Keep up to date with all the big stories from across Greater Manchester in the daily Mancunian Way newsletter. You can receive the newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by signing up right here.
Here is today's Mancunian Way:
Hello,
When did student flats in Manchester become like hens' teeth? As far as I can see, there are plenty of them. But apparently it’s still not quite enough to accommodate hundreds of Freshers who were hoping for a place in halls at the city’s two unis this September.
We’ll be discussing that story in today’s newsletter. And we’ll be telling you how you will soon be able to live in expensive Ancoats, even if you’re on housing benefit.
Students offered thousands to live in other cities
So it turns out Manchester Metropolitan University isn’t the only institution with an accommodation crisis. The University of Manchester is offering freshers £2,500 to live off-campus after revealing they are 'just over' 350 rooms short.
It comes after the latest intake at Manchester Metropolitan University were offered £100 a week to live in Liverpool and Huddersfield - thanks to a similar problem with space in halls.
Bosses at UoM told reporter Nicole Wootton-Cane that they have secured extra accommodation in Preston and Liverpool as a 'contingency'. But they’re hoping enough students living within commuting distance will take the cash instead, and stay at home.
Ailsa Hichens daughter Daisy was due to start a Geography course at UoM this month. She is one of several people to be offered £2,500 to move to Liverpool.
“If she wanted to live in Liverpool, she would have accepted her insurance offer of going to Liverpool Uni,” Ailsa told The Mancunian Way .
“It’s just not suitable for her. I just don’t think that’s acceptable for any student. Being in halls is very important from a social point of view. It would be very hard to participate in university life. Students take on a lot of debt and to not have the best possible experience and I don’t think is fair to any of them.
"We live in Chelmsford and she will defer if she can’t move to Manchester. She has worked her socks off to get this far and has been let down. When a prominent Russell Group uni doesn’t deliver, there’s a question mark over integrity.”
One incoming MMU student says ‘obviously we weren’t expecting them to come out with a whole new city and offer us that’. “I live in Staffordshire which would just take about 40 minutes on the train, it would be quite pointless for me to pay however much a week to go to Liverpool.”
So how did we get here? MMU say the issue has arisen due to ‘significant demand’ for student accommodation in Manchester. They say it was planned based on ‘long-term experience’ of how many offers were likely to be accepted, but ‘significantly more offer-holders than anticipated have been accepting and meeting the conditions of our offer’, as Rami Mwamba has reported. Meanwhile, UoM sayS more students gaining higher A Level grades during the pandemic has led to an 'unprecedented' increase in demand for halls.
We’ll be reporting more on this story in the coming days. Feel free to get in touch if you’ve been affected.
Weather, etc.
- Saturday: Cloudy. 23C.
- Roads closed: M56 westbound between Hale and Altrincham will be closed at times over weekend for upgrade. Details here. A57 Eccles New Road westbound for roadworks from Stott Lane to Gilda Brook Road until September 12.
- Trams: No service on Metrolink between Eccles and MediaCityUK due to engineering works until October 21.
- Today's Manc trivia question: How many boroughs are there in Greater Manchester?
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter
New council houses
This City - Manchester Council’s development company aiming to create 500 properties a year - is a big deal for leader Bev Craig. She has spoken previously about growing up on a council estate and her desire to put affordable housing on the top of her agenda.
So no doubt she’ll be pleased with the latest development in her plans for new homes in Ancoats. Plans for 118 apartments and 10 townhouses, off Rodney Street, have been given the green light - despite some concerns about parking.
It’s the first project by This City and will mean people on housing benefit will be able to live in new homes in one of the city’s most desirable neighbourhoods.
All ten three and four-bedroom townhouses planned in this new development will be affordable, alongside a further 28 one and two-bedroom apartments. The rest of the properties will all be sold, subsidising the affordable housing, as Joseph Timan reports.
David and Goliath
You’ll know, if you’ve been to the Circus Tavern, that it’s very small. In fact, the popular city centre pub is the smallest in Europe. All the better for the David and Goliath metaphor owner Barry Hayes is using to highlight his problem with the landlords.
Star Pubs & Bars, owned by brewing giant Heineken, say he owes more than £90,000, even though he was closed and unable to operate during lockdown.
Barry has told Star their request it ‘diabolical’, especially when he paid them £1,000 a month while the boozer was closed. The uniquely cosy Circus also suffered after lockdown was lifted, because of the two metre rule.
He says Star have offered a discount of 40% of the figure, but he plans to fight them in court instead. “They’re the second biggest brewery in the world, and it’s David versus Goliath, and they couldn’t care less. They’re just trying to take me to the cleaners," Barry told writer Ben Arnold.
Star say they supported their pubs that operate on a Market Rent Only lease during the pandemic and went 'above and beyond' that of other landlords.
Flung out of space
This spaceship-like building is The Factory - the city’s new £186m arts and cultural centre.
Sitting on the banks of the River Irwell, within the St John's district, it’s part of the ongoing redevelopment of the Old Granada Studios. As Dianne Bourne writes, it’s been billed as a landmark new cultural space, and will commission, produce and present new work from the ‘world's most exciting artists’.
Manchester International Festival will operate The Factory, as well as delivering the citywide MIF festival every other year - with the next event set for 2023.
Manchester headlines
Flooded: United Utilities is continuing to repair a burst main next to the railway at Audenshaw. The track is flooded and cannot be reopened until the water has drained away - with the situation continuing to impact train services between Manchester Piccadilly, Hadfield and Stalybridge.
Parking: A new study suggesting that Manchester is the best city for parking in the UK has gone down badly with locals. Firm Moneybarn analysed the number of NCP parking spaces versus the number of licensed cars in each UK city. But M.E.N readers beg to differ on their findings. "They do realise that getting stuck in traffic on Mancunian way isn’t classed as parking?,” one said.
Celebration : Manchester Jewish Museum will celebrate the rich variety of Jewish music and art in a series of shows hosted in its Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. Synagogue Nights will feature jazz performances, comedy shows, and classical renditions in a number of evening productions centred around the theme of identity, from October to December. More here.
More round for your pound
Remember Pound Pubs? Probably not if you ever drank there. With the motto 'Get more round for your pound', the chain sold half pints of beer for £1 and a full pint for just 50p more.
This one opened on Market Street, Atherton, in 2014, and closed three years later. Lee Grimsditch has been looking at the story behind it.
Worth a read
Greater Manchester Police is 'making history' by trying to catch those trying to evade justice for driving offences.
Reporter Kit Vickery has been speaking to the officers at the heart of the crackdown.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me, the next edition of the Mancunian Way will be with you around the same time on Monday. If you have any stories you would like us to feature or look into, please email: beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk
And if you have enjoyed this newsletter today, why not tell a friend how they can sign up?
The answer to today’s trivia question, how many boroughs are there in Greater Manchester, is ten.
