Manchester City Council’s full Planning Committee returns and four huge developments are on the table. Co-living towers, some of which breach national guidelines on livable space and two 51 storey skyscrapers with no affordable housing, are to be decided on. Manchester City Council’s Planning Committee sits again on 30 July tasked with signing off on […]
Outpouring of love for Nexus Art Cafe as Covid forces its closure
Nexus Art Cafe, after shutting its doors in March for the Covid-19 lockdown, announced on Monday it would not reopen. Patrons and supporters of the not-for-profit arts and events space reacted with dismay but also love, recounting their memories in the venue and offering their thanks to the Nexus team. Nexus announced the closure via […]
Proposed changes to controversial ‘Shudehill Shard’ pushed through under emergency powers
The controversial 17-storey ‘Shudehill Shard’ development has had a planning application amendment approved by Manchester City Council today under emergency powers. The published decision was also accompanied by a statement saying full scrutiny of planning proposals would recommence in July with the reinstatement of the planning committee.
More controversial developments to be decided on by Chief Executive as Planning Committee remains suspended
Despite cross-party calls for the Planning Committee to be reinstated, another spread of developments will be decided this week by the council’s Chief Executive. The Meteor looks under the hood of a fiercely opposed apartment block in Ancoats and a build-to-rent skyscraper, along with three other developments. Over 400 units of housing are set to […]
ALL FM brings ‘Station of the Year’ Community Radio Award back to Manchester
Manchester’s local radio station ALL FM 96.9 won ‘Station of the Year’ at the prestigious Community Radio Awards last Saturday in South Wales. Manchester’s ALL FM radio station won the coveted Station of the Year award in a hotly contested national category, at the Community Radio Awards in Barry, South Wales, last Saturday. After bestowing […]
Five reasons why Greater Manchester buses must be re-regulated
Last week consultation began over the future of buses in Greater Manchester. Since deregulation in the 1980s bus usage has declined while prices have risen. Change is needed and there are two main options to choose from. Re-regulation in the form of franchising or a private bus company backed partnership model. This is the case […]
Ancoats residents flex their civic muscles and green fingers in fight for a ‘Peoples Park’
Residents are organising to turn a former retail site into green public space in defiance of council plans for a 440-space car park. The controversial proposal follows several contested planning decisions in Ancoats and Northern Quarter. Locals are staking a claim to the land for a ‘Peoples Park’. […]
Police force admits agreement to share information about protesters with DWP
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has admitted that it has a written agreement to share information about disabled people and other activists who take part in protests with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Disabled activists have expressed alarm at the confirmation, which came despite previous denials by the force and DWP that any such […]
Hulme residents organise to save Rockdove Gardens
Residents of Hulme’s Bentley House estate – popularly known as the Redbricks – are organising to halt the destruction of a much-loved community garden. The current plans will see 24 trees cut down and a new pedestrian pathway running along the back of then exposed flats. The estate, on the edge of Mancunian Way, is […]
Too busy to take a leaflet from uniformed police officers – you may be followed by undercover officers
The Northern Police Monitoring Project (NPMP) has called for the end of Project Servator. A new country wide anti-crime operation, which the NPMP claims is “another example of police forces monitoring and imposing themselves upon individuals without any legitimate justification.” In a statement on Project Servator, the NPMP drew attention to a video tweeted by […]