{"id":481263,"date":"2025-10-07T21:32:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T21:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/481263\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T21:32:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T21:32:38","slug":"new-islington-green-space-from-petition-to-preservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/481263\/","title":{"rendered":"New Islington Green Space: from petition to preservation"},"content":{"rendered":"

– Advertisement –\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Five years ago this week, New Islington<\/a> was in uproar.<\/p>\n

More than 5,000 residents from the city centre neighbourhood next door to Ancoats signed a petition pleading with Manchester City Council<\/a> to stop a developer\u2019s bid to build offices on what many considered its heart, New Islington Green.<\/p>\n

A patch of grass around the area\u2019s tram stop, New Islington Green, was not a council park. It still isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening at New Islington Green?<\/p>\n

\"\"A patch of grass near the tram stop<\/p>\n

But its four acres of grass were, and are, popular with dog walkers<\/a>, picnickers, and runners. So plans to build a campus of office blocks were met with fierce opposition.<\/p>\n

Despite the 5,000 signatures, London-based General Projects\u2019 plans were approved by the Manchester council in December 2020.<\/p>\n

They were then able to go ahead with building five office blocks, built around the New Islington tram stop and tracks, either five or eight storeys tall. Those blocks would become home to small businesses<\/a> and still provide two-and-a-half acres of green space for the public.<\/p>\n

Residents hit back at developers<\/p>\n

But residents hit back, pointing out they had four acres at the time. General Projects replied saying the new greenery would be \u2018significantly better quality\u2019.<\/p>\n

You can find out more about General Projects by clicking here<\/a><\/p>\n

The arrival of diggers for \u2018investigatory works\u2019 in September 2022 seemed like the usual expected prelude to wholesale redevelopment beginning.<\/p>\n

However, work never got going in earnest, as a huge redesign in late 2023 delayed construction.<\/p>\n

\"\"New Islington tram stop<\/p>\n

More public amenities like cafes<\/a> and shops were promised in the overhaul, as was a major aesthetic change: Steel and glass were out, being replaced by brick-style cladding so the five offices would blend in with nearby Victorian mills.<\/p>\n

Developers said they expected work on the revised project to begin at some point in 2024.<\/p>\n

But if you go to New Islington<\/a> Green today, you won\u2019t find any offices. Or a building site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Work has still not started, as the revised project is yet to receive planning permission, more than 18 months after it was submitted.<\/p>\n

General Projects submitted new designs to the Manchester council three months ago, and a public consultation closed at the end of August. The decision has been with the council for a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n

There is still opposition in New Islington to the scheme. Nikki Christie, 34, was one of the original petition signers and hasn\u2019t changed her opinion.<\/p>\n

Opposition to building on Islington Green <\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy the green space because I have a dog. It\u2019s nice to have,\u201d she told I Love Manchester on Monday (6th October), five years and one day after the first plans were submitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always construction around here, so it\u2019s a bit much [to have more]. More offices would not be a positive thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the only bit of green space I have.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A more recent arrival, 20-year-old Adam Clark, also said he \u2018would rather it was somewhere else\u2019<\/p>\n

Caitlin Townend, who\u2019s called the area home for four years, added she \u201cprobably does not want them to start building because it\u2019s the only bit of green space I have\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PersonGreen space, New Islington<\/p>\n

Even though residents have had their wish so far, there\u2019s been a cost with the delays, 27-year-old Caitlin added.<\/p>\n

She explained: \u201cIt was cornered off because they were going to start, so we could not use all the space over the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen people were not using it. There was confusion over what was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIt feels like we\u2019re in limbo, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Advertisement –\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"– Advertisement – Five years ago this week, New Islington was in uproar. More than 5,000 residents from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,12495,393,4884,159726,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-481263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-development","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-islington-green","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115335026896858470","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481263","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=481263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}