create a collegiate atmosphere, reminiscent of an Inn of Court; the accommodation in the quadrangle and its location close to the Courts would be particularly suitable for Chambers and professional offices of the smaller kind. From this quadrangle a flight of steps leads

down into Crown Square from which it is intended to exclude through traffic. The layout of the Square will be modified, with more refined and extensive landscaping treatment related not only to the existing Courts of Justice but to the new Magistrates Courts to be built on the adjacent s i te . The f i rs t part of this quadrangle, including the steps into Crown Square, has recently been completed and a substantial part of the demolition required for the second phase has also taken place; planning permission has been given for the entire scheme between Deansgate and Crown Square.

29. The change in levels between Albert Square and Deansgate and between Deansgate and Crown Square has not only been exploited for visual effect, but has been utilised to enable vehicular servicing and car parking to be provided beneath the new development and the ~ e d e s t r i a n a reas . Complete pedestrian and vehicular separation is achieved, in this case on the 'ground level precinct' principle. All the development which is taking place in this a rea i s in accordance with the advisory scheme, the general form of which can now be appreciated on the ground. With the exception o l the acquisition of the si te for the new Magistrates Courts (for which a Compulsory Purchase Order was confirmed) implementation has been by negotiation and agreement and it has not so far k e n necessary to submit formal Comprehensive Development Area o r Designation proposals in order to achieve the planning objectives.

The Mosley Street Area

30. The advisory proposals for this a rea cover 35 acres extending from the Piccadilly Plaza, southwards to Lower Mosley Street and include an a rea of about 18.5 acres surrounding the City Art Gallery for which Comprehensive kvelopment Area proposals a r e being prepared. Much of this area, which contains a high proportion of warehousing uses, is obsolete and ripe for redevelopment. The relationship to the Civic Centre and to tlw

The character of the proposed Arts Centre A revital~scd Oxford Street,the hub of the Citys night life

(bottom,)

Mosley Street Area proposals,look~ng towards P~ccadilly Plaza

traditional entertainments a rea of the City led to i t s selection a s the s i te for the projects comprised in the proposed Ar ts Centre and the other uses which a r e considered to be appropriate in the future a r e discussed in m o r e detail below.

31. Several s t r ee t s which c ros s the a r ea a r e to remain open to traffic, namely Charlotte Street, Princess Street, which i s a main secondary route and Oxford Road, which will eventually lose i t s importance a s a through route but continue to c a r r y buses and a considerable amount of local and service traffic between the City Centre and the Higher Education Precinct. Moreover, in planning this a r e a i t i s necessary to take into account the need to provide good pedestrian connections to the existing and proposed new development (including the Chorlton Street bus station and c a r park) on the opposite s ide of Portland Street. This route a s mentioned, is t c become p a r t of the pr imary road network.

32. These considerations dictated the adoption of a n upper level system of pedestrian circulation in this sector of the City and the underlying principle of the three- dimensional proposals put forward i s the creation of an artificial ground level; this would be developed to provide for open spaces and squares and it would also be pierced extensively to accommodate existing lsl~ildings and to provide inter-change with spaces and activities related to the natural ground level.

33. Development in the a r ea between Piccadilly Plaza and Charlotte Street has already been completed o r has been approved in detail . The new Bank of England on which work is about to commence, on the s i te fronting Portland Street, has been designed to accommodate the upper level circulation, with provision for bridge links ac ros s York Street into the Piccadilly Plaza and across Charlotte Street to the Ar ts Centre, in accordance with the advisory 'proposals. The recently completed St. James ' s House, although designed priimarily in relation to the natural ground level, i s a lso capable of being linked into the upper level sys tem.

34. South of Charlotte Street and on both s ides of Princess Street i s the a r ea proposed for the new Arts Centre, which includes an extension to the City Art Gallery and the proposed Opera House, and associated accommodation including a small amount of shopping, restaurants, studios. and offices. A link ac ros s Princess Street leads through to the s i tes proposed for a new theatre, and then on into the entertainments a r ea on ei ther side of Oxford Street, which i s intimately related to the Arts Centre proposals. The general objectives with regard to entertainments uses and the creation of an Arts Centre have already been discussed on page 20 .

35. The major pedestrian level continues ac ros s Lower Mosley Street and connects with Central Station and the land in railway ownership extending through to Deansgate. Although entertainment uses a r e appropriate in all these a r e a s , the foreseeable demand i s unlikely to be sufficient to make comprehensive development on this basis alone a viable proposition. In view of the capacity of the established shopping a reas of Market Street and Market Place to absorb the likely demand fo r the extension of the regional shopping centre, there is considered to be little scope for major shopping, although a limited amount related to the secondary shopping centre of Oxford Street and St. Peter 's Square might be appropriate. Office development combined with entertainment uses could be satisfactorily planned and serviced and hotel and residential uses would be encouraged.

36. Because of the need to rationalise the basic circulation system over an extensive a rea , this scheme is necessarily drawn up in much broader t e r m s than those previously d e s c r b e d and particularly in the a r ea to the south of Princess Street the building form shown can only be regarded a s tentative and of a preliminary nature. The scheme will be developed and modified a s accominodation requirements can be more accuratcly foreseen and a t the present time i t mus t only be regarded a s a general guide to development in the a r e a .

The Central Station Area

37. Of the a reas so fa r considered, this is the one wl~cre i t is inost difficult to foresee development in any degree o i detail at the present time and although preliminary proposals have been prepared, there still remain some open questions. When Ccntxal Station is closed, i t will mean That, including the adjacent goods yards, an area of about 23 acres betsveen Lower Mosley Street ancl Deansgate will become avai1,ahle Ior other uses . About 5 acres will be required for the implementation of the primary road network, leaving 18 acres for development.

38. The unique suitability of the si te 101:

c a r parking to serve the Central Area a s a whole has already k e n refer red to in the section on entertainments , on page 2 1 , but it is evident that such a prominent s i te could and should be developed for otrtler purposes in addition to c a r parking, although a s f a r a s major shopping- is concerned the same limitations apply as in the case of the Mosley Street Area to which it i s closely related.

39. The Train Hall itself, a fine example of tlie bold engineering architecture of r.he railway age, is 'listed' a s a building of special architectural o r historic interest, and as always, the problem of retention is to find a suitable use; uses considered have i~lcluded an Exhibition Hall, a Sports Hall and a Technological Museum. The Exl~ibition Hall would be to replace the inadequate esisting building nearby, the site of which i s in any event required for road purposes, whilst a Sports Hall and a Teclu~ological Muset.lm a r e both facilities which a r e needed.

40. A central s i te for any of these purposes involved problems of economics, i.1~1: tllc Ext~ibition Hal.1 proposal appeared to oIfer the most positive potentialities. Shorn of i t s 'temporary' wooden front, and given a setting appropriate to i t s scale, the Train Hall could undodxedly be converted into one of the fin.est Ij;dlml ' :

i Jxtion IYalls . Good acccssibilitqr and czr

parking laclli ties could be provided, and above all t l ~ l s i s a use which would provide a stirnu1.u~ to the development in the renlainder of the area and to this part of the City Centre generally. No decision, however, has yet been made and alternative proposals Ior a City Exh~bltion Hall, outside the Central Area alto gether, a r e also under consideration.

41 . Trie main plarulilzg problerns associated with IAc Central Station area, apar.t fro111 the questj.on of the eventual use of t l ~ e Train Hall itsell, a r e related to phasing ancl tinling =aid the availability and correlation of public and private resources to enable the full potential of the area to he reali.sed. Once railway activities have ceased, it will be virtually witllout an existing use and th.e availability of sncl? a large a rea of new 'central area ' land at one time is bound to ra ise doubts as to whether the short te rm potential for commercially viable ancl acccpQble uses is sufficient to provide the impetus for development of the scale required. Limitations on public investment, moreover, tend to militate against the speedy provision of the facilities and aixenities that would prime the development. The importance of this area to the City lies in its longer term potential and in its strategic relationship to the future system of communications.

42. In these circ~tmstances it i s virtually impossible to be precise a t the present time, and the preliminary proposals a re designed to sl~otv the scale rather than the detail of the opportunities that this area presents . It is an a k a which quite clearly lends itself to imaginative trealment on comprehensive and CO -ordinatecl lincs arzd although present circum.stances make necessary a higli degree of f!exihility, i t will be essential to ensure that development of a piecei~1ea.l nature does not col~ipromise tIic realisstion of i ts long term potcr~tial . 43. The prelirninal-y proposals assume tllat the Train Hall woulcl rerrlain and ps-ohably be developed a.nd extended as an Bshibi tion Hall. The surface of the uzr parking decks would he

An unr~val lcd opportun~ty to p rov~de a large open space w ~ t t i ~ n the c ~ t y centre w ~ t h cornplcmeritary a c t ~ v ~ t ~ c s

(bottom) Central Stat~on proposals look~ng towards the-Town Hall

landscaped, the f irs t real opportunity to provide a m a j o r open space of a b u t 6 acres j.n the centre of tllc City. Surrounding the open area on the Windmill Street side would be restaurant facilities and entertainment uses such a s dance halls, an ice rink and cinemas, and tlie aim would be to achieve the character of a 'Tivoli Gardens' in Manchester. On the Deansgate side, the open area would provide an inviting setting for inixcd office and residential development. A proportion of shopping and showroom use, both in connectj.on with the Exhibition and entertainment facilities and also for the motor and engineering trades wtiich a r e nlreadv establish& in the a rea could appropriately be included.

44. From a circulation and accessibility point of view, the a r e a offers few problems. Car parking accommodatiorl for 4,000 c a r s can be served directly from the primaly road system, whilst the opportumty may occur to make use of the existing railway viaduct to provide an independent link fro111 the c a r park in the general direction of Sale and Altrincham. The basic pedestrian circulation level would approximate that of the Stat~on concourse, which would enable the upper level system to be carried across from the Mosley Street scheme, continuing through to the land now occupied by the ca r park a t Watson Street and then ultimately extending acros S Ueansgate into the St. John Strect area.

