Comment: Where are Manchester Council’s emergency homeless shelters?

There has been much criticism of Manchester City Council and its approach to homelessness over the past few months. This has especially been the case with its suppfor evicting the homeless from various buildings and shelters from around the city centre. The most notorious example of this was supporting Manchester Metropolitan University’s double eviction of the Ark [1]. A pivotal action in altering the council’s position came when homelessness activists briefly occupied an empty office block on Charlotte Street in city centre. They aimed to make it a community hub for the homeless from which they could get shelter food and advice...

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Pomona Island Planning Hearing Report Back

Trafford Council Planning Committee gave planning permission for 2 blocks of flats on Pomona Island on Thursday evening (12th November).  The site has not been in use for decades. In that time it has evolved into a rare and mostly undisturbed rich habitat for wildlife, including rare species. Opponents of the plan want more imaginative use of the space than another spate of the same overpriced blocks of flats that have sprung up in the Manchester area. They are also deeply concerned by the ecological impact of development.  The land is owned by Peel holdings and is probably most well-known to Mancunians who pass it on the tram...

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Hulme Green Party calls on Homeless Film Festival to boycott Manchester Metropolitan University

Hulme Green Party are calling on the upcoming Homeless Film Festival (HFF) [1] to boycott film screenings and other events hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). The aggressive legal action that MMU have pursued in conjunction with Manchester City Council and the repeated evictions of The Ark homeless shelter have received much public attention in the last few weeks. [2] The harassing actions of these large institutions against this vulnerable group were called out by homelessness campaigns, students and Manchester Green Party. [3] Deyika Nzeribe, Hulme resident and Green Party...

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Council Leader should learn some Mancunian generosity

The comments on the Leader’s Blog [1] by Richard Leese on begging and homelessness are reprehensible. It is classic demonization of some of Manchesters’ most vulnerable. The piece looks to draw distinctions between beggars and the homeless while describing them in almost the same terms. For beggars "the most likely beneficiaries are the nearest off-licence, drug dealer" but the homeless "are people with chaotic, dysfunctional lifestyles often with drink, drug, and mental health problems". The Leader talks about 80% of beggars not being homeless. What does that mean? There is a noticeable increase in begging AND the homeless on the streets...

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Keeping it BREEAM

 Manchester Metropolitan University's (MMU) Birley Fields campus is nearly complete with the shops on Stretford Road being the last visible works to be completed. The development of the campus has been promoted highlighting that its planned specification would make it the greenest campus in Europe. [1] In MMU's case, inevitably, some of those features did not make it off the plans. If some environmental features do not make it to implementation, its disappointing. What is interesting with MMU is that it has applied to Manchester City Council to be make exempt from the BREEAM standards when it comes to the shops on Stretford Road....

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Comment - Manchester City Council position on migrants a double standard

Manchester City Council and its Labour leadership showed some double standards in its recent statements on the refugees coming to Britain. Nationally, the government has been shamed into accepting more refugees. On the back of this, in Greater Manchester, Labour politicians have been falling over themselves to welcome the refugees (however conditionally). According to a recent newspaper report, Council Leader Sir Richard Leese "says the city will gladly play its part in housing destitute people".[1] On Manchester's destitute people, the City Council along with Manchester Metropolitan University is taking legal action to evict the homeless...

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Support The Ark

You may have noticed the ‘homeless camp’ that has set up on the edge of Hulme, specifically under the flyover on Oxford Road. Since Manchester City Council evicted the camps in St Peters Square, St Anne's Square and King Street [1], the few individuals living under the flyer has grown into a small shelter. They call it 'The Ark'.  That shelter is now currently under threat of eviction by Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester City Council [2]. Its inhabitants, about 12 people, were served legal papers last week and are due in court from 7th September. Deyika Nzeribe from Hulme Green Party said "That Manchester City...

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A thought on the Labour Party ahead of the announcement of their new leader.

The 18th of August marked the anniversary of the Battle of Peterloo, when 60,000 people protested in Manchester in support for the vote and political reform. The struggle for a democracy which is truly representative of the people continues today. In Manchester, the latest threat to democracy is the Government’s devolution deal. Devolution in general something we support. We believe important decisions about local areas should be taken by those closest to those areas. However, the devolution deal does not offer more accountability...

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What's the future for Cornbrook and Pomona Island?

