According to the Manchester Evening News, there is a battle for the future of the city centre, and readers are being asked the question:
“Car parks, offices/flats or green space – what does Manchester city centre really need?”
The city is experiencing a construction boom with projects increasing the availability of office space in Manchester, and the building of more car parks for the people working in them.
Not all residents are happy with the new building projects, with many opposing plans especially when green spaces are threatened. In the late 1980s, there were less than a thousand people resident in the city centre. In the last Census in 2011, the population of the centre had risen to 17,000, and it is expected that this number has risen considerably since.
Demand for office space in Manchester has escalated and so has the demand by residents to live in a greener city. New businesses locating to Manchester need to attract talented employees, many of whom want to live near their workplaces. Manchester is an attractive place to live in with many parks and green spaces in or near the city centre, including St John’s Gardens, Cathedral Gardens and Whitworth Park.
On the fringes of the city, there are still patches of underdeveloped and unused land that can be used for building offices, so it can be argued that no green spaces in Manchester need to be built on to satisfy the demand for office space.
Those interested can vote in the poll via the Manchester Evening News website.