Higher Education Precinct

45. The comprel~ensive plan for the Higher Education Precinct, which extends h o m the centre of the City a s far a s Wi.tworth Park, occupying in all an area. of a h u t 280 acres, has been drawn up by hqessrs. Wilson and Womessley, Planning Consultants, on behalf of the Joint Committee representing the City, tlle University, tile Institute of Science and Teclmology, and the Manchester United I-lospitals . 46. Of this 280 acres about 43 acres lie within the City Centre itself north-east of Mancunian Way. In this a r e a a r e situated the original buildings of the Institute of Science and Technology and the new campus which i s being developed by the Institute between the Piccadilly/Oxford Road railway line and Mancunian Way. The development of this canlpus, which i s now well advanced, has completely transformed one of the 'fringe' a reas of the City Centre, previously occupied by a jumble of old warehouses and industrial premises, whilst a further a rea between Saclcville Street and Princess Street' has now k e n largely cleared in preparation for the extension of the campus.

47. On either side of Oxford Road, also on the City Centre side of Mancunian Way, a r e situated the Jolm Dalton College of Further Education and the first stage of the National Computing Centre which is soon to be extended. In addition, on a site adjacent to the Computing Centre, planning approval has Seen given for a new Regional Head quarter S and Studios f o r the British. Broadcasting Corporation and a Compulsory Purcl~ase Order for the accluisition of the land has been confirmed. A pedestrian route below Mancunian Way links all the above development with the main par t of the Precinct, which extends southwards on either side of Oxford Road, bounded by Upper Brook Street and Cambridge Street.

48. The Plan envisages a total day population of about 40,000, of which about 25,000 will be students, and an essential element is the provision of residential accom~nodation within the Precinct itself for about 8; 000. Ox£ ord Road will act a s a service ancl public transport route through the Precinct and its character will change from being a main radial road to that: of a local link between ~e City Centre and the Precinct; tl~sough-traffic will be carr ied by Uppel- Brook Strect and Cambridge Street and parking provisions both in the Precinct and the Cjty Centre a r e related to these routes. An upper level pedestrian system, on much the same principle a s that proposed for 'parts of the Central Area, will be provided along Oxford Road and provision for this is made in building projects that a r e

either under c o ~ ~ s t r u c l i o n o r recently approved, including the Mathematics and Conlputer Science Buildings of the University and the new College of Music.

49. The Plcm is essentially for a 'City University' and the close relationship between the a r e a of the City Centre and the Precinct both physically and a s regards activities i s recognised and exploited. The word 'precinct' i s perhaps a misnomer in that i t suggests something cloistered and withdrawn whereas the planning proposals for the a r e a and for the adjoining a r e a s of the City Centre a r e designed to permit the maxinlurn use of educational, recreational, cultural and entertainment facilities by both students and a wide section of the public.

Future Areas of Study

50. The a r e a s for which comprehensive advisory proposals have s o f a r been drawn up a r e those where the need and p re s su res for redevelopment a r e evident and where changes of u se a r e likely to occur w i t h n the.more immediate future. Apart f rom the Higher Education Precinct proposals, they a r e all concerned primari ly with the business and con~merc i a l a r ea in the hear t of the City. On the periphery there a r e other a r e a s occupied by declining uses and obsolete development which a r e in urgent need of renewal although the impetus for commercial redevelopment is not so grea t . These a reas , which offer par t icular scope for the introduction of residential use, a r e in course of being studied; they include :-

( i ) The Smithfield Market Area which will include the a r eas to be affected b y the proposed h e r Ring Road, the Oldham Street and Lever Street Area and extend a s f a r south as Dale Street and Church Street.

(ii) The Rochdale Canal Area including land affected by the Inner Ring Road and land in the vicinity of Piccadilly Station.

(iii) The Byroln Street Area bounded by Quay Street and Deansgate and including land in the vicinity of Liverpool Road.

(far left)

The northern section of the Higher Education Precinct

1. All cities a r e in process of constant renewal, and left to itself, this natural process would result in gradual rebuilding within individual ownerships, consolidation only occuring where i t was dictated by commercial considerations an3 where negotiatior?~ between owners happened to be successful. Public investment for the most part would follow on, attempting to remedy the most glaring deficiencies in circulation and services. The object of a planned approach is to secure a balance between different forms of investment, so that waste and overlapping a re avoided and the best value obtained from the resources available, whilst emphasis is placed on the overall improvement of the City, which in the long term must be the best security for all the investment involved.

2 . One of the most difficult problems to be faced in programming renewa1,is that the investment required, flows through independent channels, which a r e often unrelated. Although, for example, there is now a better understanding of the connection between land use and comn~unications planning, the essential inter-relationshp between different forms of investment is stilI not fully recognised. Roads, c a r parks, and other public facilities that may not be profitable in a commercial sense, a r e par t of the fabric of a modem city without which growth will not occur and i t is essential that they should be capable of being realistically programmed in step with associated redevelopment.

3 . Successful Central Area development usually depends on a partnership and close understanding between private developing interests and the planninz authority. The authority i s responsible for the planning context in which the development is to take place, a context which must be realistic a s regards phasing and economies, whilst i t also possesses the reserve powers necessary to ensure site assembly. The developer and his architect, for their part have to recognise an obligation and responsibility in the planning of the City a s well a s expecting a reasonable return on investment. Equally, they should be able to feel confident that their scheme will be protected in the future by the same policies that now seek to influence i t . Consultation from the early stages is an essential pre-requisite of good management; money wasted a s a result of delay o r misunderstanding often represents resources that could have made the difference between a barely acceptable development and one of high quality.

Unification of Ownership

4 . Redevelopment in the Central Area, within the context of an overall planning framework, will range from the individual

Prouosed Bank of Enqland Portlartd Street

(bottom)

Mag~strates Courts now ~lnder construction in Crown S ~ u a r e

building to integrated groups of building eIements and uses fonning- areas of con~prehe~lsive development. There a r e now only very limited opportunities for individual buildmgs, usually on sites of an 'infilling' nature behveen long l& existing development. A s soon a s a development unit invol~ring perhaps a wllole block is considered, o r the more comprehensive treatment of a coinplete area, the problem of fragmented ownership i s encountered; it is this factor which so often tends to prevent,or certainly delay, much needed redevelopment, unless action i s taken.

5. Unlike several other cities, such a s Birmingham, Coventry and Liverpool, Manclicster owns relatively little of its own Central Area, but it is significant that where substantial sites were owned by the Corporation and could therefore be offered without the delays involved in assembling them together, development went ahead rapidly. Exainples a r e the Longridge and Michael House developments in the Market Place area, the Piccadilly Plaza, together with the St, Andrew's House and Chorlton Street bus station and ca r park development off Portland Street. More recently, the availability of land ill the City's ownership has played a decisive part in providing an urgently needed si te for the National Computing Centre, and the Corporation was also able to offer a complete area for the building of the new Bank of England.

6 . In some cases, where there is unified private control of a substantial area of land, i t is possible to implement development of a comprehensive scale by agreement, and examples are the development a t present taking place in the Civic Area at: Crown Square, the development of the Co-operative Insurance Society a t Miller Street and the separate,yet related,schemes of the District Balk and the London Assurance Company in King Street. There a r e other areas, such as Market Street, where fragmented ownerships make i t impossible to j~nplement development proposals on a sufficiently large scalc without the intervention of the Authority. There have

Distrlct Bank now under constrc~ction in King Street

(bottom) Soc~al Science and Mathematics Building now under construction at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology

l ' . . I

' P ? k r-

also been cases where although a developer has eventually succeeded in consolidating interests , i t has resulted in undue delay. If excessive pr ices have to be paid for some of the land this i s another factor which can prejudice the quality of the eventual redevelopment scheme and the contribution which the developer can afford to make towards the amenity of the City.

Powers of Acquisition and Agreements with Developers

7. Where there a r e a number of ownerships involved, the use of planning powers of acquisition will, in general, be necessary to secure satisfactory comprehensive development. As already stated, Comprehensive Development Area and Designation proposals for the Market Street Area were submitted to the Minister of Housing and Local Government in September, 1966. C. D. A. proposals a r e also in the course of preparation for par t of the Mosley Street Advisory Scheme, in respect of the a r e a covered by the Regional Ar ts Centre and cer tain adjoining a reas , but further progress i11 implenlenting these proposals i s dependent on financial considerations and they have not yet been submitted to the Minister, pending clarificatioil of the position. Authority has also been g v e n for the preparation of C. D. A. proposals for the Cathedral and Market Place Area.

8 . Theuseo fp lann ingpowers , bymeans of the C . D. A. procedure, tends to be a lengthy process and the Planning Advisory Group recommended that i t should be replaced by a speedier procedure, more akin to the powers available for the acquisition of land for h o u s i n ~ and other statutory purposes. In the Manchester Corporation Act 1965, the City Council obtained powers for the benefit and improvement of the City; these powers (which were granted for a limited period) were designed to avoid the delays involved in the C . D. A . orocedure in cases where a substantial par t of an a rea had been successfully unified, but development was impeded by minority

interests not amenable to negotiation by agreement,

9 . This A c t also provides for voluntary agreements to be reached between the Corporation and developing interests, with a view to ensuring,for instance, 'chat a development is carried through to completion in agreed phases and that satisfactory provision can be made for dealing with some of the new problems that a r e arising out of the form and more extensive scale of modern development. Examples, a r e the making of arrangements in connection with the provision of car parking and in connection with the support, maintenance and lighting of rights of ways and pedestrian ways, on o r above ground level which form an integral part of the development.

C.D.A. PROPOSALS

10. Although considerable progress has been possible by means of negotiations in certain areas, there is little doubt that the further use of planning powers either by means of the C. D, A. , and Designation procedure (or its successor) o r the use of the powers contained in the Local Act of 1965, will be necessary to implement the planning objectives set out in this report.

11. In general, the City Council have not intervened where planning objectives could be obtained by negotiation and agreement, but they have taken the view that where satisfactory development will evidently be prejudiced o r held up because of acquisition difficulties o r by failure to reach agreement, they will not hesitate to make use of the powers available to them. The Land Commis sion, established- through the 19 67 Act, possesses additional means of acquisition and disposal of land.

12. Where planning powers of acquisition a r e used, the next steps in the process of implementation must depend on the circumstances. In certain cases, the selection of a developer, either by means of tenders o r a competition, would be appropriate. In others, where developing interests a r e already substantially established in an area , it is reasonable to assume that they would receive special consideration, providing they a r e in the position and willing to fulfil the planninc objectives on satisfactory t e rms . A 'partnership' agreement of this nature, will usually provide for the vesting of the freehold of the area in the authority, a guarantee that the land assembly problems at the present time will not have to be faced by future generation S.

