Manchester’s planning committee has rejected questionable plans to demolish 250-year-old cottages to build new apartments in the far north.
Residents, councillors and heritage experts had asked the city council to protect the 3 listed buildings at 42-50 Thomas Street, a key link to the city’s commercial past.
Objections to the proposals came from Manchester, the city-region in general and even the Netherlands.
Landowner Real Estate Investments Partnership expected to act on the building permit granted in 2017 for a five-store construction with a store area or a place to eat below.
The task included the recovery of 7 Kelvin Street, a Grade II indexed construction at the rear of the site.
But before the structure began, Thomas Street’s cabins also received Grade II through Heritage England.
The plan development committee learned Thursday that if the application was approved, the public framework would promptly request that the resolution be convened through the Secretariat of State.
Piccadilly Councillor Jon-Connor Lyons, speaking out against demolition, said Heritage England’s objection “is one of the most powerful I’ve ever seen.”
He said Thursday: “I am a Mancunian born in this city and this app considers the history of Mancun’s career class.
“Will Manchester protect its story or throw it away for quick money for developers?”
Real Estate had told the city council that the recovery of the cabins would lead to a “likelihood of being seriously compromised” and would result in losses of up to 3.5 million pounds.
The building permit to build apartments expires this month, and the developer insists that “there is no viable option” after testing 3 other scenarios for the long term of the site.
Steve Slater, general manager of genuine properties, said he had already expressed significant interest in apartments and proposed advertising through development.
He told the committee: “The stark truth is that no developer or charity will be willing to invest in maintaining the new indexed buildings.”
“If consent is granted today, a multitude of social, economic and environmental benefits will be provided.
“It is that the significant budget needed to renovate 7 Kelvin Street, a valuable property, will not be realized.”
Planning officials in Manchester admitted that the demolition would result in “substantial damage” to the length of buildings in the northern neighbourhood, arguing that this would be justified through the benefits of the program.
But all members of the plan-making committee, with the exception of the absionist president, Councilman Basil Curley, voted against demolition plans.
Councillor Jill Lovecy said: “I think it’s very complicated for us, as a plan-making committee, to give a very, very wonderful weight to the preservation of our city’s exclusive old assets.
“We lost other weavers’ huts over time because the owners allowed them to enter abandoned, saving-free buildings.”