Levenshulme Market Last Day This Year

Sadly today is the last trading day for Levenshulme Market in 2023. The Market is taking a break after celebrating 10 years of trading and intends to return in 2024.

The Market has been clear that there are a variety of reasons for this unexpected pause but the main one appears to be Manchester City Council deciding to impose a new fee in addition to the site licence fee the Market already pays. A full explanation from Levenshulme Market is available HERE (June 7) with a further update HERE (July 13).

Levenshulme Community Association would like to thank everyone involved in Levenshulme Market and for making the Market such a big part of Levenshulme as well as such a success winning several awards and supporting traders, with several going on to open businesses in Levenshulme. We hope that Levenshulme Market and Manchester City Council can find a solution and that the Council fully recognises the value of the Market and the contribution it has made to Levenshulme as a Community Interest Company and social enterprise, and the value it adds to our community.

Even though the weather might be showery today go down and give Levenshulme Market a big send off at the last Market of this year. We hope to see Levenshulme Market back again as soon as possible.

Another Active Neighbourhood Consultation On New £7 million Plans

Manchester City Council has announced today that there will be another consultation on final plans for the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood scheme. This follows the release of three sets of “final plans” over a year ago and one “final consultation”. The news release says:

“A consultation will soon take place on a proposal to include an additional crossing on the A6, expanding the provision of high-quality and safer walking and cycling routes, with the intention being that local people are better connected by safer walking, wheeling, and cycling routes with local shops and facilities.”

MCC news release, 12 july 2023

This would be helpful after well over a year of silence on the scheme from the council and councillors. The only works undertaken so far have been in Burnage Ward on Errwood Road and the installation of the permanent versions of the 14 modal filters / road blocks across Levenshulme Ward. Sadly the filters do not include any trees in the concrete blocks as was originally promised. There is still no news on the proposed modal filters / road blocks on Linden Park and Milwain Road.

The council says the latest “final plans” will cost £7 million:

“The cost, estimated at £7m in total, is likely to be split between MCC and GMCA. The proposed solution will allow the successful delivery of this project as part of the Bee Network in the local area as well as allowing specific Council-led design choices that respond to public consultation feedback.”

MCC news release, 12 july 2023

This is over 300% more than the original budget of £2.3 million. In 2022 Levenshulme councillor Basat Sheikh said the cost for the scheme had increased to £4.6 million. The vast majority of the funding was originally from the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Challenge Fund using money provided by the government and included a contribution from Manchester City Council of £100,000. The council has not said how much of the new proposed £7 million cost will come from Manchester City Council.

The original proposals included significantly more than last year’s “final plans” proposed so it will be interesting to see what the new “final plans” include and whether any more of what the Council and the now defunct Levenshulme Bee Network had promised has been reinstated. Levenshulme Councillors have recently said that the Council will not install any more modal filters / road blocks.

Levenshulme Community Association has consistently supported the idea of an Active Neighbourhood and made positive proposals throughout the several years of this project. If the new “final plans” include improvements to pavements and crossings and cycle routes that actually connect across and outside the area as this announcement suggests then that will be a big improvement on the previous “final plans” that only included one cycle lane that ran half way along Matthews Lane and did not connect to anything at either end. Pavement and accessibility improvements were also previously limited to only a handful of roads in the area.

The LCA will continue to provide further updates as information becomes available.

Manchester Evening News also has an article on the latest announcement from Manchester City Council.

The council news item is HERE

The MEN article is HERE

Levenshulme Market To Close Until 2024

Levenshulme Market organisers have announced the Market will close in July for the rest of the year as they face a series of challenges. The last Market this year will now be on 15 July then the Market will close until 2024.

This is dreadful news for Levenshulme as the Market, run as a social enterprise, has been developed through the hard work and commitment of people in Levenshulme over the last 10 years. In 2020 the Market won Best Small Outdoor Market at the Great British Market Awards 2020 organised by the National Association of British Market Authorities and was a finalist in the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2019.

