Easy street – consultation stars on improving pedestrian access in Manchester

Better and wider pavements, more room for people and better pedestrian crossings are just a few of the planned improvements which are being proposed for the city centre.

In a consultation that is set to run from Thursday 11 December to Friday 30 January, Manchester City Council is asking the public for their thoughts on changes along Princess Street (A34), between Portland Street and Mosley Street.

This route is a key corridor for bus and foot traffic. Through the changes that are being proposed the Council aims to improve pavement areas in the city centre enabling more people to walk and wheel through the city centre, as well as giving more space for pedestrians and people waiting at bus stops.

This is the second phase of proposed improvements along a continuous route through the city centre, the planning for which began in 2024, where we asked people for their thoughts on changes to John Dalton Street and Bridge Street.

The A34 corridor is a key transport network through the city centre. Linking Salford with Manchester, and connecting thousands of people daily to key transport hubs in St Peter’s Square and Piccadilly Gardens, as well as to the civic quarter where buildings like the Town Hall, Central Library and Manchester Art Gallery can be found.

But, we believe it could be better; due to the number of people walking and wheeling along and using bus stops the pavements are overly busy and do not provide the best possible experience for people travelling through the area.

Our proposed changes for this area aim to:

• Widen the space on pavements for people to walk and wait at bus stops

• Improve and widen the pedestrian crossings at the Mosley Street junction and Portland Street junction

• Improve pedestrian crossings on narrow side streets by raising the carriageway

• Improve the aesthetic look of Princess Street by using uniformed paving materials that complement the grade listed buildings and St Peter’s Square

• Declutter and remove any unnecessary street furniture

• Add new loading bays on George Street and Faulkner Street

For more detail on the consultation and to take part, please visit our website by following this link.

Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Clean Air, Environment and Transport, said: “During the first stage of our consultation on the future of the A34 – a vitally important route through the city centre – we gathered some insightful feedback from Mancunians. The message we received is that people want safer and nicer routes to walk through the city centre, and to ease crowding on the pavements when waiting to catch one of the city centre’s many buses.

“Manchester is already a great place to be, somewhere where people want to visit, work and live with clean air, and safer, greener streets. Through this scheme, we want to make it even better.

“I’d encourage people to take part in this consultation and help shape the future of our city centre.”