Manchester city centre is to get a new public park under the latest plans to transform land around Piccadilly’s Mayfield depot.

It will be the first time a civic open space will be built in more than a century, since Piccadilly Gardens was created in around 1914.

The depot itself, Temperance Street railway arches and the Star and Garter pub would all be kept under the town hall’s revised masterplan for the sprawling industrial area opposite Piccadilly Station.

Up to 1,500 new homes are also planned.

Behind the depot, a new 6.5-acre terraced park is proposed for a large piece of wasteland between Hoyle Street and Baring Street.

Council bosses hope to see the park completed within four years, with the remaining elements of the redevelopment being part of a 8 to 10-year vision.

(Image: Manchester evening news) (Image: Manchester evening news)

They envisage it as a ‘sequence of interlocking spaces’ featuring existing mature trees, restored cobbled pathways and footbridges, with the potential to also clean up the River Medlock and create a ‘waterside’ or ‘wetland’ area.

A large lawn at its centre would be big enough for ballgames and events.

Four new residential skyscrapers are also proposed for land to the eastern edge of the park around Hoyle Street, one of which would provide a ‘bookend’ to the new green space, according to details of a refreshed masterplan going before council bosses next week.

(Image: Manchester evening news)

At vacant land on the corner of Fairfield Street and the A6 - opposite Piccadilly Station - a new ‘commercial pavilion’ is suggested.

Meanwhile the depot itself - which has in recent times hosted hugely popular gigs, art events and food fairs - would be retained for ‘flexible’ commercial and leisure use, according to the report, although it does not go into further detail.

To the south east of the park - towards the Mancunian Way, to the west of Hoyle Street - regeneration bosses propose a new ‘tightly-knit’ neighbourhood of family homes screened from the inner ring road by trees.

That would be a mixture of houses and medium-rise apartment blocks with both communal and private gardens.

(Image: Manchester evening news)

Further west, around Baring Street and Wyre Street, small, flexible commercial and co-working spaces are proposed, including a new building on the banks of the Medlock, opening up a ‘riverside walkway’.

Council bosses - who have entered into a joint partnership with developers U+I, Transport for Greater Manchester and national rail body LCR on the project - see the redevelopment happening in five phases.

The depot would be upgraded into full use within the next three years, followed by the park and residential skyscrapers by 2022.

Remaining development to the depot’s west, around Baring Street, has not been given a timescale.

(Image: Manchester evening news)

In total the council envisages more than 150,000 sqm of new commercial space, 32,000 sqm of shops and leisure space, 1,500 homes, 650 hotel rooms and 13 acres of new pubic space, including the park.

Manchester council sees the Mayfield area as one of its key regeneration priorities, particularly ahead of HS2’s anticipated arrival, although its latest plan makes no mention of stalled government proposals to add two new platforms to Piccadilly station.

In March the town hall is due to unveil a new masterplan for Piccadilly as a whole - but because work on the Mayfield scheme has been underway for some time, it has brought forward specific high-level proposals for that area first.

(Image: Andy Lambert)

Some of the land in the scheme has been handed over to the development partnership by the council, which would then expect to see a return once it is complete. The value of the land and the terms of the deal have been kept under wraps for commercial reasons.

More details and images of its vision for Mayfield are expected when the updated masterplan is published shortly. An overview of the plans will go before the town hall’s executive next Wednesday.