The majority of students at the University of Manchester are not native Mancunians. For those of us who arrived in the last few years, it’s easy to think that Manchester has always been a bustling city, unaware of the drastic changes this city has experienced over the last 30 years.
To set the scene, in 1990 only 500 people lived within the ring road of central Manchester, but today the number is closer to 70,000. This breakneck pace development shows no sign of slowing down, with Manchester City Council approving developments totalling 596 apartments and 310 student beds at the latest planning committee meeting on November 21st.
The steady pace of development is peppered with particularly notable skyscrapers. Most recently, Regent Retail Park’s redevelopment proposal of a 70 story tower just off the River Irwell in Salford stands to be the 3rd tallest building in the UK and less than 50 metres shorter than the Shard. In a truly British fashion, these proposals have drawn the ire of more than 200 local residents, as well as the former Labour leadership candidate and local MP Rebecca Long-Bailey. The changing face of this city has sparked controversy surrounding whether the city is losing its spirit in the name of development.
Credit: Louis Diamond @ The Mancunion
This poster, recently plastered around the city, remembers the city’s post-industrial decline as its heyday, but views this era through some strongly rose-tinted glasses. Manchester is home of the industrial revolution and its mere existence as a city is attributable to opening itself up to business. Remembering the 1980’s as the city’s zenith with renowned clubs and perceived authenticity masks its reality as a city blighted by decay and unemployment.
The regeneration of Ancoats and the rise of Spinningfields as the professional centre of the city have faced allegations of gentrification. Yet, these claims hold little substance when understanding that a key part of gentrification is pushing people out of neighbourhoods. Simply put, there was nobody to push out of central Manchester in the early days of its renewal.
The culmination of Manchester’s turn around has resulted in economic output in central Manchester increasing more than any other area outside of London since 1998. As building lots have become ever scarcer in central Manchester, the building boom has begun to spread out from Greengate, Salford to the anticipated masterplan for Holt Town, near the Etihad Stadium.
Allegations of unaffordability and these homes not being built for locals, but rather international investors, are not without merit. A common trend has emerged of developers, who receive loans from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, arguing that including affordable housing within their schemes would reduce the projects viability. Cumulatively, this has resulted entire skyscrapers in Deansgate being devoid of a single affordable apartment.
The lack of affordability with these developments is neither black nor white, with developments like these making significant contributions to council coffers. The developer behind the Deansgate skyscrapers has provided funding for the construction of the first primary school to be built in the city centre for more than 20 years. Moreover, while the development seen in Manchester is clearly not perfect, the turnaround experienced in this city should not be quickly forgotten. Manchester has experienced a 49% increase in total job numbers from 2001-2021, compared to just 18% growth in Leeds.
The job of renewal is not done yet. Greater Manchester remains 35% less productive than London, far less productive than France’s second largest city, Lyon, when compared to Paris. Referencing this disparity, a 2022 report by the Resolution Foundation found that an instrumental way for Manchester to bridge this gap and increase the incomes of its residence is by embracing the expansion of the city centre with the growth of dense housing and office blocks.
While we complain about the UK’s anaemic growth and poor housing provision, we cannot have our cake and eat it. In order for the lives of Mancunians and Britons alike to be improved, the continuing resurgence of Britain’s second largest metro area has to be fully embraced. This very idea of overdevelopment arises as a result of the council’s own success in driving renewal of the city. The city’s turnaround in the last 30 years has been nothing short of remarkable.
