PUBLIC WILL BE CONSULTED OVER FUTURE BUILE HILL PARK PROPOSALS, SAYS MAYOR

During a lengthy phone conversation, Paul wished to reassure the local community that he was opposed to any such proposals to build residential properties within the park, he also wished to remind people that the park and museum are publically owned and as such any changes would require full public consultation.

The article by the Salford Star can be found here: http://salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=4424

Councillor Wilson told us he had requested a meeting with City Mayor Paul Dennett as soon as the Salford Star article broke, he revealed that they had met this morning to discuss the proposals for the museum and adjoining land and he was given assurances that a full public consultation would take place. 

SalfordVoice had previously raised the subject of the park with Paul earlier this month when we attended a public consultation over the future usage of the Weaste Hotel, during our conversations, Paul made very clear that his preference for the site was always for it to be used as an enhanced leisure facility for the use of the people of Salford, we are very happy to see this position has not changed.

In a statement Councillor Paul Wilson (Weaste & Claremont) told us:

Quote

"Like many residents in Salford, I’m keen to see the mansion returned back to its former glory.

"Whilst I accept that some development will be required to do this, I don’t think residential property in a public park is the way forward.

"My views on this are reinforced by the 2016-17 Public Parks report, this report was produced by the cross-party Commons Communities and local government committee.

"This morning I met with the City Mayor and made it clear that I’m personally opposed to a residential development in a public park and asked that we work together to reach a solution; I’d like to see enhanced leisure facilities within the park to enable the mansion to be returned back to public use.

"The City Mayor assured me that the outcome of the 6-month Memorandum of Understanding between the City Council and Salford Red Devils Foundation and Capital and Centric Group would be open to public consultation.

"As local Councillors for the area, we have committed to meeting with the City Mayor and Council Officers to obtain further details of the plans for the mansion and former parks depot and updating residents at the next Community Committee Meeting."

 

Buile Hill Park has a long and varied history, with links to many important historical figures, within its grounds stands the grade II listed Buile Hill Mansion, former home to a natural history museum and later used as a mining museum. It has laid derelict since 2000 with Planning permission granted to John Wilkinson to turn it into a country hotel in 2008, which received very negative feedback from locals and heritage groups.

However, the £700,000 purchase fee was never paid to the council, and the permission expired in 2014.

Since then several companies have proposed to turn it into a hotel, these never came to fruition.

We did contact Salford Council to ask them to confirm or deny the story but sadly received no response.