My Mainway, Lancaster

Did you know...?

The Mainway Stars residents group meet for an informal coffee morning every Thursday morning at the Mainway Hub, Owen Road, 10am.

Why not join us?

Now that Autumn is upon us we are risking the weather and joining them on the grass for an outside edition: Thursday 23rd September. Why not come along for a brew, a biscuit and a chat?

Building Safety

If you live in Bridge, Skerton or Park House the team will be there from 12-2 to talk about building and fire safety with you: to answer any questions you might have, talk about the safety measures in your building, and find out whether you;d like to join a new Residents Building Safety Group.

As you know, plans have been in development for some time to help develop a fantastic new community through the MyMainway project. Read on for the latest progress update:

Lune and Derby House

As discussed previously, we developed a plan to fully refurbish these two blocks to create modern, energy efficient, well-designed homes. Over time, however, it became obvious that the cost of works for these properties was unaffordable to the Council. As a result, these homes will no longer be Council-owned. The refurbishment, however, will go ahead and be delivered by private developers who will ensure that the completed blocks remain complementary to the ambitions of the Mainway masterplan, meeting our objectives for affordable, rented housing that align with our goals for sustainable energy efficiency.

The Mainway Masterplan: Phase 1

We have previously discussed our plans to purchase the site of Skerton High School. This purchase is now complete and we aim to deliver around 140 affordable, social-rented new homes on the school site which will be owned and let by Lancaster City Council.

Current plans for the derelict site include:

• A new access road to the site from Owen Road
• Three new blocks of energy efficient flats, all making use of the excellent views
• Indoor community space and facilities on the ground floor of one of the blocks
• Three rows of houses, sited on “playable” or pedestrian-friendly streets
• Retention of the playing fields and cherry trees
• Creation of a children’s play park
• Routes into - and through - the estate, forming links between Ryelands Park and the riverside

Future phases of the Masterplan

The Mainway Estate will not just be Council owned, but a mix of tenures including private rent, shared ownership, and those which are owned and managed by an alternative housing provider. Our aim is to provide over 400 homes in total, comprising of, as a minimum, the current number of Council homes (257), combined with additional homes of other tenure types.

Our Next Steps Are:

• Contractors are starting preparatory works on the school site before demolition of the school buildings goes ahead.
• An online information event for the whole community – Mainway residents and beyond – will take place to discuss the demolition of the school.
• Later this year – autumn/winter – we will be seeking to get planning permission for our Phase 1 development. WE will share details o fthis nearer the time and will be keen to hear your view
• Once planning is achieved, we will be asking the Council’s Cabinet to approve our plans, allowing us to proceed with the development.

If you have any questions or comments in the meantime, please get in touch:

Email: mymainway@lancaster.gov.uk
Tel: 01524 582929
In person: at the Mainway Hub, on Owen Road, open Mon, Tues and Thurs, 10am - 4pm

When we last wrote to everyone on Mainway back in September 2021 discussions were ongoing about the former Skerton High School Site becoming part of the project. The Council’s Cabinet met on Tuesday 7^th December 2021 and approved in principle the purchase of the school site. This is a potentially exciting development and is another step along the way to delivering the redevelopment of Mainway.

The cabinet report is public, and you can view a copy by clicking here.

If you are interested in attending or participating in future Cabinet meetings you will find information how to do this here.

What does this mean?

The school site is a large piece of land which could be developed with additional housing and other services and amenities.

As explained in the Cabinet report, this could potentially increase housing numbers, improve housing mix (e.g. the types of housing on Mainway), deliver amenities and services (alongside the extra housing), provide playing fields for community and sports group use, and improve access to and from Mainway for pedestrians, cycles, and vehicles, linking the riverside to Ryelands and beyond.

The next step

There is still work to be done to acquire the school site. It could yet take 12-18 months, partly because the Department for Education and Secretary of State must consider the application for us to acquire what is currently educational land.

