Manchester City Council has withdrawn proposals for two bus gates in the Baguley Park area, after public consultation.

Bus gates are stretches of road that are only open to buses, black cabs and bicycles. The proposed bus gates would have been located at Floatshall Road and Hall Lane in the area.

Originally, Manchester had aimed to create a cycling and walking route connecting Chorlton Park to Manchester Airport via Simonsway, Wythenshawe Hospital, and Wythenshawe Park. A consultation on that proposal had concluded in May last year, reports Place North West.

A council spokesperson said that they had received “a lot of useful feedback” from that consultation, but that the specific criteria for spending the Active Travel Fund money had meant another consultation was necessary.

“The most recent consultation focused on one area, which would reduce traffic and make walking and cycling in that neighbourhood more attractive”, the spokesperson said.

Feedback on the new plan had been robust, with the council receiving nearly 600 responses. On Twitter, the council said that residents were concerned that the bus gates would not, in fact, make walking and cycling easier in the area.

“The consultation process has now been paused while the proposals are reviewed in line with feedback we have received from local people – and consider how we can best invest our limited funding to encourage more people to choose walking and cycling,” the council spokesperson said.

“However, the council continues to have ambitious plans to invest in walking and cycling routes in Wythenshawe and we are currently exploring options ways to do this.”