Panel discussion event called Sin City covered the morality issues around property development Manchester city centre. A city which is going through a high rise, primarily rental, property development boom while many are simultaneously experiencing the sharp end of a housing and homelessness crisis. In Manchester for some years now there has been a series […]
Proposal to develop Central Retail Park into a car park represents the very worst of urban development in Manchester
Manchester Labour for a Green New Deal argue that the city council’s plans to turn the former Central Retail Park into a car park will increase traffic pollution, damage health and fail to tackle the climate crisis that the council has previously declared. The proposal by Manchester City Council to develop the site of the […]
Fighting talk from Labour rally this week
On Monday 2 September, the Labour Party held a rally at the Lowry in Salford. I’d only received notification of it the night before, but even at such short notice it was an opportunity not to be missed. A snap general election is likely, and Labour is getting their message out while the current government […]
Burnham says GM needs a ‘new economy’ and promises funding for co-operative development
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has criticised the dominance of the “mantra about the free market” in shaping local economic policy and committed to pursuing a more co-operative economy for the region that sees industrial progress going hand in hand with social progress. He believes developing the “new economy” can be done while supporting […]
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 […]
Can the Homes Act fix slum conditions in the private rented sector?
You move into the only place you could afford in your area. The wallpaper is hanging and bubbling off and there are large areas of mould mottling the walls, like the house has caught some kind of disease. The doors and windows are draughty and there are mouse droppings all over the kitchen. Welcome to […]
Fifteen die homeless in Manchester over last 18 months, figure rises to 796 across the UK
The death toll of homeless people on the streets of Manchester has risen to 15 over the last 18 months. Across the UK the number of victims of the housing and homelessness crisis comes to 796, according to information gathered by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ). Working alongside researchers at University College London (UCL), […]
Manchester tops local authority league selling 673 public properties in five years, while only buying 165
Manchester City Council has sold off more public property than any other local authority in less than five years. In total 673 properties were sold between 1 April 2014 and 31 July 2018. During that same period the council bought only 165 properties. The scale of property sell-offs in Manchester and across England shows how […]
Rough sleeping increases 34% across Manchester in a year
Despite the well publicised efforts of the Greater Manchester mayor and Manchester City Council to reduce rough sleeping, the Manchester street count in 2018 has seen a 34% rise compared to 2017. The street count is a single night snapshot, carried out between 1 October and 30 November, of people sleeping rough in a local […]
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 […]