But this recent decision by Cabinet means that detailed plans and options for Mainway can now be presented to Cabinet in the new year (2022). It is hoped this will give us all a clearer picture of what the development of Mainway will look like and how long it might take.

Thank you for being patient

This is a big project and all the joint work and the brilliant co-operation from residents, businesses and services in the area has made us even more determined to make your homes and neighbourhood one of the best places to live in the Lancaster district.

We know how important this is to you and that you would like some clear information about the future of your homes and your neighbourhood.

The decision to push on with the possible purchase of the school site is another piece of the jigsaw and potentially an exciting step in the right direction. We hope that the next cabinet decision in the new year will really start to narrow down the options and give a clear picture of the future.

Any questions?

We had planned to hold a public meeting before Christmas to answer any questions you currently have, but due to current Covid guidance we feel that arranging a public gathering is not wise at this time.

Please ask your questions by dropping in to the MyMainway Hub (7 Owen Rd), emailing mymainway@lancaster.gov.uk, or ringing 01524 582929. (Please note that at time of writing the Mainway hub is closed due to recent rise in Covid cases – we hope to reopen in the new year.)

Thank you

For your continued input and contributions to the project, and for your patience.

Leon Cruickshank, David Pérez, and Lisa Turton from ImaginationLancaster, a team from Lancaster City Council, held an event with residents of Mainway. The idea was to get together with the Mainway’s residents after the long wait for lockdown restrictions to be lifted to talk about their memories, realities, and dreams.

The day was warm and sunny, so we had the activity on the green areas of the estate instead of the hub, as we have previously done. We installed a 4-metre-long timeline in front of the Shards Court building, a very visible area for most of the residents of Mainway. Everyone was invited to share their memories, realities, and dreams using a set of stickers prepared for the event. We had more than 50 people giving over 130 insights that helped us build a good picture of the past, present, and future of Mainway.

Most of the people who attended described Mainway as a friendly and supportive community. One of the residents wrote, ‘When I first moved here, I was pregnant, and everyone wanted to help me.’ However, they also mentioned some anti-social behaviours related to illegal activities and noise in the area. Some residents said that they would like more spaces to build a better sense of community. Some of the ‘dreams’ included community centres, different ways to improve the security of the area (CCTV cameras or Neighbourhood Watch stickers) and safe spaces for children to play.

Everyone agreed that Mainway has a privileged location, is very well connected, and has astonishing views of the river and Morecambe Bay. Residents want more benches to get together and enjoy the views. Also, they said that they like the green areas, but they would like work done controlling the weeds or open community gardens to enhance the area.

On the 11th of October 2020, we ran the children’s event at the My Mainway Hub, in Captain’s Row, Lancaster. The event brought together 22 participants, 9 children and 13 adults. he event gave the children of Mainway an opportunity to have their say about what sort of social issues they experienced by living in Mainway; a community whose voice is being heard throughout the six-month consultation project.

It was a warm sunny day, so instead of drawing indoors, a scroll of paper was fixed to the outside shop window. This was the first activity for the children. On the large scroll of paper, the children mapped out their experiences with the outdoor and indoor spaces of Mainway. They drew places that made them feel happy, sad, excited and frightened. The outside window proved not to be enough space, so the imaginative ideas spilled onto the pavement through chalk drawings, which were popular with people from toddlers to adults.

In cut-out balloons and prototypes the children expressed what they would like to have in Mainway. They selected the locations where they would like to see their dreams by placing balloons and prototypes on the model of Mainway that we had made to support the interactions. Some children wanted to express their ideas by writing instead of drawing they chose to communicate using our third activity by making a card and hanging it on our wishing line in the window of the base.

The children and the adults that they brought with them generated lots of ideas during the day discussing where new skate parks should go, how beneficial organised games would be like football, where a nature reserve would go, what new play equipment could be used and what diverse activities could happen in a community centre.

