There are fears a small country park on the outskirts of the city centre could be swallowed up in Manchester’s biggest-ever regeneration project

05:05, 12 Oct 2025Updated 05:06, 12 Oct 2025

Sue Bowen from Irk Valley and Sandhill Friends Group stood on Barney’s Hill(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)

On a hill about a mile to the north of the city centre stands a miniature Mancunian version of Stonehenge.

The six standing stones form the centrepiece of a small country park built on reclaimed land that was once Collyhurst quarry. ‘Barney’s Hill’, as it’s known locally, is a vital bit of green space in one of Manchester’s poorest areas.

But there are fears it could be swallowed up by developers as the biggest regeneration project in the city’s history gathers pace. Dubbed Victoria North, the near £4bn scheme will see 15,000 homes built over 155 hectares from Angel Meadow to Collyhurst.

It’s estimated some 40,000 people – a population almost as big at the town of Middleton – will move into the area over the next 20 years. They will be joined by new schools, GP surgeries and a new ‘River City Park’.

But there are also concerns Barney’s Hill, behind the old Eastfield Square shopping precinct off Rochdale Road, is being eyed up for housing. A new Metrolink stop is earmarked for the area, and Manchester council’s housing chief Coun Gavin White has previously spoken about a neighbourhood of 5,000 homes being built around it.

The stones are known as Egghenge(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)

But if that happens, Sue Bowen, from the Irk Valley and Sandhills Friends Group, says the community will lose a much-needed oasis of urban countryside.

She said: “It’s all the space. You can come out here and feel like you are in the country and just breathe. When people are stuck in high rises like this you need to get out in nature.”

Barney’s Hill falls under a section of the Victoria North plans known as Vauxhall Gardens – named after a Victorian pleasure grounds that stood in the area in the mid 19th Century. A Manchester council spokesperson said the potential for housing on the land was ‘set out and consulted upon’ prior to the approval of a planning document known as a Strategic Regeneration Framework in 2019.

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Any development in the area would be ‘subject to further consultation with local people’, they added. But Sue says the Friends will fight against plans that result in the loss of the park.

She added: “They are saying people need housing – they are using that reason for changing the environment. But if they build on it we are never going to have the chance to see what it could be.

“We would dispute the claim there has been extensive consultation. They need to speak to the community about the use of that land.

“They can’t just say ‘We are going to build on it’. It needs to be improved, not lost to housing.”

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A Manchester council spokesperson said: “Collyhurst has been one of the first focus areas for the major Victoria North programme and we have just marked the completion of the first social rented homes as part of the first phase, which will see 274 new homes built – including 130 council homes – in Collyhurst Village and Collyhurst South, alongside a new community park

“The council first approved a Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) for Victoria North in 2019 following extensive public consultation, setting out a vision for seven neighbourhoods connected by high quality green space and active travel routes – including a new 40 hectare City River Park, the first part of which is being developed at the moment at St Catherine’s Wood off Collyhurst Road.

‘When people are stuck in high rises like this you need to get out in nature'(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)

“The land in question, Barney’s Hill, is within the Vauxhall Gardens neighbourhood where it is envisaged that a new Metrolink stop at Sandhills will create an anchor for a new neighbourhood centre and new homes, integrated alongside existing properties and improved green spaces. The potential for housing development on Barney’s Hill was set out and consulted upon in the SRF, however any future development in this area would be subject to further consultation with local people.

“As part of the long-term investment in Collyhurst, the existing Sandhills Park will also be protected and enhanced for the local community.”