{"id":381485,"date":"2025-08-29T02:19:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T02:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381485\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T02:19:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T02:19:06","slug":"council-names-date-piccadilly-gardens-redesign-will-be-unveiled-with-features-people-liked-in-the-old-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381485\/","title":{"rendered":"Council names date Piccadilly Gardens redesign will be unveiled with ‘features people liked in the old days’"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been promised for years<\/p>\n

18:14, 28 Aug 2025Updated 18:21, 28 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Designs for the \u2018new\u2019 Piccadilly Gardens will be released in September with \u2018features people liked in the old days\u2019.<\/p>\n

For years, the area has been plagued by anti-social behaviour, drug dealing, and addiction issues, sparking widespread pleas from Mancs for the council and police to clean-up the area and make it more attractive.<\/p>\n

Manchester council began work to revamp the 10-acre public square since 2022, with architects LDA Design Studio winning a competition to oversee the redesign in July 2023.<\/p>\n

To see planning applications; traffic and road diversions and layout changes; and more, visit the Public Notices Portal HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the project has stalled after the estimated costs spiralled beyond the initial \u00a325m budget, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed in May<\/a>, when a council source hinted a \u2018floral element\u2019 would make a return to Piccadilly Gardens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In particular, a return to the sunken \u2018rose garden\u2019 layout the plaza had until the 2002 Tadao Ando Commonwealth Games redesign has long been called for<\/a>. This is thought to be impractical given Piccadilly Gardens serves as a major transport hub, shopping district, protest site, and public square.<\/p>\n

But it appears flowers could come back to the Gardens after the council\u2019s city centre spokesperson Pat Karney said on Thursday (August 28) Mancs will see the redesign in \u2018two weeks\u2019 \u2014 and it\u2019ll \u2018bring back features people liked in the old days\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not happy with it from the council, but I am pleased [to say] in two weeks\u2019 time we will be announcing a regeneration plan with the Gardens,\u201d Coun Karney told BBC Radio Manchester.<\/p>\n

Piccadilly Gardens in the early 1960s looked pretty in this photo, but it was beset by crime a few years later, prompting a redesign(Image: George Shepherd)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been held up a bit with the water feature. We have big plans to bring back lots of features people liked in the old days.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of time people say they want flowers and colour to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get news, views and analysis of the biggest stories with the daily Mancunian Way newsletter – sign up <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Previously, the council said it was working with Transport for Greater Manchester and Greater Manchester Police<\/a> on how to best redesign the area, and even examined relocating the Parker Street bus station, but had ruled it out for logistical reasons.<\/p>\n

Also on Thursday, top city centre cop Nicola Williams confirmed how GMP has been involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had an environmental visual audit done with recommendations about things like lighting, CCTV. So all that\u2019s being looked at to improve feelings of safety and assist our response in terms of gathering evidence,\u201d said Supt Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe environmental visual audit, that\u2019s a report by an expert that gives recommendations. We had that done a few months ago now. That\u2019s been shared with the politicians, with Manchester City Council. They are now taking on board that advice and we\u2019ll move forward. Because obviously the police don\u2019t oversee installation of CCTV for example. But yeah, we\u2019re involved in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s been promised for years 18:14, 28 Aug 2025Updated 18:21, 28 Aug 2025 (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,8086,8828,16429,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-381485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-city-centre","13":"tag-manchester-council","14":"tag-piccadilly-gardens","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115109663149437294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}