The Market says increased costs, staffing challenges, and the cost of living crisis have all played their part as well as the impact of the pandemic. Special mention is made of Manchester City Council, though, as it seeks to increase the fees charged to the Market to operate. This comes after a “painful planning permission process” to renew the permission with the Council. The Market also states “We reached out on a number of occasions to our local Levenshulme Councillors for assistance to no avail”.

Levenshulme Community Association has contacted Levenshulme Market to show our support and ask how we can help Levenshulme Market.

Continue reading

Changes To Voting 2023 and Photo ID

The government has introduced Voter Photo ID for local elections this year. You MUST have valid photo ID with you when you vote in person at a polling station on 4 May. See below for a list of what photo ID will be accepted.

If you don’t have valid Photo ID (details below) you can apply for a free Voter Authorisation Certificate. You must apply before 17.00 on Tuesday 25 April 2023.

Here is a video explaining the new requirements.

Voter ID video

Accepted forms of photo ID

You can use any of the following accepted forms of photo ID when voting at a polling station.

International travel

  • Passport issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, an EEA state or a Commonwealth country

Driving and Parking

  • Driving licence issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or an EEA state (this includes a provisional driving licence)
  • A Blue Badge

Local travel

  • Older Person’s Bus Pass funded by the Government of the United Kingdom
  • Disabled Person’s Bus Pass funded by the Government of the United Kingdom
  • Oyster 60+ Card funded by the Government of the United Kingdom
  • Freedom Pass
  • Scottish National Entitlement Card
  • 60 and Over Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
  • Disabled Person’s Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
  • Senior SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
  • Registered Blind SmartPass or Blind Person’s SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
  • War Disablement SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
  • 60+ SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
  • Half Fare SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland

Proof of age

  • Identity card bearing the Proof of Age Standards Scheme hologram (a PASS card)

Other government issued documents

You will only need to show one form of photo ID. It needs to be the original version and not a photocopy.

What if I don’t have valid Photo ID?

You can apply for a free voter ID document, known as a Voter Authority Certificate, if:

  • you don’t have an accepted form of photo ID
  • you’re not sure whether your photo ID still looks like you
  • you’re worried about using an existing form of ID for any other reason, such as the use of a gender marker

You need to register to vote before applying for a Voter Authority Certificate.

Find out how to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate

Election Hustings 2023

Levenshulme Community Association is delighted to announce hustings for the local elections on Thursday 27 April 2023.

This is an opportunity for anyone to come along and ask questions of the candidates. The hustings will be held at St Peter’s Church on Stockport Road (opposite Arcadia Library and Leisure Centre).

18.30 Levenshulme hustings

20.00 Burnage hustings

All candidates (listed below) have been invited to attend personally or send a representative. The hustings will be chaired by Rev George Reeves.

Levenshulme is one of the few areas that still holds hustings. We hold hustings for both Burnage Ward and Levenshulme Ward because the Levenshulme community stretches across the Ward boundaries. The LCA has done so for many years and we believe it is an important event to enable residents to hold candidates to account and hear what their ideas are for our community.

Everyone is welcome. We hope to see you at the hustings.

Remember that you must bring photo ID to the polling station to vote. This is a new requirement imposed by the government. You can find out further information HERE. A full list of which forms of ID will be accepted is available HERE.

LCA Hustings 2023 for Levenshulme and Burnage Wards
Levenshulme local election candidates 2023
Burnage local election candidates 2023

5% Council Tax Increase

Manchester City Council has changed its plans and now proposes to increase council tax by the maximum possible next year, 4.99%.

A consultation on the proposals is open until 7 February 2023. The council’s explanation is below. You can go directly to the consultation HERE

Council tax 2023/24 – final chance to have your say on the revised proposal

We still want to hear your views on revised council tax proposals for 2023/24.

Your views will help shape the decisions we need to take around council tax increases.

Our other budget proposals remain the same, so if you gave views on these in the earlier consultation, they still stand.

Make sure you have your say before Tuesday 7 February.


Circumstances have changed since we previously asked you about our budget for 2023/24.

The Government’s Autumn Statement has moved the goalposts considerably. They have decided that council tax can now increase by up to 2.99% in the general charge plus an extra charge (called a precept) of up to 2% to help fund adult social care. This means there can now be a 4.99% increase without the need for a costly local referendum – 2% more than the original limit which is what we had originally proposed and consulted with you about.

