Strive for quality: banish mediocrity. This is the forthright message to prospective developers in the latest annual report from the Manchester Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings Panel*.
The device of obtaining planning approval as a method of enhancing the value of land and building is on the increase, the report says. “When the market is booming, this device creates higher and higher values for speculators, while in recession times it is used as a damage limitation mechanism to prevent loss-making on overheated acquisitions.” Planning applications are submitted which are very unlikely to proceed but which “create artificial values destined to obstruct more realistic development taking place”.
In some cases the panel has urged rejection of submissions until a proposal is made which truly adds to the quality and character of the city.
The scale and form of the Arndale Centre in Manchester are totally alien to the character of Manchester, the panel believes, and the price paid for the economic gain of the development was the economic loss felt in other areas. “Add to this the privatisation of public space which arises from the securing of this centre outside shopping hours, and it is clear that this development has mixed blessings.”
The panel wants high quality and appropriate proposals to be the primary target for future developments. “Sweep away the indifferent buildings of the past by all means, but only where the replacement will be significantly better and where it will be to the long-term benefit of the city as a whole.”
The panel expresses concern about the deterioration of Heaton Hall, a Grade I listed building on the outskirts of the city, and its “once fine park”. Despite some restoration, in places the building is open to the elements and the depredations of vandals and the park is worn out and badly tended.
Under a heading, “Are we wasting our time?”, the panel says that much of its advice is disregarded. Although they understand the need for a balanced view on plannning applications, the planning authorities are “too ready to accept schemes which are substandard or ill-considered when better alternatives can be achieved with more effort”. The panel is made up of representatives of major professional and amenity bodies.
*Manchester Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings Panel. Annual Report. PO Box 488, Town Hall, Manchester M60 2JT.