13. The Town and Country Planning Act, 1962 (Section 78(7))refers to the protection of interests affected by Comprehensive Development Area procedure and places a duty on the local authority to secure, a s far as is practicable, reasonable alternative accommodation on terms which have regard to the price a t which the interest was acquired.

There is 110 doubt that the redevelopment of an a rea can cause inconvenience and even hardship to established interests and in the planning and implementation of redevelopment proposals, every effort will be inade to ininimise this . It will be appreciated that where redevelopment takes place on land that is entirely within private ownership without the use of C. D. A . procedure o r planning powers of acquisition and where the authority i s not itself a par ty to the development, then the question of re-accommodation will r e s t entirely between the interests concerned, in the normal way.

l

Phasiug and Programme

1 4 . The r a t e of implementation of the proposals contained in the City Centre Map will reflect the availability of public and private investment resources, which in turn will depend on the national economic climate in the years ahead and the priorit ies afforded to the various physical needs of the Nation and the Region. It i s therefore, unrealistic to attempt to give a detailed programme for development o r to say when all the developments shown will be completed. Instead the method has been adopted of setting out a logical o rde r of development which is related to progress that has already been made o r that can be foreseen with reasonable accuracy, and to improvements which a r e contained in definite programmes.

15 . In the sector of Public Works, the implementation of the pr imary road framework is a basic element and two road proposals affecting the City Centre a r e already included in the Principal Road Programme announced by the Ministry of Transport for the period beginning around 1971. The f i r s t of these is the southern par t of the inner pr imary route, which will provide a more adequate distributory framework from the Princess Road Extension (the main link to the national motorway system to the south); the second is part of the Inner Ring Road, running from Hyde Road to Pin Mill Brow and on to Great Ancoats Street which i s also scheduled to

commence around 1971, and it has been recommended by the S. E . L . N. E. C . Highways Engineering Committee that the section between Pin Mill Brow and Gt. Ducie Street (and into Salford) should proceed in the period 1974-76; initially this will largely be constructed a s a ground level route.

16. Construction of these new roads will directly affect considerable a r eas of land and property and redevelopment in depth will not only be desirable, but virtually inevitable, if only to deal with severance problems and tc provide satisfactory acces s . Provision of the new routes and the redevelopment of the a r e a s through which they pass a r e essentially inter -related, calling for a combined approach from the point of view of both traffic and townscape design. Their construction will provide the opportunity to deal with conditions of dereliction in the fringe a r e a s through which they pass and although the frontage of new primary roads can no longer be directly exploited in the commercial sense, the greater* degree of accessibility will undoubtedly provide a stimulus to the prosperity and improvement of the surrounding a r e a s .

17. In the case of the secondary s t ree t system, the r eve r se situation applies, in'that physical renewal provides the opportunity for the rationalisation and improvement of the secondary routes adjoining o r passing through the a r e a s concerned. Although these secondary improvements a r e not programmed in the same way a s the pr imary network, they a r e usually essential to the success of the redevelopment, which i s designed in relation to the degree of accessibility and the pattern of movement provided by them. In most cases , a combination of public and private investment wilI be involved and it is highly desirable that they should march in step, enabling such a reas to be tackled a s a combined operation. 'The main opportunities for improvement to the secondary routes in the ear ly stages of the programme will be in respect of Cannon Street, the part of Deansgate contained within the Market Place redev.elopment, and Norfolk S t ree t .

1 8 . As a l ready explained, the major a r e a s of c a r parking a r e intended to be developed in s t e p with the iinproved access ibi l i ty made poss lble by the development of the .road ne twork . Depending on the availabil i ty of Cinrtncial resources, the a r e a s a t Withy Grove and M a r k e t Place/Deansgate (both to s e r v e the ~ n a in shopping cen t re ) , together with Cen t ra l Station and G r e a t Bridgewater S t r e e ~ , (to providc terminal faci l i t ies f rom the p r i m a r y road s y s t e m to the south), should b e developed dur ing d ~ e f i r s t p a r t of the plan. In the pub1 ic t r anspor t field, the nev; bus S tation faci l i t ies a t Cannon Street , to rep lace tile p resen t stopping places a t Victoria S t ree t and Cannon Slreet i t se l f . will h e recluired in the e a r l y s t a g e s . Unfortunately, the investigations into the provision of rapid t r a n s i t fac i l i t ies , which might be regarded a s the p r i m a r y network as applied to public t r anspor t , have not yet reached the stage when any rea l i s t i c a s s e s s m e n t on tinling can be m a d e .

1 9 . Apar t f rom the pro\;ision 01 se~:vices , public investment in p l ~ y s i c ~ l development, a s d is t inct f r o m land acquisition ancl s i t e assernbly, will be concerned with the Civic A r e a - additional Cour t iac i l i t ies and extensions to T o m Hall accommodation; the proposed A r t s C e n t r e complex, (including the A r t Gal lery extension), and t l ~ e new re ta i l marker in the Marke t S t ree t a r e a . It will a l so be concerned with the proposed r e -introduction of res ident ia l accommodatiol-1 into ~e Centra l A r e a and the possllnle provision of a n exliibition ha l l . With the exception of the new Magis t ra tes Cour t s in the . Civic Area, none of these proposals a r e a t p resen t included in d ~ e imtnediate Capital Works Programme and the difficulty o f long r a n g e forecast ing, in re la t ion to the implementation of public developments of this nature , is that they a r e s o dependent on changing national and local policy cons ider~ i t ions . Once the n e c e s s a r y loan sanctions have been obtiiined and providing the planning aspec t s of locatiorl have a l ready been sett led, d ~ e y can move immediately into l:l.ie slrlort t e r m program n l e cal.egory; or! the

o ther hand, in a period of econonlic s t r ingency when r e s o u r c e s a r e being diver ted in o ther d i rect ions , lengthy postporleinents of r equ i red Cacilities citn o c c u r .

20. Tn est imat ing the lilccly o r d e r of development, emphas i s has been placed on the stage reached in negotiation; and in a s s e s s i n g delrailed requ i rements , land availabil i ty and the re la t ionship of the project concerned, to a r e a s iri need of comprehensive developtnent. Similarly, where s c h e m e s which involve predominantly p r iva te investment a r e concerned, the l ikely p r o g r a m m e suggested is der ived f r o m examination of the potentiality fo r change in the a r e a s concerned, the s t a g e which h a s I ~ e e n reached in relat ion to s i t e a s s e l l ~ b l y and the negotiations which have taken place o r per tniss ions g ran ted in r e s p e c t of the a.ccommodation to be included and the f o r m of the development proposed.

2 1 . Map No. l 0 indicates t.he poss ible phasing of a r e a s r i p e o r becoming r i p e for redevelopment in the fo reseeab le fu tu re . The f i r s t s t age shows proposals for which s o m e approval has a l ready heen given, o r where land assembly is la rge ly complete ; longer tern1 develop~l lent r e p r e s e n t s sc l lcmes a l ready worked out in a p re l iminary f o r m , o r where land i s due to become available in the fu tu re . F r o m whar has been said, i t w ~ l l be apprecia ted that the p r o g r a m m e indicated can be regarded a s no m o r e than a guide based on conditions a s they ex i s t o r a s they can reasonably be foresee11 a t this point in t ime; i t may well be necessl-lry to advance o r r e t a r d developlnent of par t icular a r e a s to accord with changing c i r c u m s t a n c e s .

2 2 . Because of the importance of the investment e lement , the s t a g e s included have not been re la ted to definite per iods of t ime, alttlough [.he proposals compr i sed in the i i r s t s t age indicate development expected tc proceed ~ ~ i t h i l i the next five y e a r s . The total capi ta l cos t of all die proposa1.s included in th is f i r s t edition of the City C e n t r e Map i s esti!nzi.ed a t about .E160 mill ion, a t c u r r e n t

values . Of this amount about,E70 million is accouilted fo r by public develop~nent of a s e r v i c e s na tu re ( p r i m a r y roads , c a r pa rks , e t c . ) and because these u s e s in the main would involve the l o s s of land a t p resen t used fo r commerc ia l purposes , land cos t s have been included in th is p a r t of the es t imate ; in p rac t i ce , par t icular ly fo r example wliere c a r parking i s concerned, this will normal ly be coillbined with o ther uses and the land cos t e lement reduced accordingly . T h e remainder of the es t imate re f l ec t s the cos t of actual buildillg const ruct ion, public and private, together wit11 I-he provision of illcidental servic ing, and in this c a s e land cos t s have been excluded.

2 3 . Capital expenditure in the Centra l Area dur ing the l a s t s i x years has averaged about £3 million p e r y e a r . 'The emphasis h a s been 011 pr ivate developnlent f o r collllllercial purposes and the expenditure on the s e r v i c e s aspec t has been comparat ively res t r i c ted ; the major work underta1;en in this ca tegory has been Mancunian Way, the cosi: of which is excluded f r o m the average f igure . In looking ahead, on the assumption that s e r v i c e s expenditure will again be t reated separate ly , a projection of the recen t r a t e of development means that i t will take th i r ty y e a r s to achieve the complete real isa t ion of a l l the proposals contained in the Ci ty Cen t re I\/Iap; if the r a t e of investment were to be increased o r decreased , the period will be shor tened o r lengthened correspondingly; i t has been assunled f o r the purposes of land u s e cllanges, that the proposals could be c a r r i e d out by 1981.

24. In p rac t i ce , the Ci ty Cen t re M a p proposals will be rev i sed periodically, and a s c i rcumstances change and nlore useful information becomes available, modificatioils will no doubt be recluired to many of the longer t e r m proposals , before the t ime actually c o m e s for them to bc implemented; moreover , a t each rev iew the proposals would be extended to cover a S ~ ~ r t h e r s t age ahead . 'The importailce of the City C e n t r e Map l i e s in providing a long t e r m context for the

development likely to take place in the y e a r s irnmediateljr aheacl; i t should not be looked upon a s a rigid 'b lue-pr int ' fo r the complete development of the City Cen t re , to be undertaken within a specified period and to be acUlel-ed to r e g a r d l e s s of the p rocesses of evolution.

