A protest is to be held by those angry at the lack of cycle lanes in the plans for a huge revamp of Great Ancoats Street.

Plans to transform the busy part of the inner city centre ring road into a 'European style boulevard' were revealed by the Manchester Evening News earlier this month.

The £9.1m plan includes 12 new red-chip crossings designed to better link booming Ancoats with the Northern Quarter and will also see 70 trees, planted along the central reservation.

However some have accused the of 'pandering' to car drivers and are angry at what they say is a lack of consideration for cyclists and pedestrians.

Hundreds of people have signed a petition against the plans and a rush-hour protest march involving people on bikes and on foot is planned for Wednesday evening.

The town hall says it is securing funding for two dedicated cycle routes adjacent to Great Ancoats Street as part of a separate project.

But campaigners say cycling should not be pushed down the list of priorities and should be included in the current proposals.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

The petition says: "The scheme will take out the existing cycle lanes without replacing them. Instead, we are being promised an alternative winding, narrow cycle route through the Northern Quarter rather than safe, protected and direct bike lanes on this key corridor.

"With currently five lanes of traffic, there is more than enough space for protected cycling provision as well as improved footways for pedestrians.

"Whether you walk or cycle in, or otherwise live in or travel around, Manchester city centre, join us to express our outrage that in 2019 Manchester City Council continues to pander to the motor car despite the acute crises of congestion, poor air quality and the broader climate emergency."

The protest on Wednesday evening will begin in Stevenson Square around 5:30pm, which was last week closed to traffic for five hours to mark clean air day.

(Image: Manchester Council)

At around 6pm the protesters will then walk and cycle to Cutting Room Square in the centre of Ancoats, on the opposite side of Great Ancoats Street, where they will hold a rally.

The marshaled walk and cycle will then continue down the ring road onto Swan Street before finishing close to the Co-op building and Victoria Station.

One of the organisers of the Andrew Fisher, 42, from Levenshulme, told the M.E.N: "The council are spending over £9 million on this but we feel like the needs of cyclists are being ignored.

"We weren't consulted on this and understandably people are quite angry about it.

"We're being promised something further down the line but cyclists don't want to wait seven or eight years for proper infrastructure. People want to cycle now.

"It's up the council to be creative, to be imaginative and come up with something now."

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Councillor Angeliki Stogia, Executive Member for the Environment, Planning and Transport said: "We are fully committed to investing in new cycling and walking infrastructure that will make these methods of transport the natural choice for people getting around in the city centre.

"Great Ancoats Street is part of the city centre’s inner ring road and as such is an extremely busy route. The transformation we are working on will deliver enhanced crossings for people travelling on foot or by bike, to allow them to cross this major road much more safely and travel more easily between the city centre and the flourishing Ancoats area.

(Image: Manchester council)

"At the same time, we are committed to creating two new dedicated cycling and walking corridors running parallel to Great Ancoats Street - the Northern and Eastern Gateway project and the Piccadilly - Victoria route.

"Both of these schemes will be funded by the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Challenge Fund and will form part of the growing GM Bee Network.

"Pedestrian benefits include new and improved crossings, some of which are shared with cyclists, plus tree planting and decluttering of footways.

"As well as delivering a significantly enhanced experience for pedestrians, the Great Ancoats Street scheme will encourage motorists not to use the surrounding smaller roads as ‘rat-runs’, which would lead to reduced air quality and more risk of collisions across Ancoats and the city centre.

"Taken as a whole, these three projects will deliver a radically improved, safer infrastructure for both pedestrians and people travelling by bike across Manchester city centre."

The twelve wider crossings with red chippings footways are planned for a half-mile stretch of the inner ring-road, one of the busiest in the city, starting from Oldham Road at the junction of Marshall Street/Cornell Street and continuing until the Metrolink stop on Pollard Street.

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Along the route, the council intends to plant up to 70 trees including maple and honeysuckle that it is hoped will live for up to 100 years.

The work will be carried out in two stages.

The first which has already started involves involve pipes and cables for utilities and telecoms underneath the road and footway surfaces being moved.

This will finish before December with the second stage, involving the actual construction starting in January 2020 to avoid the Christmas period.

Bosses insist lessons have been learned from the beleaguered Regent Road roadworks , due to end this summer, and that they will keep disruption to a minimum.