Once used as ‘Manchester’s car park’, the Greengate neighbourhood in Salford has changed beyond recognition in recent years.
New tower blocks and offices have sprung up as part of a huge regeneration project, turning the area into a popular spot for city-centre living.
But plans for the future of Greengate are being drawn up to create more green and open spaces in the city, as well as building new homes.
It includes bringing more restaurants and businesses to the community, with plans by PL North Bridge to transform the railway arches into a space for shops, market stalls, and places for food and drink.
Coun Mike McCusker, Salford council’s cabinet member for planning, transport and sustainable development, said the plans will bring “a real buzz” to the area.
New tower blocks and offices have sprung up as part of a huge regeneration project, turning the area into a popular spot for city-centre living.
But plans for the future of Greengate are being drawn up to create more green and open spaces in the city, as well as building new homes.
It includes bringing more restaurants and businesses to the community, with plans by PL North Bridge to transform the railway arches into a space for shops, market stalls, and places for food and drink.
Coun Mike McCusker, Salford council’s cabinet member for planning, transport and sustainable development, said the plans will bring “a real buzz” to the area.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello everyone my name is Declan Carey I'm the local democracy reporter for
00:05Salford and today I'm here in Greengate in the heart of the city we're gonna
00:11hear a little bit from the council about some of the big plans for this area just
00:18looking around and there's an awful lot going on here that's been happening in
00:22the last few years there are lots of buildings going up which are flats there
00:29are offices there are places to eat drink it feels like this area is undergoing
00:35massive changes at the moment and has been for for years really a lot of
00:41people in Greater Manchester especially around the city centre areas have links
00:46to this place either they pass through it for some people it's their home they
00:51live here others just work here others maybe commute through here but there are
00:56an awful lot of people who here every day we know that part of the plans for the
01:01future are to invest in more open spaces and improve the public realm here and the
01:08council has got two million pounds which is planning to invest in this area that's
01:14as a result of some of contributions from development in the city so let's hear a
01:20little bit about what the future could hold for Greengate afternoon I'm down
01:26Welsh from the council's development team principal program manager looking
01:32after the wider city centre patch with a focus on the Crescent area and Greengate
01:37tell us a little bit about the future of Greengate then Dan there's a big
01:41exciting plans here aren't there so huge huge plans you can see the scale of
01:46development or Cortland Tower being one example just behind us Renica have
01:52delivered thousands of new homes here I think overall at the minute we've
01:56delivered coming up for 3,000 homes across a mix of different sites not just
02:01Renica schemes overall ambition is to deliver about 5,000 homes here with a mix of
02:06commercial space as well so just in the distance you can see the focus of the
02:11commercial development embankment 100 and 101 the focus has now shifted to this area
02:21Cortland Tower completed recently by Renica Bankside just next to it the second
02:27tower as part of the Cortland Yard development has just completed Renica are
02:32now moving on to Parkside which is the third of the final big towers and we're currently working with Renica on plans for future phases of
02:40residential driven development on the Aldridge's site close to Trinity Way
02:47yeah so lots going on and what's it going to be like as a place to live what's the
02:53kind of overall vision for residents so the vision is to create a dynamic mixed use
02:57community with a focus on really high quality public realm we're stood in
03:01Greengate Park the first phase of which was delivered by Renica as part of the
03:06Cortland Yard scheme this has been open about a year and a half now really well
03:12used by residents just behind us you can't quite see the sign but a new Greek
03:18restaurant has opened there so the commercial ground floor uses which are
03:21really going to start bringing this area to life are coming on stream now just in
03:25the distance you can see the Arch Co I've been working at refurbishing these
03:30archers for new food and drink uses coming forward over on the other side at
03:35Gorton Street Progressive Living have a planning consent to do the same activate
03:41those arches so over the next few years we will start seeing that kind of
03:44vibrancy animation here we've also got long-term plans as I say we're in the
03:49first phase of Greengate Park the second phase will span over the road and take in
03:56the the current Euro car park site which is identified for another high-rise
04:01development in the Greengate regeneration strategy so much more
04:05public realm to come connectivity more greenery biodiversity but there's some
04:12land assembly required to facilitate that we're gonna pan over to Councillor Mike
04:18McCusker now Mike you're the lead member for sustainable development I think I've got
04:24that right that's right transport sustainable development so Mike I mean
04:29it's an exciting part of the city isn't it Greengate tell us how it feels
04:34being here how it's changed and I suppose what your vision is and the
04:39council's vision is for this part of the Salford yeah so when we came up with the
04:43first sort of planning documents about how we would regenerate Greengate it was all
04:49about the high quality you know we're on the high quality buildings exactly what we
04:52we now see in front of us and also the important part about building a place
04:56that people would like to live in so all the stuff around parks around creating a
05:01boulevard link different bits together so very much around this been you know
05:07high quality area with great access through to Manchester City Centre I am and
05:13every time you come down it's different you know something new is being
05:16delivered so I think we're well on the way to bringing that forward and as a
05:22place to live at the minute so we I've just had a walk around it it's a little
05:25bit quiet today around here that it's very residential at the moment isn't it is
05:29the plan to change that in future in terms of more shops and maybe things things to
05:33do places to go yeah I think as Dan said you know once we reanimate all the
05:36archways you know that that'll make a real buzz to the place and we're as we're
05:41already seeing businesses restaurants etc moving into the ground floors of the
05:46towers that have gone up here and I think that the less car parks there are the
05:51more of a buzz there will be to the place and yeah this this this was a huge car
05:57park basically for people to drive through Salford to park here and then
06:01walk to work in in Manchester City Centre which meant we didn't get any benefits as a
06:06city other than pollution and surface car parks so this strategy is also about
06:12you know building high density where it's appropriate it means that 80% of
06:16the developments taking place in Salford is on Brownfield site which means you
06:20know it takes pressure off green spaces in other parts of the city I will ask you
06:25about obviously transport you mentioned there about how people get around and
06:30move around the city we know on Chapel Street there's big works going on at the
06:33minute where there have been some frustrations from from drivers about
06:37delays can you tell us a bit about that how does that fit into the plan for
06:41Greengate and for Salford yeah well a key part of my job title is sustainable
06:46development what we want is to create places where people aren't reliant on
06:50cars and you'll see across the three worlds where we've had the most
06:53development car ownership is falling so in this area you know we're getting to
06:58like 60% of people don't choose to get a car or a van because we've got
07:03you know we've got good public transport obviously we've invested in that
07:07bringing the cost down improving the performance of that I am trying to create
07:13more safer spaces for people to cycle or to scoot I am and the whole thing about
07:20Chapel Street is trying to you know improve the public realm basically to make
07:25it far more easy to be traveling active improving it in terms of green you know
07:32we're gonna have rain gardens sustainable urban drainage and so it just becomes a
07:37far more attractive space in which to live yeah and finally obviously when
07:43people are choosing to maybe move here in the future or maybe want to work here in
07:47the future what sort of place is it going to be say in the next five or ten years
07:50how would you describe well someone described it recently as it's gonna look
07:54more like London than Salford and could say it might look better than some parts
08:00of Manchester City Centre because well you know we basically started with a blank
08:05slate of a load of car parks and which has meant working with developers we've been
08:09able to create a much more attractive space perfect and finally anything to add
08:14before we wrap up and no I thought well just that you know this we're not even
08:20halfway through really in terms of the development that's coming forward I am
08:24the amount of inward investment we've managed to attract through setting a high
08:28standard about the quality I am I think it's paid dividends thanks