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Here is today's Mancunian Way:
Hello
It’s getting chilly isn’t it? With energy bills not far from our minds you might be thinking about longer-term fixes. But they’re expensive. The average price of retrofitting a property to make it more energy efficient, is estimated to be between £25,000 and £30,000 in Manchester.
It would cost about £8billion to retrofit all 240,000 properties in Manchester. City leaders want to achieve a zero carbon city by 2038, but around 84,000 homes must be retrofitted in some way for that to happen. Can it be done?
We’ll be discussing that story, as well as Covid rates and the ongoing search on Saddleworth Moor in today’s newsletter.
Zero sums
In the last few days, Greater Manchester leaders have agreed plans to reach net zero carbon by 2038. The city region is the first in the country to produce and adopt Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs).
Similar levels of interventions in public, commercial and industrial buildings and fleets will also be needed. That work has already started in some places, with the region’s public buildings now producing more than 7,000 tonnes less CO2 equivalent per year, saving over £2m a year.
The improvements are a result of around £78m funding from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, The Science and Industry Museum and The Royal Northern College of Music have all benefited from this in various ways, including through solar panels and air source heat pumps.
Councillor Martyn Cox is the lead for Green City Region and Waste. “The need for us to make systematic changes to the way we produce and consume energy is absolutely vital and in Greater Manchester we intend to drive that on a local level,” he says.
Here in Manchester
Local democracy reporter Joseph Timan has been looking at how Manchester will need to invest billions in housing - which accounts for around 30 pc of emissions - to become carbon zero by 2038.
Leaders in Manchester plan to invest millions into social housing stock using government funding. Around 84,000 properties will need to be retrofitted in some way.
So far the local authority has forked out £83m on energy efficiency improvements to council homes in North Manchester and is committing to retrofitting at least a third of the city's social housing by 2032 - including almost 10,000 council-owned homes.
It’s accepted that convincing landlords - who own 93,400 private rented homes in the city - will be tough, given there is no specific funding for them to make energy improvements.
What next?
The council is preparing a bid for the second round of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to invest in further retrofit works over the next two years.
Meanwhile housing associations are developing 'costed investments plans' for zero carbon housing.
All homes under the council’s three Private Finance Initiative schemes have already undergone some energy efficiency and carbon cutting works.
For homeowners, there is advice through Your Home Better, as well as interest free loans from the council of up to £10,000 through the Home Energy Loan Plan.
Warm banks
In Oldham, council chiefs have signed off on a £3 million package to support residents with the cost-of-living crisis, including energy, food costs and childcare. The borough has some of the highest rates of deprivation in the country and leaders are predicting a ‘significant increase’ in demand for financial help in the coming months.
Funding will be provided to Oldham Foodbank and ‘warm banks’ are being created for those struggling to heat their homes.
Taxing time
The big news today has of course been the Chancellor’s u-turn on the decision to axe the 45p tax rate. Twitter users have been reacting to the news in their inimitable way, as documented here.
The pound bounced back to levels seen before the Government’s controversial mini-budget, with sterling surging to 1.13 US dollars at one stage overnight. But Andy Burnham has warned that Kwasi Kwarteng will need to u-turn on more than just the one policy if ‘we’re to avoid chaos this winter’.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies says with around £43 billion of unfunded tax cuts remaining, the Chancellor ‘still has a lot of work to do if he is to display a credible commitment to fiscal sustainability’.
“Unless he also U-turns on some of his other, much larger tax announcements, he will have no option but to consider cuts to public spending: to social security, investment projects, or public services,” the think tank's director Paul Johnson told PA new agency.
Still on track?
One u-turn our mayor can get on board with is Liz Truss' decision on Northern Powerhouse Rail. During her campaign to become Conservative leader, she promised to deliver it in full.
The Prime Minister has now offered more details as to how that might look to ITV Calendar’s Harry Horton. Asked if her plans meant ‘a full new line all the way from Liverpool to Hull with a stop in Bradford’ she replied ‘it does’. Further details will be set out ‘in due course’, she added.
They will need to include the 'right solution' at Manchester Piccadilly to appease leaders in Greater Manchester. But Mr Burnham says the PM deserves ‘real credit’ for the u-turn. ”It is the railway that the North of England desperately needs and we will work with @trussliz to make it a reality,” he tweeted.