Two of the parents enquired about the day’s activities and said ‘will the children be able to come and do this every day?’

Overall, parents, residents and children want more activities and safe spaces for the children of the area. Some of the activities they would like to include sports (basketball, cycling, football, karate, running), festivals (fashion, arts), and music. Also, they would like to have dedicated spaces for children, such as a children hub, playgrounds, trampolines. Safety was one of the issues that they mentioned the most. They would like safer places where children can play with others and not being exposed to anti-social behaviours.

On the 24th of October 2020 we had an event called that we called ‘Scrawl on the Wall’ which focused on the young people of Mainway. Young people were invited to share their vision for the future redevelopment of the Estate by using graffiti and lettering methods.

The event was held at the hub, the My Mainway creative space. That day, the good weather did not accompany us as during the event there was torrential rain and high winds. Such a dark gloomy day only brought two participants who engaged in two activities. Due to this, we decided to carry these activities on in the next days at the daily opening hours of the Hub. This decision allowed us to engage with a total of eight participants and expand our data-gathering set.

The first activity aimed to generate a single word based on the sustainable future of Mainway and what that meant to the participants. The participants chose typefaces, using an online typeface generator, that best expressed their vision, using graphic and visual design principles. They then drew out the word on a scroll of paper ready to be transferred onto the widows of the Hub, creating a colourful visual mural. The scroll of paper was stuck on the outside of the shop window and then traced from the inside using chalk pens. Ideas emerged around energy efficiency, balanced integration of nature and the built environment, and community building.

The second one was Graffiti themed, activities that promoted health and well-being for young people. The activity also engaged staff from Lancaster City Council. The participants said that the activity was very therapeutic and mindful. One of the participants brought the youngest workshop member to the Hub, her 4-month-old daughter, who did not on this occasion take part but did entertain the consultancy team, while she designed her artwork. She shared with us:

‘I’m actually really enjoying just adding bits from my imagination, I wouldn’t normally do that’.

The activities of the event relied on the participants’ imagination and creative thinking. A redesigned version of these activities will be included in the next My Mainway Newsletter, aiming to reach more residents and be able to include their views into the consultancy report.

Playing and Co-imagining the future redevelopment

The next event was held at the Base as well. On the 26th of September, we run another drop-in session in which we used a 1.8×1.2qm physical model at a 1/300 scale to facilitate the co-creation of new visions for Mainway. In total 18 residents and stakeholders participated in the creative activity of reimagining their neighbourhood. The physical model had a number of wooden blocks simulating buildings on the same scale. In order to explore refurbishing or rebuilding options, there were two sets of buildings: the first set depicted the current buildings as they are now and another set with different simple geometric shapes.

In the new vision drop-in session, the participants generated three completely new visions of the estate.

The density of all the proposals was slightly increased compared to the current layout. Mainway Street was enhanced with communal areas, fountains, settable areas, areas for pets, for children to play, etc. One of the proposals considered a change in the outline of Mainway Street, folding the street depicting a small zigzag, to accommodate a mix of residential typologies, combining five/four-story buildings with small houses. Another theme all the proposals shared is the collective aspirations to enhance the public space and green areas to serve the enjoyment of its residents.

Early September 2020 10 a group from ImaginationLancaster and Lancaster City Council (LCC) to run 5-days doorstep engagement activities with every home on Mainway, a total of 257 flats. The purpose purpose was to reach as many people as possible including those who for different reasons were isolated. All the members went through a training session to discuss the activities, clarify roles, capturing of data, and health and safety protocols. The group was divided into five teams of 2 people, one from ImaginationLancaster and one from LCC. Each team visited on average 50 households during five intense days reaching 47% of the residents. We facilitated three activities that consisted of capturing personal information from the residents, views on Mainway as a whole, and inside of their flats, imagining the future redevelopment of the area.