25. In the implelnelltation of comprehensive developmeilt proposals, par t icular c a r e will be taken to avoid disruption and to keep distul-bance to a 1lli1lilll~1111 . In a r e a s where the re is a need to displace exist ing u s e s , e v e r y effort will he made to s e c u r e the availability of a l ternat ive land which could be developed fo r purposes of re locat ion. In a r e a s where bas ic changes of u s e a r e not proposed and i t i s a mat te r of making possible colnprehensive physical redevelopment, the detailed phasing of the proposals will, a s f a r a s possible, b e a r r a n g e d to avoid undue dis locat ion.

7. Summary 1. The City Development Plan, a.pproved by the Minister of Housi~lg and 1,ocal Government in 1961, indicated most of the Central Area by means of a general notation. The Minister, in approving the Plan, requested that in due course more detailed proposals should be prepared and the City Centre Map follows the advice @ven in the Bulletin, ' Town Centres ... Approach to Renewal', published jointly by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the Ministry of Transport, in 1962.

2. The emphasis i s on the regional scale of the City Centre, representing by f a r the largest concentration 01 employment in the region. It i s the centre of wholesale and retai l t rade, a principal banking centre and the major provincial nucleus of the newspaper publishing industry and of television and radio communications. It i s a main centre of regional and local government, of higher education and of cultural and ar t is t ic life, offering a growing variety of social and entertainment facili t ies. Linked to one of the country's major ports, it i s a hub of road and r a i l c o n ~ m ~ ~ n i c a t i o n s , whilst the growth of passenger and a i r freight traffic underlines the growing importance of i t s connection with the countl-y's main regional a i rpo r t , Sllithout the conlmercial se rv ices and governmental activities that a r e ca r r i ed on in Manchester 's City Centre , i t would be difficult to identify the City Region a s a corporate whole.

3 . Activities in the City Centre a r e changing with increasing einphasis on higher order functions. Employment in the distributive t rade and warehousing is declining, but this is balanced by the growth of 13rofessional services , insurance, banking, finance and public administration. The City Centre' accounts for about 12% of all the er~lployrnent in the City Region and about a third of the total ernployrnent in the City i tself . Although present trends indicate a small , steady, increase in City Centre enlployment during the period up to 1-98 l , the ra te of increase coLllcl be very lnucll inore rapid a s a resu l t 01 the effects of national policy on the location of offices.

4. The increase in persona.1 mobility and higher standards of living- a r e reflected in two ways. The relief of congestion in the irmer a r e a s means that the population supporting and served by the Central Area is becoming inore dispersed,whilst the growth of local centres in neighbouring towns cannot be overlooked. 011

the other hand, the sallie mobility inaltes it possible for grea te r advantage to be taken of those facilities that can only be provided in a rlletropolitan centre, serving a large population. Commercial, econonlic and political functions a r e intimately bound up wi th

the educational, artistic and social life of the community.

5. The City Centre Map proposals a r e designed to reconcile the three variable factors of accessibility, environment and c?conomics. Inzproved accessibility is essential for the future prosperity of the Centre, whilst a constant theme running tl~rough this Report is the importance and value of civilised city life and the need for more care and attention to be paid to the q~iality of environment.

Circulation

6. 'The primary road network has been amended from that shown in the Development Plan, to avoid environmental disruption, of the Cathedral Area in particular, and to overcome engineering problems. Only limited development of the street network of the City Centre itself is proposed for environmental and economic reasons, the exception being the development of Portland Street, a s the only feasible route for the southern link in the primary netcvork. Car parking provision is designed to be developed in step with the improvement in road capacity, access to the main ca r parking a reas being derived from the primary routes to minimise traffic demands on the s t ree t syteln of the central core. Full implementation of the highway network proposed will only result in road capacity at the critical peak hours sufficient to deal with a small proportion of the 'journey to work' traffic. The importance of public transport in the future is emphasised and proposals a r e put f o~ward for improving bus facilities, altl~ough research into the development of rapid transit is proceeding l ~ u t I s not yct complete.

7 . The principle of pedes t r i m ancl vehicular separation is accepted ancl a continuous system of pedestsian routes through the City Centre is proposed. Redevelopment on a comprehensi.ire scale is needed, in order to make possible improvement of the circulation pattern, and to create a new environment in those parts of the Central Area at present occupied by obsolete development and in urgent need of renewal. Comprehensive Planning Proposals o r Advisory Schemes have so far been prepared for five areas, a m ~ n t i n g altogether to about 200 acres and covering the inner core.

Shopping

S. One of the iliost important schemes is for the Market Street Area, which includes the heart of the regional shopping centre; this area i s the subject of formal Comprehensive Development Area and Designation proposals

which have been subnlitted to the Minister. At present there is a h u t 7 million square feet of shopping space in the Central Area, 91 .ivllich about 4. S million is contained in the inner core. The emphasis is on consolidasing the traditional shopping area and phasing developnlent to keep In step with demand. The implementation of the Market Street proposals, together with adjoining developrrlent in the Market Place Area, would increase the total shopping floor space by about 11% and i t i s considered that this is sufficient to cater for the foreseeable denland for major shopping facilities, a s distinct from smaller groups of subsidiary and convenience shopping.

9 . The area between Cannon Street and Withy Grove is planned as an integral part of tile proposals for the main shopping centre, providing ca r parking for a h u t 2,000 cars, a bus station and a new retail market. Market Street will be closed to vehicular traffic and become the main pedestrian way in a system of malls and arcades; planned on two levels, this will enable an independent pedestrian system to be carried out into the adjoining developments of the Market Place and Corn Exchange Areas. Within a decade, the Market Street Area is capable of being tralsformed. I

Covered a i r conditioned shopping facilities and landscaped areas, free from the noise and danger of traffic, a r e proposed and an environment can be created worthy of its location a s the shopping heart of the region.

li). Adjoining the Market Street Area is the site of the Old Market Place and Victoria Buildings, which suffered extensive war damage. At present, this area forms a gap in the shopping pattern at a strategic point, marking the junction of the popular shopping district of Market Street with the high-class shopping of the St. Ann's Square and King Street areas . The proposals for this area, for which a development scheme has now been approved, have been designed to provide a worthy setting for the Cathedral and to preserve the Wellington Inn and the adjoining Oyster Bar,buildings of architectural and historic interest which survived war damage, and provide a link with Manchester's Medieval past. The proposals a r e also designed to exploit the location on the banks of the Irwell, on which development in the past has tended to turn its back, and there is provision for a walkway along the r iver enabling views of the Cathedral Tower to be obtained from the direction of Blackfriars Eridge . Civic & Office Uses

11. Included in the M a r k ~ t Street proposals is part of the main business and commercial area to the north of King Street. The C. D. A. proposals have been put f o ~ w a r d in remec t of

this area in o r d e r to rationalise the circulat io~i systein and to pernlit development, wherc i t is necessaly, to take place in units of reasonable s i ze without undue delay being encountered in ullifying ownerships . Considerable sedevelopment is already taking place in this a r e a , including the related proposals for the District Bank and London Assurance Company in King Street and the scheme for the new Market Centre and Head Post Office, the f i r s t stage of which has already been completed. Develop~~lent in the a r ea has so f a r been undertaken by negotiation and agreement, but f rom a s t rategic planning point of view, i t f o rms an essential element of the comprehensive t reatment fo r the Market Street a r e a a s a whole.

12. Offices and banking accommodation now account for about 25% of the total g ross floor space in the Central Area. Although a quarter of the 1 4 million square feet of office space is contained in post-war buildings, new accommodation is sfill needed fo r the replacement of sub-standard offices, whilst fur ther growth will be influenced by national policies such a s the present restr ic t ion on oflice building in the London and Midlands a r e a s . With the exception of one development, there is no evidence of any rea l difficulty in letting completed accoi~~rnodation, and supply and demand in recent yea r s has been reasonably well balanced. There is some evidence, however, that tenants a r e not yet attuned to accepting the overheads represented by the econoinic rentals of new accommodation even although the rent of new buildings in Manchester is l e s s than half that of their counterparts in London. In recent yea r s the grosvtl~ of Regional Government offices has absorbed a considerable amount of the new space becoming available. The question of t iming is also important a s a period elapses before the marke t can fully absorb the impact of substantial new developments.

13. The Civic Area, between the Town Hall and the Courts of Justice, was shown in the Development Plan in a distinctive notation and was originally intended a s an administrative centre . The Courts of Justice building and the new Magistrates ' Courts now under construction, a r e examples of civic use, but in o r d e r to stimulate much needed redevelopment in the a rea , perrnis sions have been given for commercial office accommodatioil. A propbrtion of this has been occul3ied by Corporation Departments and a study of likely future needs suggests that more space will be needed for Local Government purposes in the future and s i tes related to the Town Hall complex have been suggested. Tllc original proposal in the City of Manchester Plan for a ' processional way' f rom Albert Square to Crown Square,

has been modified extensively and the a r e a i s now being developed a s a trafflc-free precinct, conslstlng o l a s e r i e s of landscaped pedestrian squares and open spaces. A considerable atllount of developillent has already taken place in accordance with the new proposals.

1 4 . Apart from the a r e a centred on King Street and tlle 'Civic Area' , referred to a h v e , there a r e several other a r e a s which a r e r ipe fo r redevelopment and which a r e suitable for the provision of office accommodation, in most cases in association with other u ses .

Cultural and Entertainment

15. An Advisory Planning Scheme has been prepared for the whole of the a r ea extending from the Piccadilly Plaza to Central Station which amounts to 35 a c r e s . It is based on the principle of an upper-level pedestrian system connecting ac ros s York Street, Charlotte Street, Princess Street and Oxford Road, and also extending into the existing and proposed development on the opposite side of Portland Street, including the Chorlton Street Bus Station and c a r park . The approved proposals for the new Bank of England a t Portland Street a r e designed to incorporate upper level circulation, allowing for the systein to be connected into the Piccadilly Plaza . 16. Included with111 the scheme, south of Cl~arlot te Street, is the s i te of the proposed Arts Centre. This ambitious project provides for a substantial extension to the City Art Gallery and for a new Opera House together with restaurants, shops, studios and ancillary accommodation; i t a l s ~ includes proposals for a new theatre and for a film theatre, on the opposite s ide of Princess Street, which would form a natural extension of the traditional entertainulent centre of the City based on Oxford Road. Formal C . D. A. proposals have been prepared for 18.5 ac re s of this area, including the s i te of the Ar t s Centre, but i t has not yet been possible to submit then? to the Minister, pending clarification of the programming of the scheme in relation to national and local financial pr ior i t ies .

