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Plans to build a giant £60m
indoor ski centre in Salford with more than 2,600 jobs have been
scrapped, it was revealed today.
A 17-acre prime site near
Manchester city centre has been cleared in preparation for the
£60m scheme.
But developers have decided
to ditch the SnoWorld complex, which had been due to open in
September 2003.
Instead, proposals for Castlefield-style
canal-side apartments, offices, and possibly bars and restaurants,
are to be submitted to the council later this year.
Salford city council had regarded
SnoWorld as crucial to the regeneration of the inner-city and
had issued compulsory purchase orders on a scrapyard and two
other companies on the site. The orders are now expected to be
dropped.
It is understood the ambitious
plan has been axed because the developers, Valley and Vale Properties,
decided there was more profit in developing up-market city centre
accommodation.
Insiders at the town hall
say the council is furious at the move, which will wreck hopes
of a massive jobs boom.
Valley and Vale Properties
envisaged the SnoWorld complex becoming the biggest leisure centre
in Britain. There was to have been a 45 metre-high and 180-metre-long
ski slope, plus a nursery slope beside it. Real snow was to have
been made on site by spraying air, water, and liquid nitrogen
under pressure.
The centre was also to have
included 50 shops, a health and fitness gym, bowling alley, roller
hockey centre, bars, restaurants, a drive-through restaurant,
petrol station and nightclub. At one stage, a 24-screen cinema
was also included, but talks on this broke down.
The scheme had been given
the go-ahead by the government in July 1999.
The site, next to Middlewood
Road, is on the opposite side of the bank to Granada Studios.
The council had played a crucial role in helping Lloyds Metals
relocate to nearby Liverpool Street.
But doubts over the viability
of the scheme were raised as it became clear neighbouring Manchester
has already saturated the market with entertainment complexes
and shops. In November, the MEN reported that a crisis meeting
was being held due to concerns about the future of the scheme.
The owners of a scrapyard
and engineering company, which still occupy the site, claimed
they struck deals years ago with the developers to relocate -
but nothing happened. Alan Murch, spokesman for Hillier Parker,
agents for the developers, said "SnoWorld was designed four
to five years ago and there are components which mean it is not
flexible for current market trends.''
The alternative plan hinges
on the reopening of part of the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal.
Mr Murch added: "We have
had very encouraging negotiations with those in charge of the
waterways and are looking at ways to develop the site around
the opening up of the former canal."
The new scheme would mirror
a successful development in Birmingham, based around a city centre
canal basin.
Mr Murch said: "It is
very early stages. We are looking at a new scheme, which would
be residential led, but with commercial office premises and some
retail and leisure. The technology for creating snow is improving
and we may still get a situation where a snow element could be
part of the scheme, but it will not dominate as first envisaged.
"We have all the ingredients. We have just got to get it
into shape "
Plans for a 25-storey skyscraper
next to SnoWorld by the same developers are also being "revisited".
A council spokesman said:
"This site offers a fantastic opportunity and will clearly
be a significant development to bring more new investment to
Salford, whether or not it contains a ski slope."
The scrapping of the scheme
could lead to a bitter legal battle involving businesses on the
site.
Last year, another indoor
ski centre, the £250m, 3,000-job Xanadu Project in Leigh,
was stopped by the government after Wigan council approved it.
The plans were blocked after campaigners raised concerns at a
public inquiry in 1999. |