The Canal at Cornbrook The last entry talked about the Council’s proposed development of Great Jackson Street. This article is about the Council’s plans for Cornbrook and Pomona. The Council plans to build a large hotel, a ‘commercial business hub’ and a number of flats. In addition, it is working with Trafford Council to build a large number of flats on Pomona Island in the future. As with the Great Jackson Street plan, the Council has no desire to build any affordable homes or social housing on the site. The promise of some new commercial space at least shows that the Council does know that people need to have somewhere to work as...

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Housing Association ‘No DSS’ housing proposal despite waiting list crisis.

 Social landlord OneManchester’s [1] controversial plans to build new housing in Hulme reveal that none of the 170 properties will be available as social homes. The scheme called ‘Hulme Living’[2], which OneManchester hopes to begin in early 2016, will be across 2 sites in Hulme, one approximately 100 property build on Leaf Street the other Chorlton Road. Dave Power, chief executive of OneManchester justifies the proposal, saying “…Greater Manchester desperately needs to be building at least 10,000 new homes per year in order to play its part in tackling the national housing crisis” [3]. Deyika Nzeribe, Manchester...

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Claremont Resource Centre to Close

Over the last few months it has become apparent that the Claremont Resource Centre on Rolls Crescent is to close. The substantial expansion of Rolls Crescent Primary School next door will mean that the Claremont will be demolished to make way. Though in the past the building was home to the much-loved Hulme Resource Centre and a Citizens Advice Bureau, its main current occupant is the African Caribbean Care Group (ACCG). Though initially there were fears the Care Group was also closing down, this appears not to be the case. The Care Group is however, looking for a new home and as of this moment is still uncertain as to where that would...

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What's on the horizon for Hulme?

Hulme has changed in the past and will change again. Hulme in the 1870s was home to 75,000 people and was predominately made up of terraced housing. Then the 1960s and 1970s saw the building of big blocks of flats like the Crescents. Now the large blocks have gone and where they once stood we have Hulme Park and private houses. Recently Hulme has seen Manchester Metropolitan University building on Birley Fields. Hulme and the surrounding area is about to change again. The Council has drawn up plans to drastically change many areas in and around Hulme. This blog entry is the first in a series which will be seeking to inform people about the...

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Manchester Green Party praises Labour MPs willing to oppose damaging Welfare bill

The majority of Manchester’s Labour MPs have failed to oppose a bill this week that is expected to make life more difficult for the city’s most vulnerable people. The Manchester Green Party welcomes the decision by two MPs to rebel and is calling on other local MPs to do more to combat the city’s growing poverty. Manchester has some of the highest levels of child poverty in the country. The Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which passed its second reading by 308 to 124 votes, has been heavily criticised by academics, charities and campaign groups who say that if the bill becomes law, it will have a detrimental affect to children and families...

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Site updates

Over the next few days you may notice a few rounds of ongoing changes to these pages as we splash some virtual (environmentally friendly) paint around, dust off the hamsters and generally try to make the site easier to navigate. If you would like to share any opinions with us as we apply these updates or have any suggestions about what you would like to see here we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to do so by adding a commenting to this post. Or alternatively email us directly at: hulmegreen@gmai...

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Manchester Green Party Calls for Targets to Combat Child Poverty - Levels in City highest outside London

The Green Party is challenging Manchester City Council to set Child Poverty Reduction targets and dedicate resources to reducing the number of families living in poverty to the national average within 5 years.  The city has the highest levels of childpoverty outside London. Deyika Nzeribe, Co-Chair of Manchester Green Party said "This should be the minimum aim if Manchester City Council wants to show its commitment to tackling child poverty seriously.  Following the elections, we now know we have a purely Conservative government in place for the next 5 years. We can expect deeper cuts causing far more hardship. Labour council...

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The Green View Election 2015 Edition

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Over 3000 voters disappear from Hulme’s Electoral Roll

Government changes to the voter registration process have resulted in 39,787 people disappearing from Manchester’s electoral roll in the last 12 months. In Hulme, comparing figures from March 2014 and March 2015, the number of voters in Hulme has dropped by 3442, a decrease of 26%. The change to the registration system has disproportionately affected young people, students, private renters and people from minority ethnic backgrounds. A closer look at the figures revealed that although the average fall in voter numbers is 13% in 4 of the 5 districts of Hulme, in the 5th area which has a high student population, that fall is...

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