The search continues
Officers from Greater Manchester Police searching the area on Sunday.
Police looking for Keith Bennett on Saddleworth Moor continued their search over the weekend. Officers say they are yet to find any 'identifiable' human remains after receiving information from amateur sleuth, Russell Edwards.
The author passed on images of what was described as part of a jaw bone after working with a team of experts to try and find Keith's remains. The 12-year-old was one of the five young victims of the Moors Murderers.
Who is the amateur sleuth at the heart of the renewed search for Keith Bennett?
A 'twindemic'
With covid rates expected to rise again in Greater Manchester this winter, people are being urged to take up the offer of an Autumn Covid booster offer and flu vaccination. Flu cases are expected to rise again this year so eligible people are being advised to get both jabs to avoid a ‘twindemic’.
David Regan, director of Public Health for Manchester, says high levels of Covid are expected again this winter.
“Many people will think they don’t need another vaccine because they have already had Covid, or the vaccine didn’t stop them from getting the virus. But, immunity wears off and even if the vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting the virus, it should stop you from getting it as badly and reduce the risk of Long Covid,” he says.
Details of how to sign up for a jab are here.
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Weather etc
- Tuesday: Overcast changing to light rain by late morning. 17C.
- Roads closed: A57 Eccles New Road Eastbound for roadworks from Gilda Brook Road to Stott Lane until October 8. A57 Snake Pass in both directions for roadworks between Ladybower Reservoir and Hurst Road until October 23. A6017 Stockport Road southbound for water main work from William St to Grosvenor St until October 3.
- Trivia question: The bell tower of which Manchester church is still considered the centre of the city?
Nostalgia
The Metropole Theatre stood proudly in Manchester for over 60 years, providing entertainment for families across the city, writes Phoebe Barton.
First opened on Ashton Old Road in Openshaw in 1898, it was designed by J.J. Alley, who also designed Manchester’s Hulme Hippodrome. It's final play, The Dumb Man of Manchester, was shown in 1938 before it closed as a theatre for good. It was reincarnated as a cinema, but was eventually demolished in 1962.
Manchester headlines
Avanti: Gary Neville has branded Avanti West Coast a 'disgrace' after passengers were forced to sit in a toilet gangway on their journey. The former United footballer slammed the 'scandalous' rail operator and called on the government to 'nationalise our railways now'. More here.
Failed: Maggie Oliver claims victims are being failed by a ‘crumbling’ criminal justice system. The former GMP detective turned whistle-blower has defended barristers' decision to strike. She says delays to cases, a dysfunctional Legal Aid system and years of cuts means victims are not being properly served. "The impact on victims is horrific in that they have a delay hanging over them. They go to bed every night and wake up every morning thinking about it,” she says. "It absolutely consumes their every waking moment. To have that hanging over them for three or four years is brutal and is not what our criminal justice system should be like.
Compensation: Since the Manchester Arena terror attack in May 2017, more than 800 claims for compensation have been made to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Of 741 applications for physical and mental injuries, 331 have not resulted in a financial award. One emergency service worker was one of the first responders at the scene and helped treat victims with 'severe injuries' as well as some who died. Despite being diagnosed with PTSD, it's claimed an application to the CICA for an award based on mental health injuries was rejected as the worker was not a ‘direct victim’, as they were not present at the scene when the bomb went off.
Worth a read
"There's no middle class any more. There's rich people and poor people and the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. I'm poor. I do nothing. I drive a s*** car. It's very, very difficult. I can't carry on this way.”
It’s a stark assessment of modern Britain, but one Mirco Perrozzi stands by. He runs Rosylee, a tiny cafe with space for around a dozen customers, in Radcliffe town centre.
As he told reporter Damon Wilkinson, in the six months since he took over the business, his electric bill has soared from just over £200 a month to more than £700.
"I took over this business to try for a better life, but really it's made it worse. I'm in debt, I'm behind on the bills. I'm under pressure, I'm anxious all the time. I don't want to get out of bed in the morning."
It's a similar story for traders across the town, who have been speaking to Damon about the realities of running a business.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me.If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: St Ann's Church
