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It’s now been exactly one year since the Clean Air Zone was supposed to come into force across Greater Manchester.
With the now-infamous signs pointing out that vehicles - such as lorries, buses and coaches - that didn’t meet emissions standards would face daily charges from May 30, 2022, the day came and went without any effect.
A massive public backlash saw the plans put on hold after the pandemic, which had seen an increase in the cost of vehicles. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham argued that, for this reason, introducing the charges would not have had the desired effect of cleaning up the air because vehicle owners were unable to afford to upgrade.
But question marks still remain over when, or indeed if, the plans will be put into motion. Speaking to Local Democracy Reporter Joseph Timan, one campaigner said they felt the proposals have now become part of a ‘wrangling match between local and national government’.
"Recent [government] statistics show that Manchester has some of the dirtiest air in the country,” Sarah Rowe from the Clean Cities Campaign said. “If we are to meet our goals of being a greener and fairer city, then we must act to limit polluting cars and vans in the city centre.
"There must be financial support for people who are dependent on cars or vans to transition to cleaner vehicles. But cleaning up our air is not a cost, it’s an investment that is good for us, good for our NHS and it could generate a huge economic boost for the city."
More than £60m has been spent on the scheme to date, which also included the cost of covering up the 1,200 signs featuring the original start date. Last January, the government agreed to move the deadline it had set for bringing down pollution levels in our air but local leaders said they no longer wanted financial charges to be imposed on the worst polluting vehicles and instead called for an ‘investment-led’ scheme to help fund owners with upgrades.
Leaders in Greater Manchester are currently gathering additional evidence for the government over how this new scheme could look but insist they remain committed to an ‘investment-led non-charging’ Clean Air Plan.
A Clean Air GM spokesperson said: "Greater Manchester is continuing its work to gather the additional evidence requested by government and remains committed to an investment led, non-charging Clean Air Plan that cleans up the air without harming jobs and businesses. An update will be provided to the Greater Manchester Air Quality Administration Committee at its meeting in June."
In today’s Mancunian Way, we’ll be looking at 'dangerous' junctions, an Oasis bandmate, and a torn down institution. But first, the man making history in the council.
A 'viable' challenge
At 26 years old, Jon-Connor Lyons is now the youngest person to run the council's planning committee. As part of the role, he gets to have the final say on what gets built across the city.
The Labour councillor from Newton Heath, who was first elected five years ago, says he wants to use his role to push for more affordable housing and hold developers accountable.
He wants to see more hotels in the city centre to reduce demand for short-term lets and Airbnbs and wants council houses built in the Northern Quarter and south Manchester. Ambitious, perhaps, but the Piccadilly ward councillor says it's about 'equality of opportunity'.
As someone who rents in the city centre himself, Jon-Connor told the M.E.N he had a direct understanding of what it meant to be priced out.
"I'd absolutely love a new flat in Piccadilly ward, but I can't afford it," he says. "If we want people to stay in Manchester, we need affordable homes for them.
"I've always said we need to be building affordable and social housing in every part of the city. In the city centre, you don't need to have a car and you've got so many jobs you can access.
"There are so many opportunities. So having council housing in places like the Northern Quarter or south Manchester is really important in terms of equality of opportunity.
"There's only so much affordable housing being built in south Manchester and the city centre. We want to see it built everywhere."
Under the council's housing strategy, 36,000 new homes must be built in Manchester in the next 10 years – and 10,000 should be affordable. Under the plans, the council can 'push' developers to pay for more affordable housing and hold them to account when they claim they cannot.
The council, under its new housing development firm called This City, will also deliver part of the city’s housing needs with a mix of affordable properties being built in Ancoats and the Northern Quarter.
Coun Gavin White, who is responsible for setting the council's development strategy, hopes that Jon-Connor will hold developers to account on affordable housing. "We're really keen to get as much affordable housing as possible," he said. "That's something we're pushing for as a council. The challenge is viability.”
Council skies
While the album art for the latest Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds album features Maine Road, Moss Side and Burnage, the singer insists ‘Council Skies’ is not an ode to Manchester.
In an interview with What's On Editor Jenna Campbell, Noel insists the album instead revolves around the theme of reflection. While that may indeed be the case, the album certainly draws parallels to his own life growing up in a council estate in south Manchester by sharing its namesake with the book by revered Northern illustrator Pete McKee.