This was an exciting opportunity to talk with every resident, and we had a fantastic response from people who shared their personal experiences and dreams for the future of Mainway. In Mainway there are residents that have been living there a long time and where proud of living there and like to talk about those wonderful experiences living here. For instance, one of the residents mentioned: “I have been living here for 48 years, I remember when Mainway was built”. One resident in Captain’s Row told us ‘my home is my castle’ and another in Greg House spoke passionately about how important their home was for safeguarding their independence.

On the other hand, resident raised similar concerns than the participants of the walks. There were common themes for change that arose; anti-social behaviour, poor maintenance of communal areas, lack of or outdated facilities such as the heating and recycling spaces. Fly-tipping is a prime issue which further reduces the aesthetic of the area and stretches council resources.

This process not only gathered the experiences of the people, but they were also asked about how these experiences could be very valuable in reimagining the future redevelopment of the estate. Residents came up with different ideas for how to improve not only their homes but also the entire neighbourhood. One of the most common themes was “Community life.” Several residents would like to have a more active life and a way to engage in activities with their neighbours. Communal spaces and outdoor spaces, such as gardens, create this sense of community, which is reflected in today’s life.

Whilst there was lots of positivity about the redevelopment there were also those who want to leave the estate or are concerned and sceptical about the redevelopment. Some residents who had lived there the longest felt they are being pushed out by the anti-social behaviour of their neighbours. Others expressed a deep-seated mistrust of the council, this ranged from concerns about not being allowed to return post-development or that their feedback would not really be listened to. These residents were often less eager to take part in the interviews and some declined to speak with us as ‘at the end of the day the council are going to do what the council are going to do.’

Mainway is a site that is brimming with potential in terms of location and physical space, but areas of it have been neglected and are outdated, such as the buildings and communal spaces. Many of the residents alluded to this during the interviews, compliments about the view were as frequent as complaints about the storage heaters.

On the 26^th of August, five councillors participated in the same walking activity with the intention of gaining their views on the refurbishment (renovation) or regeneration (rebuilding) options. In this regard, one councillor said:

“We want to find out what the residents want so this estate can be reutilised as they please. For instance, the bin areas do not serve their purpose and they have been used to dumping other stuff.”

All the councillors said that Mainway could be one of the most vibrant and thrilling urban areas in Lancaster, but they had different views on how to make it happen. One councillor focused on connecting the South-West side of the estate, divided by Owen Road, with the North-East side. Another one shared a vision where Mainway would become a village again:

“I would make it a village again, stop thinking about houses. What’s a village look like? How do you know about the centre? How do you know your neighbours? How do you enjoy each other’s company? What things are around a village?”

Another one said:

“At the moment it is called Mainway, that is a road, and it doesn’t seem to me to be very attractive. I would move people closer together, so they could see each other, talk to each other”.

The first event was a walk around Mainway on 6^th August 2020. The idea was to explore Mainway from the residents perspective. There were there walks: one in the morning, one in the afternoon and the last one in the evening. 30 people joined us to talk about the outdoor and indoor spaces of Mainway.

During each walk, residents picked the stops of the walk and shared their memories, pointed out some of the issues face, and highlighted things to change. Soon enough the residents said that the area suffers from issues such as drug and alcohol use/consumption.

At the beginning of each walk, the residents discussed the redevelopment project with representatives from Lancaster City Council. Some residents expressed their scepticism about the whole engagement process. One of them believed that Lancaster City Council has already a redevelopment plan with less social homes and an increment of private houses. Additionally, some residents expressed that sometimes they need to share communal spaces or live door to door with dangerous people. They proposed to set up a tenant’s association as a way to enhance communications. In general, we found out that residents feel stressed and uncomfortable with the idea of being moved out if the redevelopment implies knocking down the buildings. As one of the residents said:

“The main thing is that say we all have to get out. That is going to be a problem surely.”

http://imagination.lancaster.ac.uk/update/touring-walk-around-mainway-with-its-residents/