Here in Mossley we have just one train an hour most of the day. I have seen nothing in the TPE upgrade plan to suggest that this will improve. Our local stopping services along this line have been sacrificed to the intercity services. And there seems little prospect of an extension of the Metro from Ashton to Stalybridge or from Ashton to Oldham. Tameside feels like the forgotten borough...
Your comments about a Taste of Honey (which I missed) reminded me of the receptions to the recent Romeo and Juliet which I thoroughly enjoyed, as did regional critics, but which again was less warmly received by the national press, now sadly including the Guardian.
Of course, we might be more provincial in our tastes. Or there again, we might again be demonstrating ‘what Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow’ …
A whole platter of things here! I think I will bother you about 3 of them.
Overseas students and Manchester - yes, Manchester needs overseas students to make the numbers add up; and even then, that's getting harder and harder. Their accounts for last year show a yawning ~£1.5 billion hole in their future capital budgets (for things like student residences and IT projects)*. As home fees have been frozen for so long, this gap keeps getting wider with inflation. UK universities have been a big success story, but like most successful bits of our economy - see also video games, a huge and valuable industry - most politicians either ignore or actively scorn them. Universities are going to need a lot of money to close this gap, or a much more liberal visa regime (or both).
LTNs - anti-LTN activists do tend to be loudest, but we've seen research** and electoral evidence that actually they do not dominate, so it is very sad to see councils give in to this noisy minority who value being able to hurtle through narrow residential streets without a care in the world, over everyone else who stands to benefit from sensible urban planning.
Places For Everyone: the quote "“If you’re growing up in Bramhall or Marple, move to the town centre or wait for your parents to die.” about sums up the attitude of the Stockport Lib Dems when it comes to housing; but they are far from alone in being a local party dominated by folks who already have homes, and so want to keep prices and rents high. It is very depressing how many politicians have allowed themselves to be captured by this narrow interest group; when parties like the Lib Dems would benefit electorally from an influx of younger, especially graduate-level, voters - who tend towards parties like them. That's before, of course, you get to the many and obvious benefits of building enough homes in the UK to restore the price-to-earnings ratio to a level that represents a functional market; something we do not have right now.
Land for new houses is a real problem for the planning system, where so often the default response from local people is ‘no way’ here. It does take strong minded politicians to deal with the opposition that comes at them. Radcliffe is a case in point. Some new houses in the Green Belt proposed in PfE. Arise ‘Bury Folk Keep it Green’ and Radcliffe First as a ‘micro’ local party who took Council seats. Labour held firm however and the plan goes through. How RF proceeds remains to be seen. The new houses were not the only thing that is politically topical in Radcliffe.
Here in Mossley we have just one train an hour most of the day. I have seen nothing in the TPE upgrade plan to suggest that this will improve. Our local stopping services along this line have been sacrificed to the intercity services. And there seems little prospect of an extension of the Metro from Ashton to Stalybridge or from Ashton to Oldham. Tameside feels like the forgotten borough...
Your comments about a Taste of Honey (which I missed) reminded me of the receptions to the recent Romeo and Juliet which I thoroughly enjoyed, as did regional critics, but which again was less warmly received by the national press, now sadly including the Guardian.
Of course, we might be more provincial in our tastes. Or there again, we might again be demonstrating ‘what Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow’ …
A whole platter of things here! I think I will bother you about 3 of them.
Overseas students and Manchester - yes, Manchester needs overseas students to make the numbers add up; and even then, that's getting harder and harder. Their accounts for last year show a yawning ~£1.5 billion hole in their future capital budgets (for things like student residences and IT projects)*. As home fees have been frozen for so long, this gap keeps getting wider with inflation. UK universities have been a big success story, but like most successful bits of our economy - see also video games, a huge and valuable industry - most politicians either ignore or actively scorn them. Universities are going to need a lot of money to close this gap, or a much more liberal visa regime (or both).
LTNs - anti-LTN activists do tend to be loudest, but we've seen research** and electoral evidence that actually they do not dominate, so it is very sad to see councils give in to this noisy minority who value being able to hurtle through narrow residential streets without a care in the world, over everyone else who stands to benefit from sensible urban planning.
Places For Everyone: the quote "“If you’re growing up in Bramhall or Marple, move to the town centre or wait for your parents to die.” about sums up the attitude of the Stockport Lib Dems when it comes to housing; but they are far from alone in being a local party dominated by folks who already have homes, and so want to keep prices and rents high. It is very depressing how many politicians have allowed themselves to be captured by this narrow interest group; when parties like the Lib Dems would benefit electorally from an influx of younger, especially graduate-level, voters - who tend towards parties like them. That's before, of course, you get to the many and obvious benefits of building enough homes in the UK to restore the price-to-earnings ratio to a level that represents a functional market; something we do not have right now.
* https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/governance/corporate-documents/university-finances-at-a-glance/
** https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f400adfa18510011011787/low-traffic-neighbourhoods-research-report.pdf
Land for new houses is a real problem for the planning system, where so often the default response from local people is ‘no way’ here. It does take strong minded politicians to deal with the opposition that comes at them. Radcliffe is a case in point. Some new houses in the Green Belt proposed in PfE. Arise ‘Bury Folk Keep it Green’ and Radcliffe First as a ‘micro’ local party who took Council seats. Labour held firm however and the plan goes through. How RF proceeds remains to be seen. The new houses were not the only thing that is politically topical in Radcliffe.
Re places for everyone, it's worth taking a look at the website https://friendsofcarringtonmoss.com/