Marie Louise Gardens - this lodge will now be extended
and a new development built inside the gardens
I was at the Planning and Highways committee at the town hall yesterday - two main items that interested me most: An application in Northenden to turn an estate agents into a fast food outlet (I was opposing - it got deferred), and the monster application that has been ping-ponging around South Manchester politics for a good couple of years now was the proposed development at Marie Louise Gardens.
To summarise, a Mr Bennett bought the old gardeners lodge (see above) from someone who had bought it off the gardener when he bought it in a right-to-buy effort. The Lodge sits inside the park (that is locked in the evenings), and it's associated grounds to the north.
Marie Louise Gardens was bequeathed to the citizens of Manchester in 1903 by Josephine Silkenstadt, in memory of her daughter, Marie Louise, who died young, with a covenant that the gardens should retain intact and not be developed on. The developer applied to extend the lodge and build a new building inside the gardens.
His justification (and the planning department who supported his application), is that the lodge and the associated land (which he owns) is not really part of the gardens - that it was designated as a dwelling, and so was the associated land to the north that was used as a depot.
Mr Bennett originally put in an application to extend the lodge and build a new property partly on land owned by the park, back in December 2006. Labour used their majority to pass this application, but it was held up until December 2007 because a strong local campaign was mounted to prevent the sale of the park land. Over 6000 people signed the petition, which drew universal support from the surrounding area, including Northenden.
Eventually the exec member of Parks, my predecessor Mike Kane, turned down the sale of the land, and the application couldn't go ahead. New plans were therefore drawn up that didn't include the purchase of land, and these plans were being discussed yesterday.
The application was heard. Those objecting who spoke were:
Jinny Shaw - who represented Didsbury and Northenden Civic Society, West Didsbury residents Association and Friends of Marie Louise Gardens.
John Leech MP - MP covering Didsbury West
Cllr Lianne Williams - Didsbury West, where MLG were
Myself - MLG is just outside my ward and many residents use it
Jinny was excellent, and powerfully put the case against. John and Lianne were also excellent, pin pointing the areas of planning protocol that weren't addressed. I represented the views of Northenden residents.
Bennett had his solicitor speak on his behalf.
The committee then discussed the matter. It came to light that the Highways department had only just received a late report that day, and hadn't even had a chance to read it. Nevertheless the planning department was still recommending approval.
Cllr Sandiford (Lib-Dem) highlighted this and moved that the application is deferred so that Highways can comment on this report - he was outnumbered by Labour members who voted in favour of an immediate straight yes or no vote on the application.
Cllr Sandiford then delivered a masterful case against the development. Cllr Lyons (Labour) said simply he was in favour of this and moved to approve. A vote was taken and 5 Labour Councillors voted for approval, 1 abstained, all 3 Lib-Dem councillors and 1 Labour councillor voted against approval. The application was therefore approved.
Those who voted for approval were (all Labour):
Those against (3 Lib Dem, 1 Labour):
Abstained
What made this vote especially galling is that during the Didsbury West bye-election, Labour leaflets were full of assertions that Labour was fully in favour of retaining the gardens, and against any future developments. Indeed ex-Cllr Mike Kane once addressed the Friends of MLG AGM stating how the Council is committed to preserving the gardens.
Local residents feel massively betrayed.