“It’s about going back to the beginning,” Noel explains. “Daydreaming, looking up at the sky and wondering about what life could be… that’s as true to me now as it was in the early 90s. When I was growing up in poverty and unemployment, music took me out of that.”
For an album that claims not to be about Manchester, the musician can’t help but muse about the city where he first made his name. “It’s changed cosmetically,” he notes. “But as far as I’m concerned the people are still the same and the vibe of it never really changes.
“When I go to City's away matches and sit in the away end with everyone else, it’s the same as it always was, the accent, the people, everything.”
The music video for the album’s title track features Collyhurst’s soon-to-be-levelled Eastford Square and the revived New Century Hall where Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones once played. For new musicians trying to make a name for themselves in the city, Noel acknowledges that things aren’t the same as they were when he began making music.
He explains: “The venues now seem to be either huge arenas or tiny little bars, and there seems to be nothing in between and that’s alright if you’re Sam Smith or Harry Styles, but if you’re a bunch of lads from Collyhurst or whatever, where are you going to play?”
“We got very lucky growing up,” Noel adds. “All of the places we would rehearse hadn’t yet been turned into flats, and that’s a struggle nowadays for musicians. But like all things in the music business these days, it’s all dictated by economics and commerce.”
You can read the interview with Noel here.
Torn apart
Almost 200 years of Manchester history was torn down last week - marking the end of the Hardy’s Well pub in Rusholme.
Located at the end of the Curry Mile, the pub - which has displayed a mural of a Lemn Sissay poem on one of its walls since 2012 - was deemed unsafe after being devastated by a blaze on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
The pub was a popular spot for Manchester City fans for its proximity to Maine Road. It was deemed an Asset of Community Value in 2015 but the venue has been dormant and remained boarded up since 2016.
Speaking of the demolition, one resident told M.E.N reporter Lyell Tweed: “We used to drink here every Friday night. It's really sad to see. It had its problems with anti-social behaviour towards the end but it meant a lot to people round here for a long time.
"The beer garden was really popular, it's tragic to see the poem being knocked down. It had so much history in it, I remember going to the upstairs rooms once where it was said dignitaries used to meet back in the 19th century.”
Another said: “I remember beating loads of lads on the pool table in this pub when I was 19. I’m now 43 and it only feels like a few years ago.”
Sissay himself told the BBC the pub was "ahead of its time" and the poem mural had marked his first 'landmark' poem as part of a long-running project to commission work into landmarks. He said: "I'm quite sad it has been demolished. I have had lots of messages from people about it saying it meant a lot to them, too.”
Previously submitted plans for the building proposed transforming it into 35 flats and shops but these were later withdrawn in 2019.
Hardy’s Well’s owners said the latest fire, alongside another blaze in 2020, had sadly sealed the fate of the building. Dr Abdullah Bin Saleh Alnaeem, director of the building's owner, Eamar Developments, said: "We are very upset. It is the second time in two years. We have tried as hard as we can to make it safe, but this has happened and it is out of our control."
'An embarrassment to live here'
Householders in Rusholme have described 'fighting a losing battle' with vermin after the M.E.N revealed a disturbing video of rats scuttling amongst rubbish lining the alleyways and streets.
Residents in Rusholme say they are ‘fighting a losing battle’ after the alleyways between their homes have been used so frequently by fly-tippers that they are being plagued with vermin.
“I've been told I'm overreacting but this is our reality," Yasmin Rakha, 40, who has lived on Fleeson Street for 13 years explains. "We’re being known for the ‘rodent-infested’ street because of other people dumping their waste.”
Speaking to the M.E.N’s community reporter Maisie Lawton, Yasmin said her street lies just yards away from the Curry Mile on Wilmslow Road, which is populated with restaurants and bars.
Yasmin, who said she refuses to let her children - aged 3 and 7 - play outside because the street has been taken over by the ‘cat-sized’ rodents. She said she has complained about the issue on numerous occasions, but it is yet to be fixed. In the meantime, she continues to find dead rodents in and around her home.
