Skip to main content

Hand in Glove




My blog is usually a fairly positive, upbeat place but today I want to share a concern that I've been dwelling on recently, wondering how I can do something about it. 

 Over the last year or two I've been quietly smarting, watching as loved buildings in my city are swiftly dismantled and removed permanently from the streetscape. Manchester is definitely a better city now in nearly every way than the city of the early 1990's when I moved here. However the rate of development seems to be at a tipping point and I think we are starting to lose the character of the place. Who gets to judge the value of architecture? The most loved buildings often don't win design awards and most worryingly it seems to be money and connections rather than merit or any sense of philanthropy that shapes our built environment. 

 I feel particularly strongly about a proposed development by two ex Manchester United footballers that will involve the demolition of a large swath of interesting buildings right in the core of the city, to be replaced by a huge structure that feels badly designed and wrong for the atmosphere of this end of town. Please take the time to read and digest, research, and decide for yourself:  

 www.change.org/p/these-huge-black-towers-next-to-manchester-town-hall-are-in-the-wrong-place

This paragraph is the element I find most worrying:

 "The Council owns the old Bootle Street police station, and has left it empty and decaying while teaming up with developers to extend and redevelop the site, with funds from the far east. The Council is both partner in the project and planning authority, so is the primary decision-maker for this project"

 I've always thought Manchester City Council on the whole make good decisions and have worked really hard to improve the city in a very capital centric country. Now however they have been in power for so long that we have a Labour Manchester hegemony that can't be challenged and they know it. I worry that the consequence will be the citizens of Manchester ending up with a less loveable, liveable city, whilst a handful of people make an awful lot of money. 


Labels:
Location: Manchester, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Lovely Pair of Pins

I knew the expression 'pins' referring to legs but had to Google what the Cockney rhyming slang comes from. It looks like 'pins & pegs', but there are some great alternatives like 'bacon & eggs' and 'dolly pegs'. I think I might start trying to incorporate more Cockney into my everyday speak, I do have London roots but they are more South  (Saff)  London than East London, where I think it originates.  Anyway this is all to illustrate a new picture that sits quite neatly with an older picture. So brogues, legs and a sea view from my two main muses. This might be turning into a set...  Oh by the way the top view is Morecambe Bay and the lower image is from The Wirral looking across towards Wales. The North West of England is a beautiful place, with some stylish residents. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Liverpool Periphery

L1 City Centre L2 City Centre L3 City Centre, Everton, Vauxhall L4 Anfield, Kirkdale, Walton L5 Anfield, Everton, Kirkdale, Vauxhall L6 Anfield, City Centre, Everton, Fairfield, Kensington, Tuebrook L7 City Centre, Edge Hill, Fairfield, Kensington L8 City Centre, Dingle Toxteth L9 Aintree, Fazakerley, Orrell Park, Walton L10 Aintree Village, Fazakerley L11 Croxteth, Clubmoor, Gillmoss, Norris Green
Post a Comment
Read more

Hold Your Hair In Deep Devotion

At last after a week of being indoors, I walked into the light! I went solo and had a photography day in Liverpool, just what the doctor ordered, as they say. I'm a bit out of words at the moment and was going to include a Philip Larkin poem, but I've been thinking that Alex Turner is my modern day poet hero and this is my favourite track on AM, tucked away at the end. He's in his twenties and yet the words suggest a time before he was born, filling my head with images and memories. I've included a link to the track if you want to listen to The Arctic Monkey doing their thing whilst taking in my pictures... UPDATE Well since writing the above it has been pointed out to me that the song is actually based on a poem by John Cooper Clarke, which makes sense of the time frame (being written in the early Eighties) and the fact that I responded to the lyrics like a poem. Apparently Alex Turner first heard it read by his English teacher whilst at school. So mayb
Post a Comment
Read more