17. k y o n d Oxford Road i s an a rea between Lower Mosley Street and Great Bridgewater Street, which for the most pa r t i s in urgent need of physical renewal and which i s suitable for entertainment purposes, combined with offices, bus station facilities and an element of residential use. The redevelopment of this a r ea i s also closely related to the futurc of the considerable a r e a of land in railway ownership comprising Central Station, which i s shortly to be closed and the adjacent goods yard extending up to Deansgate.

18. The high dc;gxcc of accessibility in relat ior~ to thc p r i ~ n a r y road network and i ts location on the edge of the business axxd co~nmerc i a l a rca makes the Central Station a r e a uniquely suitable for main c a r parking facilities to s e rve the centre a s a wl~ole, and i t is proposed that 4 ,000 car spaces should be providcd on this s i te ; this could be corubined ~v i th other uses and tllc surPace of t l ~ e c a r parking decks could be t reated to provide a rrla jor open landscaped space . Entertainment uses combined with this could be designed to pl-oduce the character of a 'Tivoli', whilst offices and residential uses would a l so be appropriate. Lirnitcd shopping ,md showroom accommodation could be provided particularly in connection with die motor and engineering trades already established in the a r ea , although i t is considered that tlle development of major sllopping facilities in this location would be bound to prejudice and clilute the potential 01 the City's main sl~opping centre .

19. The Train Hall itself i s listed as a 'building of special a rc l~ i tec tura l o r his tor ic intercst , ' and now that the station is to close, tlie probleln of preservation depends on finding: a useIu1 purpose for i t . I t i s considered that: i t would make a fine eshibition hall for tlie City, a u s e that wou1.d tend to stimulate developmellt in the remainder of the a r e a and in this par t of the City Centre generally. Other possible uses considered have included a sports hall and a inuseurn of science and tecllnology . KO decision has yct been ixade and alternative proposals for the provision of exhibition facilities, outside the City Centre altogether, a r e also a t present under consideration. The re a r e about 18 ac re s of land included in the Central Station complex, apa r t from la11d needecl for tnajor road works, and i t i s important that the long t e r m potential of the a r e a should not be prejudiced by picce -meal dcvclopment in the meantinle.

Industry and Warehousing

20. The changng character of the City Centre i s confir~ncd by surveys that indicate the continuing decline of warehousing functions. The implementation of the comprehensive proposals already described, will displace some of the remaining warcho~ising and storage uses that, with the i r heavy traffic generation., are in any event unsuited to the heart of the City. Provision i s made for the relocation of displaced warehousing and industrial uses in a r e a s that have g rea t e r accessibility and provide scope for the deveIoplilent of buildings designed to suit modern handlin:: techniques. Sites proposed for this puq3osc include the Strangeways, Knot-t hlil1 ancl Stow Strect a r e a s ..

Education

2 1. The regional signifj,cance of Manchester's Central Area i s nowhere more empliasised than by the provision of Higher Education facili t ies. The plan for the 'Higher Education Precinct', prepased by Wilson and Womersley, for a Joint: Co~nmit tee of the City, the University, the Institute of Science and Technology and the United Manchester Hospitals, re lates to the colnprehensive development of 280 a c r e s to accon~modate a day-ti.me population of 40, 000 including 25,000 students. 43 ac re s of this a r e a l ie within the City Centre i tself , north of Mancunian Way, and include the main campus of the Institute and the John Dalton College of Technology. This area a lso includes f ie s i te whicli is being developed for the Xational Coinputing Centre adjacent to the proposed new Regional Headquarters for the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Development Plan originally allocated 12 a c r e s for educatiolzal purposes in the Central Area, whilst the present proposals show 58 ac re s a s devoted to educational needs. T l ~ e only scope for fur ther extensions to the Precinct l ie to the North in the a r e a now largely occupied by warehousing and industrial u ses between the precinct and the hear t of the City Centre.

Residential

2 2 . One hundred years ago, some 27,000 people lived in the Market Street a r e a alone and this has declined until today the City Centre has virtually no resident population. 11e Centrcl A r e a , a s shown on the Development Plan, i s m o r e than large enough to accommodate the foreseeable demand for commercial purposes and there I s scope f o r the reintroduction of residential u ses . Clean a i r now makes good enviromnental conditions possible, wliilst residential development would not only contribute to the solution of the journey to work problem and the general housing needs of the City, but i t would also benefit the prosperity and charac te r of the City Centre j.tself, particularly in relation to its social, entertainment and shopping functions. Areas considered suitable fo r substantial residential development; include the Smithfield a r ea , when the Wholesale M a r k e t moves to GozTon, the Rochdale Canal basin a t Dale Street, and the Eyrom Street a r e a of Lower Deansgate. There is also the oppolTunity to i n c o q ~ o r a t e an element of residentizl use in predominantly commercial developments in other pa r t s of tlle City Centre. Financial considerations relatecl to land values , ra ther than any shortage of land Cor co~l imerc ia l purposes, a r e the mai.n obstacles to be sumlounted.

Conservation

2 3 . Altllough about a third of the core a r ea of the City Centre i s occupied by developnzent that is physically and functionally obsolete ancl r e quires comprellcns ivc redevelopment, there a r e severa l individual buildings 'listed' a s being of special architectural o r historic interest , other good buildings of the Victorian and later e r a s and cer tain a r e a s of cha.racter which a r e worthy of preservatioi? ; examples of such a r e a s a r e St. John Street, King Street and St. Ann's Square. In these cases , the objective will be to integrate new work wit11 the old and to inzprove the general sett ing and environmental conditions.

24 . An a r e a particularly in need of treatment i s that surrounding the Cathedral and Chetham's Hospital. The City of Manchester Plan proposed tile creatioli of a Precinct to include the Cathedral and Chethams, and this proposal i s retained and extended in the City Centre Map. At the moment, the Cathedral has a most depressing outlook and although the Market Place developnlent proposals will improve the position considerably on the south side, and provide for an open space a s a setting for the Cathedral, fur ther progress in the planning of the remainder of the a r e a is dependent on the outcome of consideration a t present being g v e n by British Rail to the future of Exchange and Victoria Stations. Tlie Cathedral Authorities, British Rail, the Civic Trus t fo r the North West and Manchester and Salford Corporations a r e working together to secure a co-ordinated approach in the planning of this a r e a .

Open Space

25. Manchester is very short of open space in the City Centre, the only substantial a r e a being that of Piccadilly Gardens. Although economic considerations a t present preclude the introduction of a very large scale pas!< into the centre itself, proposals have been approved for the landscaping of t he Irk Valley and the closed section of the Rochdale Canal, to provide l inear open spaces o r 'green fingers', extending from the edge of the Central Area to connect wit;h existing parks and the open country beyond; land that will shortly become available for redevelopment a t Central Station, Rochdale Canal and Smithfield,will a lso provide the opportunity for l a rge r landscaped a r e a s outside the core. In addition,the proposals for comprehensive development provide fo r a s e r i e s of landscaped a r e a s of open space along the pedestrian routes, wl~ich will be available for the use and enjoyn~ent of the public. T l ~ e f i r s t of these a r e a s is now being formed in

the course of the developnlent which i s a t present proceeding In King Street and Crown Square and the coinplcte system will become increasingly vlslble a s rcdevelopinent proceeds.

26. The conversion of s t r ee t s , such a s Market Street, to pedestrian use will also provide tile opportunity for landscaping and amenity treahnent . Studies a r e k i n g undel-taken in conjunction with the Civic T rus t to improve the charac te r .of certain City squares and s t ree ts including St. Ann's Squa-re, King Street, St. Peter 's Square and Alber t Square. Significant environmelltal irnprovenients a r e in general dependent on the exclusion of througl~ traffic from either the whole o r par-t of the a r ea concerned, and although some worthwhile improvements will be possible in the shor t t e rm, more complete solutions a r e dependent on the provision of 31e new pr imaly and secondary routes and on the rationalisation of the circulation system of the City Centre a s a whole. Also in coiljilnction with the Civic Trust , the possibilities a r e bei11.g investigated of extensive t r ee p1a:lting in the Central Area, al.tlhoug11 the inlricate network of existing underground serv ices means tllat there a r e more liiilitations on the positioning of t r ee s chan appearances would suggest.

Form and Quality of Development

27. In the design of new development, control of density is exercised in the interests of preventing congestion and keeping develcpment in scale with the general character of the City Centre. The plot ra t io is dependent on the circumstances of the a r e a concerned but a maximum figure of 3.5 is adopted in al l but the mos t exceptional cases . An overall density standard means that proposals for high buildings can be divorced from considerations of maximum coinmercial exploitation of the s i te and can be considered on their mer i t s , having regard to the suitability of this form of development for the location and the character of the project concerned. A limited number of high buildings can give in te res t to the skyline and emphasise the metropolitan charac te r of tlle City; too many, however, can appear to coalesce, overpower the scale of the centre and overshadow other development. In genera1,high buildings should lx regarded a s the exception ra ther than tlle rule and looked upon a s a civic privilege ra ther than a s a right.

38 . The selcction of suitablc s i tes for high buildings can only be considered in relation to the civic design and skyline of tlle City Centre a s a whole; i t is not considered practicable o r desirable to attempt to

'a1local.c' s i tes o r a reas in atlvance and ~ I I C S C can only seiisibly be sclcctc.d whcn sonic

jndicat'ion of the lol-111 of thc clevelopr-rlcnt and i t s accommodation requirenlents a re given. I11 t11e hear t o l the Central Area, a high building arlywliere would tend to dorninate a i ~ d ovespoiver i t s surroundings, but on h e periphery thcrc Inay be scope for the introduction of a v c ~ y limited rzumber of carcfullg; clate ate cl high elenzents . Tlle comprel~ensive planning proposals so Ia r put f o - ~ ~ i ' a r d e11visng.e general heights of l~uildings of behveell three a.nd eight s toreys with somc up to, but not esceediilg fifteen s toreys , the la t ter , as mentioned, requiring carelul positioning.

