A look inside the Prestwich precinct makeover in four episodes, based on an interview with Muse developer project lead…
For Episode One – click here
Episode Two… From Travel Hub to Community Hub…
Let’s talk about the ‘COMMUNITY HUB WITH NEW LARGER LIBRARY’. The ‘community hub’…that isn’t a ‘community hub’…?
Hugh Taylor, Muse developer’s lead for the Prestwich project, breaks out the very pink drawings showing two floors for the new building, now at the side of the Village Square. On the ground floor two retail units, ‘A NEW GYM’ and a children’s library…
“From the consultation, one of the things we hadn’t considered was just how popular children’s and family time sessions were in the library” he reflects “We have enlarged the ground floor section so that children, mothers and babies wouldn’t have to come in and use the lifts to get to the first floor. Everything for children is on the ground floor.”
And on the first floor is everything else, the library, community spaces, a classroom, staff room and, hopefully, the amazing heritage centre that was hidden away upstairs in the old place, won’t be hidden away upstairs again…
“On the first floor we have a massive opportunity now to propose two community spaces, one at each end, a little bit of a bank in the middle and a flexible space to be able to accommodate this heritage centre wherever the Council chooses to place it” Hugh explains “That’s our proposal, everything that is in the existing library will be transposed into the new library…There’ll be a lift to take you up to the library section.”
Did anybody ask for the community stuff to be shoved upstairs?
“Having the library on the ground floor would give us a real problem with active spaces and active frontages, and giving a sense of community to the Village Square” he responds in planning talk “Having it on the first floor from an operational standpoint, withstanding the transport and lift elements of it, means they can have the entirety of the first floor, with the two flexible spaces on either side.”
While you can picture a library with computers and books, it’s hard to see how the ‘flexible space’ community rooms will operate. At the very expensively built Broughton Hub in Salford, the community rooms are miles away from the entrance, up secure lifts and staircases, through offices and, when you get there, they are just basically a big empty space, useful for very little…
What do you mean by ‘flexible spaces’?
“They’re big open spaces, they’ve got power, they’ve got lighting, the ability to move tables so all the furniture will be moveable which means if you wanted to do a mother and baby class, for example…”
What about an art exhibition? Will you be able to put a nail in the wall?
“We haven’t got that far along yet…”
These are the things that people want to know. Can we put a play on in there? Is there stage lighting? Is there a stage? Can we put a film on in there? Can it be blacked out? It’s all very well just having a big space but it’s hopeless if you can’t do anything in it…
“These are working drawings, and these are very much stage two things” Hugh decides “But this is how we are responding to the Council’s requirements…”
What about dances and shows? My mum always went to the New Year’s Eve dos at the Longfield, and there were concerts there and ballroom dancing and everything…
“The current vision is that they would sit in either the Market Hall or we bring a marquee into the square, there’s a huge amount of space” he says.
Will people be waltzing and raving through the ‘CENTRAL MARKET HALL AND NEW RETAIL SPACES’?
“The whole thing about the Village Square is that we’ve got services and everything we need to do, so that the Council can pop a marquee up and you can run a dance or a ball.”
Meanwhile, the community rooms are almost hidden away at each side of the library. If you had an exhibition would people go up to the first floor? And would they actually know about it?
“It would be evident that there was something happening in the library” he insists “It would be an inviting space to bring people in on the ground floor…”
So is Hugh happy with the ‘community hub’, which some Prestwich social media posters are adamant doesn’t exist any more?
“When I joined the project just a year ago the direction was clear from the Council that they wanted us to deliver a regeneration project that had a public square, a market, independent retailers and a library that kept the NHS in the square. And, above all else, that it was delivered…”
He explains that the NHS was originally supposed to be part of the ‘hub’ but funding issues have meant that the doctors et al are staying put until a later affordable phase. Thus, where the hub was supposed to be sited originally will now be residential flats “to improve the viability of the scheme”…
So the ‘hub’ has actually disappeared?
“It’s still there” Hugh huffs “We can’t do right for doing wrong as there’s no GP/Physio/NHS elements any more…It was called the ‘community hub’ because it was a space where people could come in and be able to see the doctor, the dentist and all those things – but we can’t call it a ‘community hub’ if there’s no longer a GP there. It is still a community facility. I’m sure I’ll get shot by someone for calling it a ‘community hub’…”
Let’s talk about ‘PLENTY OF GREEN SPACES’ and ‘A BIGGER VILLAGE SQUARE’…
“We’ve kept the Village Square flexible so it can host events but within that we’ve also got elements of planting so there will be proper trees and decent sized flower beds” he explains “We’re not just doing it for the sake of…”
The drawings actually show a football pitch somewhere in the square…what?
“Maybe five-a-side…or maybe three-a-side”
And the public art that’s promised? What is going to happen to the fountain sculpture, and all the dreams set in stone by the community, and that fab brutalist sundial?
“There’s a couple of options but the intentions are to retain it in some of the hardscaping in and around the Village Square” he says “All the carvings will be lifted and retained and re-used where they can. The bulk of them we intend to use in this development, and where they can’t be used they will be re-located in the wider area…
“…We’ve talked about how we can re-deploy the sundial in such a way that it doesn’t impinge on the flexibility of the Square. We can’t just stick it in a corner. These are the conversations we are now in a position to have. What are the optimum uses for the bits? The Council, Muse and the community will decide…”
On social media, many in the community have already decided that the community won’t decide anything. And, as far as Muse is concerned, it’s just about the bottom line and profit. They are writing that the scheme is a ‘betrayal’ that will ‘ruin Prestwich forever’…
Will it?
See Episode Three…How many jobs? Seriously? How many houses? Oh, none! Click here
See Episode Four conclusion…Will the Regeneration ‘Ruin Prestwich Forever’?…Click here
A housing project for younger people who either work at home or commute into Manchester with the potential for a few retail outlets to service them, like Rudis? The so called community hub seems ill thought out and without the GP and associated services it is already lacking. Put a marquee up?