Two years ago, the Manchester Evening News was shown around an under-the-radar development which was set to quietly change the city.
After that, it goes on to Collyhurst, with the suburb undergoing significant regeneration work. In all, there are seven neighbourhoods in this project. Alighting at Queens Road, the party moves through the Smedley Dip portion of the project, where, in truth, not much seems to have changed since 2022. The first stop is the FEC marketing suite in Collyhurst.
Most notably, a 2012 plan to regenerate the area was cancelled at the last minute when the Private Finance Initiative was pulled, with work so advanced that some sites had already been cleared. That means, for the moment, the new neighbours will be the aforementioned 274 homes, a potential new GP surgery to replace an ageing Rochdale Road facility, and perhaps a new primary school a short walk away.
It’s easy to see why people would like to be near that greenery. It’s difficult to see the attraction of the layby — but there is reason to be interested in it. Manchester’s executive councillor for housing, Gavin White, explained why it was so important. He said: "That's to enable 5,000 additional homes in that area. Public transport unlocks development. There's a tram stop at Holt Town which looks odd because there's nothing around it, but in the next five years there will be a lot of development.
The park itself, it’s worth saying, will stay. It will be one of the two big green spaces for Red Bank residents, with the other being City River Park.