Northmoor Fun Day - July 2000

Manchester Methodist Housing Association is working with Manchester Private Sector Housing and the A6 Partnership in the implementation of the Pilot Programme for Homezones in Northmoor, Longsight. As part of our ongoing and extensive consultation with the local residents we held a fun day event on Prout Street, off Northmoor Road.

A road closure was arranged for the day, which allowed us to make full use of the street for the following events.

	Bandstand with live performances
	2 up 2 down cinema in a vacant property
	Display of works by local artists in vacant property
	Interactive arts projects by artists in a vacant Property
	Turfing over of part of the street as garden with trees and shrubs
	Outdoor Bar BQ
	Circus performers, jugglers etc.
	Street Games

On a more serious note we also created a full-scale mock-up of our designs for the Homezone layout. This gave us a chance to try out our designs in reality and we even had a fire engine on hand to make sure even the largest of vehicles was still be able to use the street!

The day was a great success and many letters of congratulations have been received from politicians and senior council members. The Manchester Evening News also ran a full-page article covering the event and discussed the issues in their editorial. Prior to the open, day several evening meetings with the residents were held to agree a design for the mock-up. This was backed up by an 'open house display' in one of the streets, which will be affected in the first stage of the proposals. For two weeks local residents were given the opportunity to come along and see models, drawings, photographs and Architects plans explaining how the Homezone proposals would effect them.

Each resident who visited the 'open house' had the opportunity to watch a video produced by the children's Play Council and Transport 2000, demonstrating some examples of Homezones in Holland and Germany. Residents were asked to fill in a questionnaire commenting on them and asking for any suggestions for improvement.

We have now consulted with over 50% of the households in the first phase of the proposals it is hoped that these can be fed back into the This consultation process and the open day has allowed the residents to meet their neighbours strengthening the social structure for the area.

Most importantly the open day for a few days at least completely changed the nature and purpose of the street and its perception by the residents.

For more information about the Northmoor Home Zone e-mail j.mcmillan@mmhg.org.uk or join the discussion list.

Previous Page