2 9 . AI tho ugh p1 arming can h a v e influence on design- to avoid the worst cases of ' had neighbourliness, ' i t i s not possible to legislate for good desjg11 and mediocrity is die mail1 problem. F i r s t Class , a s distinct f rom barely acceptable, design and finishes must depend on the quality and e s ~ e r i e n c c of the archi tect , a.nd teamwork between archi tect and authority, Enlightened patronage has an important par t to play. The archi tect should have lnaximum freedom of expression within the overall planning framework, and the best rcsu l t s a r e obtai~led where continuity of archi tectural charac te r and mater ials i s acceptcd a s a self-imposed objective. I11 Mancliester , encouragelncnt i s given to the use of ~nonochro~z~a t i c ma.terials that a r e self- cleaning ~ v h e r e possible.

30. The integration of pedestrian ways in modem comprehensive developrrlellt emphasises the necessity for a ~ n u c h m o r e complete relationship ktcveen public and private works. Paving treatment, s t ree t furnihlre and lighting, for exanzplc, contribute great ly to the character of the final resu l t and should be collsirlered a s an integral pa r t of the development . L,ighting, in particular, will be gay and lively in somc areas , restrainer1 and dignified in others and i t s design should he consiciered a t an ear ly stage in the planning of the development. It i s important that new development sllould be co -ordinatecl with the general in~provement of cnviromncrzt in the a rea conccrlied . Implementation

3 1 . The re~lewal of CI-ie City Centre will be a parfxers11j.p behvecn public and private in te res t s . Investment flows tl~rough different c l~annels and it is important that it should become possible to programme the provisiorl of essential public facilities in step with associated redeve topment, enabling the ernpliasis to be placed on the overall improvement of t l ~ e City. A parfnersl-lip arrangement rcc~ui res .that there should be

L? c losc understanding, tile r? ~ t 1 1 0 1 - i q 7 bcilig responsible for the productioll of a pia-nning contest that is realistic in t e r m s of p1.1asi1zg and ecorlo~nics and resolving questiolls of s i te assen~lnly, wllilst tllc dcvelopc:. has to recognise his obligation and responsibility to tbe planning o.C the City,. a s well as cxpccting

reasonable re turn on invcshneiiI:, Co~zsultatj.ol~s from ;lie earliesi: stage are esscntial , as 111oneg7 wa-sted on delays o r r~~isunrlerstandings represents resources that could often make tlle dilference behveen a barely acceptcable scllenle and one of high quality.

3 2. The fragnlentation o f ownerships can hold up lnuclz needed redevelopmelzt and can be a ser ious obscaacle to tlle acl~ievement of sat isfactoly planning objectives. In Manchester, tbe ownership 01 certain a r e a s by the Co.rporat:ion has resulted in their speedy redevelopment and only recently 113s made i t possible for major projects t o proceed without delay. In certain a r eas , private interests have ei ther been successful ill consolidating s i t e s o r adjoining owners have worked together -io produce related proposals, although dclay has sometimes occurred. For tile achievement of the lal-ger scale comprehensive development, action will usualljr be necessa ly t o unify owncrships ei ther by means of C. D. A . o r Designation proccdrlre under the Planning Acts, o r by means of the provisions included in the Mnncliester Corporation Act, 1945, where these a r e appropriate.

3 3 . The City Council has not souglit to intervene w l ~ c r e plcmning objectives could be obtained by negotiations o r agreement, but has taken action to bring planning powers of acquisition into force where th i s has proved to be necessary. Wllere planning powers are used, there is provision in the Planning Acts for the protect io~l of displaced in te res t s and every effort will be made to minimise hardship and inconvenience. Where redevelopment takes place without the intervention of the Corporation, the question of re- a ccomrnodation must , 0:' course, l ie between the interests concerned in the normal way.

Phasing

34. The ra t e of implementation of the proposals contained in the City Centre Map will reflcct tIze avai lability of resources , public allcl private, in the yea r s to come ancl f o r this reason it i s considered unreal is t ic to t r y and cst imate when all die development shown will be completed. In assess ing the 1,Lkely o r d e r of development, factors t'aken into account include wlietlze~: a project i s included in a definite programme, the stage reached in negotiation, land availabil-ity, and thc relationship of thc projcct conce~med to a r e a s i n need of

coinprellensive development. 1 7 ~ llhrely stages a r e shown on Map No, 10, although it may well bc necessary to aclvance o r re ta rd development to accord wit11 changing circ~uinstances . 3 5 . The total capital cost of the development s l ~ o w ~ i i s e s t in~ated a t about £1 60 million, a t cur ren t values. Of this, about C70 ~l l i l l ion i s accounted for by public development of a services nature, including lancl costs, whilst the remaining 290 million coizsists of actual building- coilstruction and associated servicing; in the la t ter case, land costs have been excluded. Capital expenditure on building clevelopment in the central a r ea during tbe las t six yea r s has averaged a b u t £3 ~l l i l l ion p e r a i l i lu~~l and a projection of this ra te would mean that i t would take 30 yea r s to achieve the realisation of the proposals shown. If the ra te of investment were to k increased o r decreased, the period would shorten o r lengthen correspondingly and i t has been assumed for the purpose of the repor t that it could be car r ied out by 1981.

3 6 . A considerable pa r t of the fabric of the City Centre was built in the second pa r t of the 19th Century, and much of i t i s obsolete and unfitted for the needs of the present day. The processes of natural regeneration would in any event resu l t in extensive redevelopment and the objective is to guide these forces so a s to solve the vital functional problenls of accessibili ty and to secure a rebuilt environment of quality, reflecting the classical role of the City a s a centre of civilisation.

3 7 . The emphasis in this City Centre Map i s on the need for comprehensive redevelopment of outworn a r e a s and the conservation and inlprovement of buildings and a r e a s of charac te r worth preserving. It s t r e s s e s the need for a framework that i s flexible, which will ac t a s a stimulus to redevelop~nent and iinprovement and not a s a straight-jacket. I ts purpose i s to guide development, particularly developnlent that is l k e l y to take place in the years immediately ahead, and i t may well be that some of the longer t e r m proposals will require revision, in the light of changing circumstances, before the t ime actually comes to implement them.

3 8 . As lllore iilfornlation becomes available, and a s growth and evolution occurs, re-a.ssessment will be necessary. There can be no conclusion, and the present City Centre Map proposals can be considered only a s a milestone in the continuous process of achieving more efficient and more human surroundings in the rebuildiilg of the City.

Appendices

Appendix A 91 Definition of Central Area and City Region

Appendix B 92 Survey Sources

Appendix C Tabulated Information

Table 1 93 Overall accommodation and employment 1966

Table 2 Anticipated land use changes 1966-81

Table 3 Distribution of accommodation 1966

Table 4 Anticipated distribution of accommodation 1981 96

Table 5 9 7 Land use allocations - Comparison of Development Plan and City Centre Map proposals

Table 6 Comprehensive planning a r e a s Anticipated uses

Table 7 Shopping - floor space 1966

Table 8 Offices -. floor space 1966

Table 9 102 Offices - Analysis of con~pletions and vacancies

Table 10 103 Warehousing and Industry - floor space 1966

Appendix D Planning Standards

Appendix E 105 Buildings of special architectural o r historic interest .

~-

Appendix F Relevant policy repor t s .

Area (

Area (

C P ~ Q I I

3f study

3f surve! , ,. .

South E

l

m I les

Appendix A

Definition of Central Area and City Region.

Over the years various definitions of Manchester Central Area have been used both by the City and Central Government in connection with census information etc., and this has given r i s e to a complex situation with regard to survey data. Apart from the Registrar General's and Board of Trade definitions,two definitions have been used in this Report, the Area of Study and the Area of Survey shown on the diagram on the facing page.

The Area of Study, bounded by Mancunian Way, River Invell and a line to the north of Great Ancoats Street, comprises scme 1100 acres ; i t includes all the land allocated i n the Development Plan for Central Business and Shopping Uses and subsidiary Central Area hnctions,in addition to over 200 acres of land for industrial use.

The Area of Survey, the a rea for which detailed land use data is available a t the moment, is 170 acres less in extent than the Area of Study and omits land to the north of Great Ancoats Street. In order to facilitate analysis, the Area of Survey has been subdivided into four segments consisting of the core area, and the areas to the south-east, south-west and north of it respectively.

The area adopted for the Board of Trade Census of Population figures for 1961 is indicated on the diagram a s a comparison.

Within the report,the area referred to a s the 'City Region', which is the main hinterland of the Central Area, corresponds to the survey area for the S. E. L . N . E. C. (South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire) Land use/Transportation Study. The boundary of this a rea is indicated on the diagram facing page 9, which also shotvs the boundary of the Manchester County Borough referred to a s the 'City' within the text.

Appendix B

Survey- Sources

Apart f rom censuses and other published sources, the data used for this Report i s based on a s e r i e s of surveys carr ied out by the planning section of the former City Surveyor's Departnlent o r by the City Planning Department since 19 64.

The f i r s t overall land use survey was car r ied out a s long ago a s 1944 in connection with the preparation of the City of Manchester Plan 1945, drawn up by M r . Rowland Nicholas, the fo rmer City Surveyor; this information was updated fo r the purposes of the Development Plan in 1950. F o r survey purposes the City Centre was suMivided into a r eas but direct comparisons between the surveys a r e difficult to make, a s apart f rom the long interval between them, the original survey did not differentiate between offices and warehouses, two of the most crit ically variable uses .

Lack of detailed information about the Central Area and the need for a quick appraisal of the situation on certain crucial issues resulted in three surveys in the ear ly 1960's on shops, offices, and warehouses.

The Shopping Survey car r ied out in 1962 was of a visual nature, and was intended to a s s e s s the extent and character of shopping provision in Central Manchester. The a r e a covered i s roughly coinparable with the a r ea now refer red to a s the core of the City Centre. A Report of the survey was submitted to the Town Planning ancl Buildings Committee in April 1964.

The Office Survey which has been car r ied out annually since 1962 has a s se s sed the conlpletion r a t e s and vacancy situation in each year . The resul ts of these surveys a r e summarised in Table 9 of Appendix C.

The Warehousing Survey aimed to ascertain the views of certain commercial interests in light of the decline in the textile t rade and proposals to use some of the warel~ousing a reas of the City Centre for other purposes. An analysis of the survey formed the basis of a Policy Report s~lbmit ted to tlie Town Planning and Buildings Committee in October 1964.

In 1965 a Comprehensive Land Use Survey was car r ied out for the whole City. Measurements of accolnmodation were recorded by 12 main types of use and over 150 sub-uses and updated to December 1966, for the a r e a of survey; this updated survey is the source of land use information employed in Ta.bles 1 to 10 in Appendix C.

