Bringing buses under public control is ‘better value for money’ for the city region in spite of ‘severe’ impact of Covid-19 on bus patronage and revenues, Greater Manchester leaders hear at a meeting this week.
Manchester’s homelessness charities warn of ‘humanitarian disaster’ after Covid-19 in damning letter to government
Manchester homelessness groups join over 60 others across the country to call for additional funds for local authorities to permanently eradicate homelessness, as Manchester City Council tells The Meteor it needs ‘greater financial support’ from the government to keep people off the streets. Five frontline homelessness groups and charities operating in Manchester have joined more […]
Campaigners cheer bold proposals for 100km Covid-19 ‘pop up’ cycle network
Proposals to install more than 100 km of ‘pop-up’ cycle lanes across Greater Manchester are welcomed by campaign group WalkRide. The plans, if implemented, will enable more people to travel safely during the Covid-19 crisis, and will keep pollution, congestion, and emission levels low. Walk Ride Greater Manchester today welcomed news that leaders are planning […]
Mayor Andy Burnham announces plans to make Greater Manchester a ‘Co-operative Zone’
Making progress on his previous promise to make Greater Manchester “the most co-operative region in the UK” Andy Burnham releases the report to turn that plan into a reality. Mayor Andy Burnham announced plans to turn Greater Manchester (GM) into a designated ‘Co-operative Zone’, with dedicated resources to offer business advice and support for new […]
Sir Richard Leese says ‘we are open to working with anybody’ – we asked campaign groups what they thought (pt.3)
In response to a recent blog post by Sir Richard Leese, we’ve been asking local groups to share their experiences of working Manchester City Council. Sir Richard Leese says the council are open to working with any parties interested in environmental and development issues. The following article by Pete Abel of Manchester Friends of the […]
Food Poverty Action Plan aims to tackle hidden crisis in GM
The latest estimates are that 620,000 people in Greater Manchester are living in poverty, and struggle to put food on the table. Of those, around 200,000 are children experiencing food poverty. £30 billion per year has been cut from welfare budgets since 2010. By 2020, Local councils will have lost 60% of central government funding […]
‘Critical for a liveable, prosperous and sustainable city’: Manchester City Council leader weighs in on bus reform
As public support grows for bus regulation in Greater Manchester, campaigners from Better Buses for Greater Manchester this week have been taking local council leaders for a ride… on a bus. Throughout Better Buses Action Week local residents have been inviting council leaders onto their commutes to convince them to support bus regulation and to […]
10 reasons why the bus companies’ partnership proposals will not ‘revolutionise’ our buses: we need regulation
Why do passengers and staff want a regulated network when £100 million has been offered for the alternative – partnerships? The fact that bus companies are suddenly offering a £100 million partnership package as an alternative to regulation shows just how great re-regulation of our buses is, and how much bus companies will do to […]
Greater Manchester plan for jobs, homes…and the environment?
After several delays the Greater Manchester Combined Authority has published the new draft of its Spatial Framework. The previous version, published in late 2016 met considerable criticism, especially from groups campaigning on green space but also from other quarters, including our own critique of its assumptions of accelerated “economic growth”. On the other side the […]
Is Burnham’s A Bed Every Night scheme enough?
On the first day in his role as mayor of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Andy Burnham pledged 15% of his £110,00 salary (£16,500) to his newly created Mayor’s homelessness fund. He had soared to victory in the election with 63% of the vote on the back of a pledge to end rough sleeping in Greater […]