“It makes you feel dirty," Yasmin added. "My house is clean and tidy, but we woke up at 3am last night after a mouse got into our kitchen and tripped the alarms. We are looking to move, That's how sick and tired we are."
Manchester council says it's aware of the problem and has been 'implementing measures and treatments' in the area for the last few months. But residents feel it has been left up to them to clear the infestation.
"The community has been asking for change for years,” Yasmin said. “We feel let down and neglected but still hoping for something to be done. We need CCTV to stop people dumping their rubbish."
'It seemed like a good idea'
A YouTuber has provided an explanation for a motorway junction in Stockport known for its controversial slip road.
Junction 25 of M60, also known professionally as the Bredbury Interchange, has faced criticism for being one of only a handful of slip roads in England where cars are immediately forced to merge with the fastest lane of traffic.
It led motorists to call it the ‘most dangerous road’, with one even going as far to say they felt that ‘someone was doing heavy drugs when they designed that one’.
Jon Jefferson, who runs the YouTube channel Auto Shenanigans, said the junction’s novel design is the result of a ‘cancelled motorway’ in the form of the A6(M). First suggested in the 1940s, the road never came to fruition as Jon explains: “[Building an A6(M)] was always on the low-priority list, and it stayed on this list throughout the 60s and 70s.
“Had this motorway been built, it would have run from junction 25 from the M60, round the back of Hazel Grove, before linking up with the A6. It seemed like a good idea, because it would have allowed traffic to avoid driving in and out of the already-congested Stockport.”
He added: “Our dodgy slip road would potentially have been one of the main carriageways put in place for the A6(M). Following the project’s cancellation, I think they built it, and then just connected it to the roundabout as a last-minute thing. I’m not 100 percent sure, but it’s a sensible theory.”
You can read more on Jon’s theory here.
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Weather etc
Temperatures: Cloudy changing to sunny by lunchtime. 19C.
Road closures: One lane closed due to roadworks on A663 Broadway in both directions between Elk Mill Roundabout and Middleton Road. Until May 31.
Fairfax Road in Prestwich closed in both directions due to roadworks between Poppythorn Lane and Highfield Road. Until May 31.
Egmont Street in Salford closed in both directions due to roadworks. Until June 1.
Dickenson Road in Rusholme closed in both directions between Wilmslow Road and Hythe Close due to emergency repairs and an unsafe building. Until June 16.
Train strikes: Thousands of members of the RMT working for Network Rail and 14 train operating companies will strike on May 31. A very limited rail service will operate and no bus replacement services will be running.
Manchester headlines
- Green: Police in Bolton had no trouble finding an 'anti-social' driver who had previously been disqualified from driving thanks to their bright green sports car. The man behind the wheel was arrested for a number of offences and had his vehicle seized. More here.
- Swimming: A warning has been issued about the dangers of swimming in Salford Quays as people enjoy the nice weather. Council bosses said that the open waters are always cold ‘even in a heatwave’. Details here.
- Chips: A Manchester chippy has been named the second best fish and chip shop in the entire country. The Hip Hop Chip Shop in Ancoats came just behind the Mayfair Chippy in London and was heralded for its 'perfectly executed' dishes. Read about it here.
- ‘Quirky’: A historic lodge in Heaton Park is opening its doors for people to stay overnight. Built more than 200 years ago for Sir Thomas Egerton, the 'quirky' Smithy Lodge offers unrivalled views of the Bury park.
Worth a read
A find at a charity shop in Bolton kickstarted a 115-year trawl through ancestral records to reunite a family with a piece of history from their relatives.
Emma Hornby found a handwritten passage tucked inside the front of a ‘dusty old’ copy of the 1906 book Manchester Streets and Manchester Men, from author Thomas Swindell. The message on the first blank page had been signed and dated 'R A Boddan - November 26, 1906'. The address 16 Francis Street, Monton (in Eccles) was also neatly inked in pen.
On the inside of the back cover another inscription had been made by Edith Keaveny (nee Boddan) dated 1990 in ballpoint biro. Both of the book's previous owners had penned their addresses as living in Monton, Eccles.
Emma, who says she "lives and breathes history", said she was determined to track down the Boddan family tree and to return the book to their relatives. You can read how she got on here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email adam.maidment@reachplc.com.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: Valley of the ram.
