The maths of luxury

By Cllr Sam Wheeler   In the planning meetings I attend one argument is continuously put forward in favour of luxury developments when all others fall. That is the argument they bring in more council tax that can supposedly counteract the council’s continuing cuts under austerity.   Bluntly, the sums simply do not add up. …

Calling time on corporate sell-out of Manchester

By GMHA (@gmhousingaction)   You may be aware that at the June meeting of Manchester City Council's Planning & Highways Committee, there was a shock defeat for local councillors and residents who have been opposing the erection of a glass shard of luxury housing on the corner of Shudehill and Back Turner Street. It was …

Save Rockdove Gardens

Redbricks residents (@redbricksonline)   Manchester is gridlocked with road redevelopments and high rise building sites bringing our city to a standstill. This is all meant to bring business, money, development into the city. Yet who is actually benefiting, who is making these decisions and who inevitably suffers? What place does local democracy and accountability have …

To Manchester City Council: take a stand against the PSPO

By Greater Manchester Law Centre (@gmlawcentre)     What is the PSPO? Manchester City Council are proposing to give themselves new powers using a PSPO. Under these powers any “authorised person” including a council officer can issue a person suspected of breaching the PSPO with a fixed penalty notice and fine of £100. Proposed breaches …

From Homes to Assets: An update on housing financialisation in Manchester for 2018/19

By Dr Richard Goulding and Dr Jonathon Silver   We’re at a critical time in Manchester’s urban development, with its city centre boom continuing since 2014 at the same time as the city’s model of property-led regeneration is coming under challenge both inside and outside the town hall. Building on GMHA’s previous research into financialisation, …

Short shrift for short term lets

By Cllr Suzanne Richards (@CllrSuzanne)     Along with most other cities in the UK, Manchester has seen a rapid growth in short-term lets (AirBnB being one of the most common) from virtually no listings in 2013 to over 2,600 listings in 2019.   Only last week, Amsterdam, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Bordeaux, Brussels, Krakow, Munich, Paris, …

Greater Manchester Housing Strategy statement

By GMHA (@gmhousingaction)   50,000 affordable homes by 2037, 30,000 of them social or with affordable rent. A headline of ‘safe, decent, affordable housing for all’. The Greater Manchester Housing Strategy certainly contains some strong ambition. At the moment however it is just paper and the world is full of strategies. To realise the ambition …

Event: Land for the Many

By Ben Clay (@ben_clay)   We can create a future where everyone lives in a decent home they can afford, the rich and big companies pay their fair share of tax, and communities can take back control of decisions about their future, prioritising social and environmental concerns, over profiteering development and rent seeking. Land for …

Don’t sell out Shudehill!

By Sam Wheeler   The decision by the planning committee last week to approve the Salboys development on Shudehill is incomprehensible. It must be fought.   Last year Salboys, the construction arm of billionaire bookie Fred Done’s empire, put in a bid to build a 13 storey development in the Northern Quarter, one of the …