'It's warped logic': Residents hit out over move to wipe 300-year-old footpath off the map - and re-route it through a HOTEL

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Campaigners and locals have banded together to stop the closure of a 300-year-old pathway alongside the River Irwell in Salford.

Residents and local activists have been campaigning against the ‘warped logic’ to close a section of the walkway behind the Ralli Quays on Stanley Street which has been left to ruin. The closure of the path comes as property and investment giants Legal & General plan to build a multi-million pound multi-storey office and hotel block which would see the right of way along the River Irwell be erased.

Salford Council are in favour of the proposal and see the development ‘significantly expanding’ the city’s public realm and ‘not losing it’. Council officials say the matter pertains to decisions made 15 years ago to create ‘Irwell City Park’, a large stretch of waterfront connecting Manchester, Salford City Centre, Salford Quays and Trafford Wharfside. However, designers were met with ‘physical constraints’ regarding the built environment around the tow path.

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Designers found the section of the path ‘too narrow and degraded’ to be considered safe and the council also say that investigations into the repairing and widening that section of the towpath would be ‘unfeasible, without costly reconstructions’ to Irwell Bridge.

However, campaigners like Dr Morag Rose, Steven Lindsay, Don Lee, Gloria Gaffney and Mike Butler have been at the forefront of the fight to keep the path open. They do not object to the plans of a the 12-storey office space and hotel, but believe the towpath is salvageable and can be a great benefit to residents and homeless people.

Most recently, thanks to the campaign which has 'captured the