Support our planning application to keep Levy Market going!
Unlike most businesses, Levenshulme Market has to get its planning permission renewed every few years, and we’ve just learned that our latest application is to go before the council’s planning committee next week.
This means we need to argue the case for the market continuing to operate in the heart of Levenshulme. We’re confident that we can demonstrate the economic and social value Levenshulme Market bring to the neighbourhood, but for us to have the best possible chance of getting our application approved we need our customers to show their support for the market by sending a quick email to the planning department.
Manchester City Council ask that these be sent to carl.glennon@manchester.gov.uk referencing planning application 129010/FO/2020. If you’re not sure what to include in your message you can also find some suggestions below.
SEND AN EMAIL NOWYou can view the planning application here. It sets out the market’s plans to continuing its operations with a weekly market taking place between March and December at Levenshulme train station car park.
Levenshulme Market CIC turned eight earlier this year, so this latest planning application, if permitted, will hopefully take us through to our 10th birthday as a social enterprise run by a small group of local residents.
As well as providing a crucial low-cost platform for hundreds of Manchester’s small independent businesses each year, Levenshulme Market is also a volunteer-run CIC which uses its profits to invest in the area via initiatives such as the Levenshulme Market Fund, our High Street Community Economic Development Plan, our Social Value Assessment report, our work with Incredible Edible and various other projects. You can read more about our work as a social enterprise here. We’ve twice been shortlisted for the BBC Food and Farming Awards and were a winner at last year’s Great British Market Awards.
Neighbourhood markets differ from other shopping or hospitality venues as they serve a broader civic purpose, where the social and economic find a common connection. As well as giving new small businesses the opportunity to find their feet each week, markets like the one in Levenshulme also do their bit to enhance the Manchester’s social and cultural value, providing local residents with a means of experiencing what it means to come together as a community.
If you want to send Manchester City Council an email and you’re not sure what to include by way of support, we believe that Levenshulme Market’s latest planning application feeds into the following policies as listed in Manchester’s Development Framework Core Strategy 2012-2027:
- Policy EC9 – Employment in South Manchester
- Policy C6 – South Manchester District Centres – inc. Levenshulme
- Policy EN4 – Reducing CO2 emissions by enabling low and zero carbon development.
We also believe that Levenshulme Market has played and will continue to play a vital role by contributing to a key part of the core strategy’s vision that by 2027 Manchester will be ‘a city of thriving district centres, which have a distinct local character and provide a good range of accessible public services, retail and local facilities’.
Our aim is for Levenshulme Market to have an active role in our neighbourhood’s post-Covid recovery by continuing to provide the area with revenue, employment, investment in the area and a strong shared sense of community.
So if you want to continue visiting your friendly local market here in Levenshulme, please send through a message to the planning department in support of our application.