{"id":19882,"date":"2018-08-18T16:48:34","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T15:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=19882"},"modified":"2018-08-18T16:48:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T15:48:34","slug":"save-on-local-legal-challenge-to-st-michaels-in-manchester-launched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=19882","title":{"rendered":"SAVE on local legal challenge to St Michael’s in Manchester launched"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"website\"<\/a>Manchester Civic Society, through Steve Speakman, chairman, is issuing a legal challenge to planning permission for a 40 storey tower block within a conservation area, in an initiative supported by SAVE Britain’s Heritage.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

SAVE Britain’s Heritage writes:<\/p>\n

SAVE Britain’s Heritage welcomes the bid by Steve Speakman, chairman of Manchester Civic Society, to challenge the highly controversial planning permission for a 40-storey tower in Manchester city centre.<\/p>\n

Steve Speakman is acting on legal advice from Harrison Grant Solicitors and Richard Harwood QC who served judicial review papers on Manchester City Council yesterday.\u00a0The case raises important issues including the correct legal approach to assessing whether a development will cause substantial harm to heritage assets under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).<\/p>\n

The grounds for a challenge are likely to\u00a0go before a judge in September who will consider whether to grant permission for\u00a0a\u00a0judicial review of the council’s decision. If permission to proceed\u00a0is granted, the judicial review is likely to be heard within the next six months. The action comes after \u00a36,000 was successfully raised\u00a0through crowdfunding from supporters across the country\u00a0to bring the legal proceedings to this stage.<\/p>\n

Known as \u2018St Michael\u2019s\u2019, the 40-storey hotel\/residential tower and a bulky 10-storey office block are proposed within the Deansgate\/Peter Street Conservation Area \u2013 distinctive for its\u00a03-6 storey 19th\u00a0century former warehouses and office chambers. SAVE, the Victorian Society, Twentieth Century Society and Manchester Civic Society all objected strongly to the plans \u2013 along with over 5,000 people who signed a petition against the proposals.<\/p>\n

Under the plans, a historic synagogue would be demolished and a substantial 1930s police station would be part demolished. The Sir Ralph Abercromby, a well-known 19th\u00a0century pub would remain on site, but its setting would be severely compromised.The proposals are being promoted by former Manchester United players Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. Manchester City Council also has a land interest in the scheme.<\/p>\n

SAVE believes the proposals would cause substantial harm to the significance of Manchester\u2019s historic core by compromising the setting and important views of key listed buildings, as well as the setting of the Conservation Area in which it sits and other protected streets and spaces. It would also set a dangerous precedent for other Conservation Areas and historic townscapes across England.<\/p>\n

Within just 250 m of the application site there are some 72 listed buildings and nine Conservation Areas, highlighting the sensitivity of this location. The proposed tower would loom over and dominate many of them, notably the Grade I listed Town Hall and Albert Memorial.<\/p>\n

Henrietta Billings, Director of SAVE\u00a0<\/strong>said: \u2018The 40-storey tower in this historic setting is one of the most contentious proposals we have seen at SAVE. This is not just because it would overshadow and dominate one of the finest town halls in England, nor because it would wreck a Conservation Area. But this proposal, if built, would send out a message that Conservation Area protection has failed. This is a national, not a local issue – all of our conservation areas are at risk from this proposal. We support Steve Speakman in the stand he is taking to make his concerns those of many others heard.\u2019<\/p>\n

Marcus Binney, Executive President of SAVE said: \u2018In our view, Manchester City Council lamentably failed to take into account the strong and widespread objections to these proposals and decided the issue on public benefits claimed by the developer, most of which were not public benefits at all.\u2019<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n

View more information on Manchester Civic Society<\/a> and see The Guardian<\/a> for more on skyscraper developments around the UK .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manchester Civic Society, through Steve Speakman, chairman, is issuing a legal challenge to planning permission for a 40 storey tower block within a conservation area, in an initiative supported by SAVE Britain’s Heritage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19884,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19882\/revisions\/19884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}