A Fantastic Town Centre A VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF SALE 2 DOCUMENT CONTROL FILE NAME PL1741-ID-001-03 PREPARED BY (INITIALS) AS CHECKED BY (INITIALS) MW LH TRANSPORT DATE CIVIC JAN 2018 ENGINEERS CONTENTS CONTENTS 3 FOREWORD 5 1 INTRODUCTION 7 INTRODUCTION 8 THE PROCESS 10 A FANTASTIC TOWN CENTRE 12 ACHIEVING OUR AIMS 13 INTRODUCTION TO SALE 16 2 SALE TOWN CENTRE TODAY 21 PUBLIC REALM 22 MOVEMENT 24 SALE'S VISIONS AND GOALS - ACCORDING TO POLICY 26 SALE'S BIG PROJECTS 27 A REAL ENGAGEMENT PROCESS 28 THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION 32 PUBLIC CONSULTATION RESPONSES 34 3 3 A FANTASTIC TOWN CENTRE 39 VISION 41 VALUES & MOMENTUM 41 ALTRINCHAM TOWN CENTRE 42 GREY TO GREEN, SHEFFIELD 43 DESIGN PRINCIPLES 44 THE MASTERPLAN 50 PUBLIC REALM 52 SEAMLESS MOVEMENT 54 IDENTITY 58 4 THE SPACES 61 SCHOOL ROAD - DETAIL 01 62 TOWN HALL JUNCTION - DETAIL 02 68 WATERSIDE PLAZA - DETAIL 03 75 NORTHENDEN ROAD - DETAIL 04 80 SIBSON ROAD - DETAIL 05 84 5 GOING FORWARD 89 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 90 OUTLINE COST PLAN 93 4 FOREWORD Trafford Borough Council have appointed These are not seen as individual Planit-IE and Civic Engineers to undertake interventions, but parts of an overall, a Public Realm and Movement Strategy for interconnected masterplan. Sale Town Centre. WHY A STRATEGY? The ambition is to create a Fantastic Town On paper, Sale town centre seems like a Centre through a collaborative design thriving economic and social environment: approach that will seek to breathe new life low retail vacancy rates and independent into the town centre public realm, in turn retailers on or around the high street, local attracting inward investment to create a leisure and public facilities, abundant street sustainable neighbourhood centre for years planting and the canal, a public square and to come. arts and creative offer in Sale Waterside, a Through strategic public realm and strong housing stock and wider linkages to infrastructure improvements - particularly surrounding green areas. pedestrian, cycle and vehicle movement on However, in some respects the town centre one side and public realm, street furniture is underperforming and does not provide and de-cluttering on the other, we hope to an attractive environment for residents or instigate positive change in the town centre visitors. Particular connectivity issues with to attract the required enthusiasm and the surrounding residential areas have been investment. raised, as well as daily traffic congestion. We will create a town centre that is 5 Sale lacks a kind of specialness that makes functional, inclusive, sustainable, fun, residents proud to belong there and visitors beautiful and unique. These themes have eager to come and be a part of the streetlife. been chosen to respond to both the existing Providing residents, workers and visitors retail and leisure uses in the town, but also with a good array of shops and services the thriving residential neighbourhoods that isn't enough these days - life has become share the town centre locality - particularly increasingly experiential. Historically, town the families, teenagers and children. centre experiences were as much about 'who Our work identifies key areas within the you saw' in town, much rather than 'what you town centre, where new proposals focus bought'. With the rise of internet shopping on improving the external environment to and big-box convenience retail, much of that create a more pleasant and functional space experience has been lost. for all people. However, we think town centres are They particularly focus on: changing. They are becoming more like what they once were. Improved traffic solutions and easier connectivity (junction by Town Hall, We think the town centre of the future is Washway Road/Cross Street, Sibson Road, a place to visit, engage, relax and enjoy - as Ashfield Road), and; much as it is to shop. Public realm improvements (School Road, We believe the existing assets in Sale Town Hall, Waterside Centre and Bridge, town centre can support this, as can the Family Square in front of The Square, community - it has the potential for a Northenden Road). forward-thinking, modern, but timeless solution. 