The Government has put off making the most difficult decisions about funding cuts to address the black hole in public sector finances until 2025. It has also provided some additional funding to help us support the most vulnerable.

But while the immediate position is not as severe as we anticipated, we still need to plan now for tough times looming on the horizon to ensure our funding is sustainable and we can continue to provide support to those who need it most as well as the services everyone needs.

Our funding allocation from Government effectively assumes that we will increase council tax by the full amount now allowed. If we don’t do this it may impact on future funding settlements, with the Government assuming the Council has more money than we actually do.

From speaking to other comparable councils we know they have reached the same conclusion which we reluctantly have – that there is little choice but to look at raising council tax in line with the new limit.


Our proposals

We are therefore now proposing to increase general council tax by 2.99% plus a 2% adult social care precept – a 4.99% increase in total.

Putting up council tax is not something we do lightly when we are acutely aware that there is a cost of living crisis facing many of us.

But the extra money for adult social care will enable us to support the social care sector more, helping to relieve some of the well-documented pressures on the NHS. We will also be able to provide more targeted help for the most vulnerable people in our city.

Funding from the extra 1% on council tax will also be targeted at supporting our most vulnerable residents and the voluntary sector who do such valuable work in our city.

Even a 4.99% increase will still be well below inflation and less than the increase to other household bills. Our strengthened Council Tax Support scheme will also mean that Manchester residents on the lowest incomes will get more help with their bills.

The Council’s financial position remains challenging against a backdrop of high inflation (even higher now than when we first consulted), rising interest rates and a volatile economic climate.

This comes on top of more than a decade of central government funding cuts to our budget, even as our city and the need for our services grew. Manchester was one of the hardest hit places in the country by these cuts. Since 2010 we have had to make £428 million of savings to cope with cuts to our government funding and unfunded budget pressures such as inflation and a growing population.

We still need to make savings to balance the budget over the next three years and have consulted on proposals as part of the previous consultation. If you have given views on these, they still stand.

We remain firmly focused on delivering your priorities – from overseeing the building of 10,000 affordable homes over 10 years to leading the charge to become zero carbon by 2038; from promoting a healthier and happier city to creating vibrant neighbourhoods and investing in your parks and roads.

Your views in this consultation will help inform decisions about council tax levels.


Increasing the council tax on empty homes

Government rules currently allow us to charge a 100% council tax premium on any unfurnished homes that have been empty for over two years, doubling the charge absentee owners must pay. This is to encourage owners of long-term empty properties to bring them back into use. Planned changes to those national rules would reduce the period after which we are allowed to charge double to just one year. We are considering charging owners and landlords the extra 100% premium after one year.

In addition, national changes in the offing would allow councils to charge a 100% premium on empty, furnished homes (second homes and rental properties between tenants) as well. This will mean second home owners and landlords with furnished properties will pay double council tax for any period that their property is empty. We are also considering charging this higher rate of council tax for empty, furnished properties if we are allowed.


To have your say and read full details of the proposals, visit manchester.gov.uk/budget

The consultation runs until 7 February 2023.

Have Your Say

Selective Licensing In Levenshulme

Manchester City Council has launched a consultation on proposals for Selective Licensing in parts of Levenshulme. This would affect private rented properties.

This is the area proposed in Levenshulme. It would Include flats, suffixed and sub-addresses in this area.

StreetPost code
1-48 Damien Street (All)M12 4GW
72-118 Hemmons Road (Evens)M12 4QG 
M12 5ST
37-94 Longden Road (All)M12 5SG
1-38 Maida Street (All)M12 4QQ
1-57 Ollier Avenue (Odds)M12 5SU
1-42 Seddon Street (All)M12 4GP
81-135 Stovell Avenue (Odds)M12 5SE
M12 4GN

Levenshulme | Proposed areas for Selective Licensing | Manchester City Council

The consultation will run for 10 weeks from 5th October – 14th December 2022.