In addition to carrying out a basic land use survey,employment and industrial surveys have been undertaken a s pa r t 01 the Developnlent Plan Review process f o r the City,which a r e in course of analysis.

The Employment Survey i s based on Ministry of Labour returns for June 1965, and i t established, inter alia, that some 161, 000 people work in the Area of Suwey. At the present t ime the Land Use Survey has not been directly related to the employnent information. However, a preliillinary exercise has been undertaken distributing the majority of persons enlployed in the Central Area (a), to one of t l ~ e nine land uses a s s e t out in Table 1, of Appendix C.

(a) Class 1 nationally insured persons total only 142, 000. The remaining employment, included in Classes 2 and 3, which a r e nationally insured persons comprising self- einployed and establishinents employing under five persons, is excluded from this exercise because they a r e not recorded separately in the Standard Industrial Classification for the Central Area.

Appendix C

Table 1 Overall accommodation and employment 1966.

Shopping

Offices

Warehousing

Indus t ry

Enf ertainlnent

Education

Residential (c)

Transport (d)

Other uses (e)

Floor space 1966 '000 sq.ft . (a)

6, 995

14,817

14,840

6, 924

1,838

2, 537

1,462

6,733

7,858

Employment 19 65 No. of workers (b)

19,000

60,000

19,000

25,000

2,000

3,000

2,000

5,000

7,000

Total

(a) Where possible,uses ancillary to the predominant land use have been excluded.

(b) Based on Ministry of Lebour Returns June 1965 and includes only Class I Nationally Insured Persons.

(c) This total includes hotels and hostels a s well a s private residences.

(d) This category includes c a r parks, railway land, canal uses, bus terminals and petrol filling S tations .

(e) Public open space which covers just over 9 acres is included within this category.

Table 2 Anticipated Land Use Changes 1.966.,81..

Core '000. Sq. f t .

Existing Net Change Possible (a)

Shopping 4,835 + 1,130 5 , 9 6 5

Offices 8, 558 + 1, 671 10,229

Warehousing 3,272 -. 1,479 1 ,793

Industry 670 - 370 300

Entertainment 1,121 + 711 1, 832

Education 81 .- 33 48

Residential 576 - 116 4 60

Transport (c) 837 - 24 8 13

Other Uses (c) 2, 096 - 966 1,130

Total (including Core) '000 Sq. ft. Existing Net Change Possllsle (a)

1, 838 + 1,513 3, 351

2, 531 + 656 3,193

1, 462 + 2,305 (d) 3 ,767

6,733 - 1,797 4, 936

'7, 858 - 1,461 6,397

Total 22,046 + 524 22, 570 64,004 - 1, 929 (c) 62 ,075

(a) This i s an estimate of the possible City Centre accoininodation by use in 1981 based on the advisory schemes, existin?; and in course of preparation, approved planning applications and road proposals. In a11 cases , i t has been a s s ~ m d tha.t where no proposals exist for the s i te no change will occur .

(b) T h ~ s i s a minilnum estimate only. The increase could be la rger when detai ls of accommodatioil have been finalised in a r eas allocated for residential use in the City Centre.

(c) Car parking proposals and open space have been excluded from the land use chCmges. The number of c a r parking spaces to be provided in the City Centre up to 1982 totals 40,000.

(d) This change i s based on an assumed plot ra t io of 1 for all a r eas to be util ised for residence in the City Centre within the next 15 yea r s .

Table 3 Distribution of Accommodation 1966

Exi S ting Total Core

Shopping

Offices

Warehousing

Indus t ry

Entertainment

Education

Residential

Transport

Other Uses

North

1 ,097

2,315

2,979

1,701

127

174

303

62 4

1,303

South East

514

2, 673

4,928

1 ,990

247

1,953

397

1, 980

2,475

South '000 sq . ft West

54 9

1,271

3 ,66 1

2,563

343

32 9

186

3,293

1,984

Total 64,004 22,046 10, 623 17,157 14,179

Table 4 Anticipated Distribution of Accomrnoda tion 198 1.

Uses Total

Shopping 7,757

Offices 17,296

Warehousing 9,961

Industry 5,417

Entertainment 3 ,351

Education 3,193

Residential 3 ,767

Transport 4 ,936

Other Uses 6,397

Core

5 ,965

10,229

1 ,793

300

1,832

4 8

460

8 13

1,130

North

93 8

2,144

2,143

1,359

2 14

151

808

588

1,060

South Eas t

'000 sq.&.

South West

Total 62, 075 22, 570 9,405 17,359 12,741

Table 5 Land Use Allocations - Comparison of .Development Plan and City Centre Map Proposals.

Land Use (a)

Area for Central business, shopping.

Development Plan City Centre Map, Increase o r Land Use Allocations Land Use Allocations Decrease

in Study Area in Study Area

acreages acreages acreages

167 offices 48 shops 34 entertain-

ment 140 area of

further study Civic and cultural uses 6 5 Sub Total 484 389 -9503)

Industrial 239 287 +WC)

Education 43 (d) 5 8 +l 5

B.B.C. T . V . 4(d) 14 +l 0

Area primarily for residence 2 8 106 +78

Railway and Water transport

Municipal traffic roads 144 122 -22

Public Open Space 11 11 - Total 1100 1100 -

(a) Land for c a r parking has not been measured separately because in most cases it i s an integral part of another land use.

(b) A net decrease occurs because of re-allocation of land allocated in the Development Plan for central business and shopping,to industry and svarehousing, education and residential in the City Centre Map.

(c) In theCDevelopment Plan, warehousing was part of the allocation for central business and shopping as no land use survey had distinguished warehousing as a separate category. The City Centre Map allocates land for warehousing in association with industry. Therefore, a slightly larger area is anticipated for industrial use but would include land for the relocation of warehouses.

(d) Recent amendment to the Development Plan included in this total.

(e) In fact ,more land than indicated may be released for other purposes in the future.

Table 6 Comprehensive Planning Areas.

Advisory Schemes

Market Street

N. Market Street

Remainder

Total

Cathedral Area

Market Place

Corn Exchange

Remainder of Cathedral a r ea within Manchester

Total

Civic Area Total

Mosley Street

Lower Mosley Street

Remainder

Total

Central Station

Railway Land

Remainder

Total

Total ofa l l ~ d v i ~ o r ~ Schemes

Anticipated uses (19 81)

Acreage Shops '000 sq.f t . Offices '000 sq. ft Other Major Uses

Total Net Change Total Net Change Use (a>

Area

17 911 +47 6 80 -177 Market 75,000

Hotel 59,000

Hotel & FIats 110,000

10 148 + 94 3 27 + 35 Entertainment 132,000 Hotel & Flats 333,000

25 189 + 8 1262 +60 1 Cultural and Entertainment 750,000

2 3 100 - 6 300 +249 Residential 300,000

7 46 - 45 12 4 - 13 1 Recreational 500,000

(a) Uses comprising shopping a re listed in a footnote to Table 7 .

99

Table 7 Shopping - Distribution of Gross Floor space (1966)(a)

Grocers and other food re ta i le rs

Confectioners and other Non-food re ta i le rs

Clothing Shops

Household goods

Department Stores and Variety Stores

Service Trades

Cafes and Restaurants

Other Shops

Vacant shops

'000 sq . f t . 'Total Core South

North East South West

Total 100% 6,995 4,835 1,097 514 549

(a) The figures include storage space etc .

Table 8

Offices - Distribution of Floor Space (1966) .ooo sq. ft

CO r e South East

South- West Office Types % Total North

Central and local Government Offices 19 2,748

Banks and Insurance Offices 2 4 3,492

Professional Offices, Societies, Institutions etc. 14 2,117

Commercial Offices, and offices of f irms 35 5,238

Licensed betting offices - 62

Post Offices 3 4

Stock and produce exchange 1 9 6

Vacant Offices 7 1,030

Total 100% 14,817 8, 558 2,315 2,673 1,271

Table 9 Offices - Analysis of Completions & V a c a ~ ~ c i e s in Recent Years (a) '000 sq . f t

Offices completed since 1948 1,373 2,181 2,566 3,197 3,473

Offices completed during year - 808 385 63 1 276

Total Offices under constructio~l l , 361 827 768 303 615

Total Offices Vacant 48 2 529 600 1,292 1,023(b)

New Offices Vacant 5 2 8 3 166 42 8 294

Pre -war Offices Vacant 43 0 446 43 4 864 729(b)

(a) Summary of resul ts of annual officesurveys for the last five yea r s .

(b) These figures a r e derived from the Land Use Survey of 1966 and have been substituted for those obtained in the annual office survey. Analysis of the distribution of vacant offices in the Central Area shows that when all the contributory factors a r e considered,the amount of 'reasonable lettable office space ' is probably half this figure. A much inflated vacancy ra te occurs in the a r eas imminent for redevelopment and in certain cases , due to special circumstances, offices, though vacant a r e not available for letting.

Table 10 Warehousing & Industry - Distribution of Floor Space (1966)

Warehousing of all kinds

Vacant warehouses

Wholesale markets and Abattoirs

Miscellaneous Storage space

Radio T. V. and fill11 studios

'000 sq.&. South South- % Total Core North East West

Light Industry (a) 4 9 16 344 2 84 159 129

General Industry 20 4,308 32 6 1 ,278 1,274 1,430

Special Industry 6 1,351 - 4 1 342 9 68

Vacant Indus tr ies premises 2 349 - 9 8 215 3 6

~ -

Total ( l ) + (2)

(a) Includes newspaper printing.

Appendix D

Planning Standards.

For clarification, the following represents the standards in relation to density, c a r parking and daylighting, with which new development will normally be expected to comply.

PLOT RATIO

The density of development is expressed in terms of plot ratio which is defined a s the ratio between the total floor area, including external walls, contained within a building o r buildings and the net site area,! excluding roads and provision for road widening of the plot o r other land area on which it stands. In calculating plot ratio the floor area of a building is taken a s the sum of the roofed areas a t each floor level excluding machinery, heating installations, internal service roads and ca r parking facilities.

The maximum density a t present generally permitted is a plot ratio of 3.5 with a reduction to 3.0 in concentrated shopping areas such as Market Street. Where residential development is provided in the form of flats, above a scheme, an additional allowance may be permissable depending on the location and tlie degree of accessibility of the area concerned.