6 Introduction 1 7 Introduction Introduction INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE AUTHORS • Safe, straightforward and easy movement Planit-IE are landscape architects and solutions for both pedestrians, cyclist and urbanists who have a deep fascination in drivers the way we live our lives. Their work is • Events calendar that would invite multi-faceted and far-reaching. They work residents and visitors to spend more time on large-scale dense, gritty urban sites to in Sale town centre sensitive greenfield one-off developments; each time giving the project the time, • Create a new destination on Greater dedication and thought process it deserves. Manchester's map, for both day- and evening activities Planit-IE are Altrincham based, and have • Attract investment for a diverse retail and spent recent years writing town centre service offer, and; strategies all over the country. • Act as a catalyst for wider improvements Civic Engineers are civil, structural and and development in Sale. transport engineers, passionate about the public realm and how to enable This strategy is to be used as a tool for transformational change through application attracting investment to Sale, helping make of our engineering expertise. They are it a high quality town centre and an attractive based in Manchester city centre and have destination for daytime and evening engineered a significant number of award activity and economy. But it is also a means 8 winning projects in the region, many with of communicating a vision for Sale town Planit-IE. centre for both stakeholders and residents. Therefore, it is intended that this document PURPOSE OF THIS STRATEGY is: The aim of this document is to guide targeted • Understandable for everyone investment in public space, support the local economy and provide an attractive and By using a suitable and understandable connected town centre. language, we insure that this Strategy will be attractive to not only decision makers and Sale has a number of strong, unique assets investors, but also to residents and businesses that can support a vibrant town centre: a as they have, through a collaborative young population within an established consultation process, contributed to it. community, a number of public and cultural institutions, direct access to the Bridgewater • Legible Canal, a compact urban fabric and an Compact and legible, this document will get established retail trade. Nevertheless, it is in straight to the point, finding solutions for strong competition with other town centres Sale's challenges and communicating them in Greater Manchester, as well as the nearby in a easy and simple form. Easy to navigate Trafford Centre and Manchester city centre. by dividing the content into 5 chapters, the It has found itself being unattractive to many document is a selling point for all that Sale residents and unknown to potential visitors. can be. This strategy identifies Sale's intrinsic • Deliverable features and uses them as catalysts to create a strong and lively town centre for all Sale Providing solutions that are realistic to residents, businesses and visitors. achieve and that benefit the Council, stakeholders, businesses and residents, as Specifically, the strategy aims to define a plan well as the environment; contributing to for a: healthier living spaces, quality of life and the long term image of Sale. • Beautiful shopping, dwelling, play and dining environment in the town centre Introduction THE MASTERPLAN The Strategy covers an indicative area of Sale, Particular emphasis in this strategy is given that is loosely related to the official town to School Road, Sale's pedestrianised High centre boundary defined in the Trafford Street, which will become the reference Unitary Development Plan. It is bound by point for the character of the whole scheme. Ashfield Road to the north, Sibson Road to This will permeate into the side streets, the south, Springfield Road to the east and facilitating their activation and connectivity the A56 to the west. with adjacent facilities. It includes the Town Hall, Waterside Centre and the plaza adjacent to the Bridgewater Canal, continuing towards the area around Sale Metrolink Station and finally Northeden Road and surrounding roads. 9 INDICATIVE SITE BOUNDARY Introduction THE PROCESS The Sale Public Realm and Movement drainage scheme. This project was chosen Strategy has been produced following a as an example of both sustainable systems thorough and robust iterative process, with a in practice but more importantly that with strong input from local stakeholders and the a strong, shared and committed vision even community, and with the goal of providing a 'the impossible' can be achieved. town centre site-specific response. The process continued with on-site, baseline A series of fortnightly meetings with data and urban design analyses, movement Trafford Council were held throughout the surveys and a landscape quality audit, before process, where the design team briefed the beginning the engagement process with client about the progress , and allowed an a town centre stakeholders and Trafford exchange of experiences and ideas as the Council Elected Members workshops. project developed. Site visits were repeated throughout the process, at different times of Following production of the outline day to understand the rhythm and movement designs, the design team engaged the public pattens in the town