CAR PARKING AND SERVICING

Until 1967 the parking policy of tlie City required one ca r space to be provided for every 2,000 o r 2,500 square feet of new development in offices and shops respectively. In the new Parking Policy emphasis will now generally be on the provision of operational parking only within commercial development, that is,space required for vehicles regularly and necessarily involved in the operation of the business of particular buildings. The number of operational spaces to be included in any development will be considered on its merits and will have to be justified. It is essential that all necessary unloading and loading space is provided within the curtilage of any development and should be met within the operational spaces available.

DAYLIGHTING OF BUILDINGS

The standards adopted for this purpose a r e described in Bulletin No. 5 produced by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

Its basic function is to ensure that d.evelopments obtain good lighting and sunlighting, and that design of buildings take full account of the requirements of adjacent structures. With piecemeal development it is almost impossible to fulfil these standards but the comprehensive scale of new development should normally make it possible to meet them in full.

Appendix E

Buildings of Special Architectural o r Historical Interest.

The following buildings, existing within the central area,were included by the Minister of Town and Country Planning on the l i s t of Buildings of Special Architectural o r Historical Interest compiled under section 30 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947. In 1963, an amendment was made lry the Minister of Housing and Local Government to the list under Section 32 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1962, which incorporates the provision of the earl ier Act in respect of Buildings of Special Architectural o r Historical Interest.

Location VICTORIA STREET

Date

Cathedral Church of St. Mary 15th Century

LIVERPOOL ROAD

Remains of the originaI terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Liverpool Street Station.

ST. AhJN'S STREET

St. Ann's Church

FENNEL STREET

Chetham' S Hospital

ALBERT SQUARE

Town Hall Albert Memorial

MULBERRY STREET

Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary

PETER STREET

Free Trade Hall

WINDMILL STREET

Central Station

ST. JOHN'S STREET

late 18th Century Iate 18th Century

ST. ANN'S STREET

No. 2 5. Williams Deacon's Bank and Annexe. 1848

OLD SHAMBLES

* * Old Wellington Inn * Sinclairs' Oyster Bar

16th Century 17th o r 18th Century

PORTLAND STREET

Warehouse occupied by S. & J. Watts Limited 1856 Nos. 3, 5 and 9 (3 warehouses west of 1850 Queen's Hotel).

KING STREET

No, 35,District Bank Bank of England

LONG MILLGATE

Manchester Arms Hotel 18 th Century

MOSLEY STREET

City Art Gallery No. 38 Portico Library No. 57 Williams Deacon's Bank

DEANSGATE

Ryland's Library 1899

BYROM STREET

* NOS. 25-31 "Nos. 38-44

18th Century 18th Century

MOUNT STREET

Friends Meeting House 1830

The following property i s not included on the statutory list of buildings of special architectural o r historical interest but is entitled to the same protection a s a listed building.

PRINCES S STREET

No. 8 1. Athenaeum

Crown Property

QUAY STREET

County Court 18th Century --

XTPPLEMENTARY LIST OF BUILDINGS OF ARCHITECTURAL OR HISTORICAL INTEREST .

GARTSIDE STREET

*,Nos. 72 -78

QUAYSTREET

Nos. 66-74

LOWER BYROM STREET

No. 30

PRINCESS STREET

Municipal High School of Commerce

CATEATON STREET

""Hanging Bridge

18th Century

18th Century

18th Century

19th Century

COLLIER STREET

""Liverpool Road, Fragment of Roman Wall

"Buildings s o indicated form part of an architectural entity o r group comprising more than one property.

""These s t ruc tures a r e also scheduled a s ancient monuments under Section 12 of the Ancient Monuments Act 1913 and Section 6 of the Ancient. Monuments Act 1931.

13. Outline Planning Proposals for Town Planning & Buildings Central Station Area.

14. The Desirability of Town Planning & Buildings Re -introducing Residential Accommodation into the City Centre.

15. Site for new Wholesale Town Planning & Buildings Frui t Vegetable and Fish MarketJoint Report of General Markets Department and City Planning Officer.

16. Central Retail Food Market Town Planning & Buildings for Manchester. Joint Report of General Manager, Markets Department and City Planning Officer.

17. Rapid Trans i t . Town Planning & Buildings Joint Report of City Engineer and Surveyor, General Manager Transport Department, and City Planning Officer.

18. Municipal Accommodation Town Planning & Buildings within the Civic Area. Joint Report of City Architect and City and City Planning Officer.

19. Report on Car Parking in Town Planning & Buildings Central Manchester. Joint Report of City Engineer & Surveyor, General Manager of Transport Department, Chief Constable and City Planning Officer.

20. City Centre Road Report. Town Planning & Buildings Joint Report of City E n g n e e r and Surveyor, General Manager Transport Department, Chief Constable and City Planning Officer.

September 1966

September 1966

February 1964

June 1965

January 1966

February 19 6 6

February 1966 May 1967

Concurrent submission with City Centre Map.

Maps

1 Inner city map

2 Location Plan

3 Development Plan

4 Existing land use

5 Townscape : quality and character

6 Redevelopment appraisal

7 Future land use

8 Future Communications

9 Comprehensive planning proposals

10 Implementation

11 City centre map

Inner city map

Open space strategy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ' ~ l ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ; ; ~ ~ l ~ ' ~ l ~ ' ~ , Residential Study Areas

.................. ................. ................. .............................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Education precinct ................. ................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................. ................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - Future road pattern

Uist rict cent re

Location Plan

+ . * . @ * m Boundary of Study Area

l a c 9 , 470 , BP0 L 12,OO ,feet,

- .

Development Plan

l ndustrial Use

;i:rzg@gq;; Public Open Space ~5!~;+>~f~:(i~~24~:ti g$i;>$;$$&@: &l?>><,>;t;J,:< .G.:

Civic &Cultural Use

................. ................. ................. ................. Railway Land ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. .................

Central Business & Shopping Area

Water iiansport

Post Office lJse

Higher Education Precinct

British Broadcasting Corporation

Principal Roads

1 acre 0 400 800 1200 feet

Existing land use

S hopping

Recreation & ..... ............. ........... ..... ........ ....... .A............... Cultural

Open space pas . Public Open Spacm

Industry & distribution

................. ................ .............................. ................. Railway land ................ ................. ................ ................. ................ ................. ................ ................. ................ ................. ................ ................. ................ , , , ,

I I I I Residential 1 I ~1

m Parking area

l acre 0 400 800 1200 feet I 1 1 1 1 - l 'r

I I I I I I / ' ~ ~ ~ ~ ' ~ ' J : Road r-;trur.:turf:> (~!levatnd} 1 ! . l

Redevelopment appraisal

Areas of predominantly long life buildings or uses

Areas ripe for redevelopment for which advisory schemes have been produced

Other areas ripe for redevelopment

llllllllllllllllllllllllll Areas where redevelopment col-~ld take place in the foreseeable future

[7 lacre 0 400 800 1200feet

Future land use

Regional Shopping

Recreation & Cultural

lndust ry & Distribution

................. ................. ................. ................. Railway land ................. ................. ...........-..... ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

l l i l I l l i l l l l l l l l l l . Residential & Mixed uses

rFj Education

m BBC centre

IDD'DDDm: Areas for g further study

lrJurrrrr

0 400 800 1200 feet

$?\y .;.;.i.;.y:** . .&.:.:.:.. -.

t.; . . ' 5t.Z.' .. .$ ..,. #,*:.:Q.:* ....... +::

;::t.s:<.;.:!..:. ' $:.!fff.:'"4~:y .C

;q;<$.. .*$:,.:.<:;!,..: ... ................. <.P;:::,. ,.:. ................ ..-,.:::, ........ ............. t......'.'.'."......... .7 ............ ........ .... .*:;>::'::,:g,.~:.:.:.:.:::..-.-' ....... . .... . -. .,:, :..-.: ::.X?, .:A> . . . ... ... ..:...:.:...>. .. +:. :. .. .F: ; .. .:I.'. ................ i*:.: ...... .v.:;:.: *,:.:,:..

. ..-.c. -...r -1 -- - -L&L-- --is - =r U 1 I . . :-

Primary Roads

Secondary Roads

@ Outer Car Parks

Inner Car Parks

Terminal Car Parks

Primary Road Access to Terminal Parks

8 Railway Station

Bus Station

Future Communications

Principal Pedest r ~ a n ~ o u t e s ~

l ac re 0 400 800 1200 feet r i r l , 1 *I'

- r -

i f .- 'L. 'l, 'i ,{ 'I]

b-

a ! '

Comprehensive planning proposals

9

m Pedestrian areas

m m a m m a Pedestrian routes

7 1 acre 7 , 4yO , 8:O , 12,OO ,fee; +

1 .'ll,l;by 1'1'1, t!.,.., 1 l,, , l,d~i$/

Implementation

First phase development

IlllllllllllllllllUUlll Longer term development

lacre 0 400 800 1200 feet -

City centre map

Regional Shopping -

l Recreation & Cultural

B lndust ry & Distribution

................. ................. ....................... ................. .......... Railway land ................. .................................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. .................................

l I i l I I l i l l l i i l l 1 ~ i Residential & Mixed uses

1-1 Education

BBC centre

Zmmmmmmmi Areas for I I ! further study l m r m m m r r m

l acre 0 400 800 1200 bet

Acknowledgements

Illustrations . The aerial photographs on the frontispiece and on pages 26 and 4.5 were supplied by Airviews (M/cr . ) Limited, Manchester Airport, and that on page 12 by Aerofilms Limited.

Illustrations were also obtained from the following and a r e gratefully acknowledged: - Page

40 top Ik rek Lovejoy and Associates.

52 top Daniel, Watney, Eiloart, Inman & Nunn.

5 3 The Co-operative Insurance Society.

54 The City Architect S. G. Besant Roberts . 6 6 Sketch of proposed Arts Centre based on studies by the City Architect.

70 Wilson and Womersley.

74 top Fitzroy, Robinson and Partners.

74 bottom Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardall.

75 top Casson, Conder and Partners.

75 bottom Cruickshank and Seward.

All Maps a r e based on the Ordnmce Survey with the sanction of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Crown Copyright Reserved.

This publication was designed in the City Planning Department and produced by the Stationery Department, Town Hall, Manchester, 2 .