Please see link below to Manchester City Council’s website, which provides background information about the proposals and includes details of how residents and landlords can have their say, by completing an online questionnaire or by attending an in person drop-in event.

www.manchester.gov.uk/consultations

Further information from Manchester City Council is available HERE and below:

Why are we considering selective licensing?

We have introduced a revised Private Rented Sector Strategy (2020-2025) with a detailed implementation plan. This sets out the Council’s approach to the private rented sector over the next five years. The new Housing Strategy (2022-2032) reaffirms our commitment to improving the safety, quality and management of private rented sector homes.

There are approximately 90,000 private rented properties which is 38% of the total housing for the City of Manchester. We know that many PRS (Private Rented Sector) properties provide good quality accommodation, however there are areas of Manchester where PRS properties are not managed to a good standard.

We work with teams across Community Safety, Compliance and Enforcement regularly and work with landlords in the private rented sector in dealing with complaints about anti-social behaviour, poor property management, waste issues and proactively work to remove any concerns in these areas. 

Despite this, we have not seen sustained improvements in areas unless additional interventions are introduced. Enforcement against individual properties alone will not improve standards to the level required across each area. 

Manchester has previously had an accreditation scheme, and we have considered voluntary accreditation as part of our work in Manchester. However, our experience is that these schemes inevitably attract landlords who are already providing a good service to their tenants and do little to engage or improve the property conditions of those landlords who are not. 

The Council has the power to introduce ‘selective licensing schemes’ in areas of Manchester. In these areas private landlords, or their managing agents, would need to have a licence for each house that they rent out. There are approximately 3,200 private rented properties in the current selective licensing schemes and the proposed selective licensing schemes would affect 1,100 private rented properties.

Selective licensing ensures that:

  • The proposed licence holder is fit and proper to manage their properties. 
  • The licence holder complies with the conditions of the licence, leading to improvements in property management and reductions in anti-social behaviour 
  • Property inspections can be targeted 
  • Landlords provide necessary certification
  • Unlicensed landlords can face an unlimited fine if prosecuted through the courts, or up to £30,000 if issued by the council. 

To make sure that selective licensing helps to improve social or economic conditions, we want to introduce designated zones within the ward areas of Cheetham, Levenshulme, Longsight, Moss Side and Whalley Range, and Rusholme. 

See which areas we are proposing for selective licensing and have your say

Find out more about the benefits of selective licensing and how areas are chosen

Read conditions the licence holder must comply with

How an area is picked for selective licensing

When a Selective Licensing designation is being considered an area has to be experiencing one or more of the following conditions: 

  • Low housing demand  
  • A significant and persistent problem caused by anti-social behaviour 
  • High levels of migration
  • Poor property conditions
  • High level of deprivation 
  • High levels of crime

Before identifying any areas for selective licensing a ‘hotspot’ mapping exercise was undertaken looking at levels of anti-social behaviour, crime and service requests relating to housing and environmental issues, as well as levels of deprivation across the City. This data was overlaid to identify areas where challenges were likely to be concentrated.  

Updated statistics for each of the areas can be found on our key statistics page.

View the key statistics for: 

Views were then sought from local Neighbourhood and enforcement teams on boundaries for potential selective licensing areas within these ‘hotspot’ areas based on their local knowledge of the issues within each area.

In September 2020 the Council Executive held a meeting on past selective licensing in order to inform any new selective licensing schemes.  The new licensing schemes being considered are in relation to tackling property condition, deprivation and anti-social behaviour.  For more details on this you can read point 96 in the report and associated appendix on this topic in the Wednesday, 9 September, 2020, 2pm (manchester.gov.uk) agenda for Council Executive.

In June 2022 the Economy Scrutiny Committee reviewed updated local statistics which confirmed that the proposed areas continue to meet the necessary criteria for selective licensing and approved an outline consultation plan. For more details you can read section 11 onwards in the report and associated appendix in the Thursday, 23rd June, 2022 2.00pm (manchester.gov.uk) agenda for Economy Scrutiny

How much would a licence cost?

The proposed licence fee is £800. The licensing fee is split into two parts, the application fee and the grant fee which is payable before any licence is issued. Non-payment of the grant fee will result in an application being delayed.

Once we have set an area for selective licensing, landlords will have three months to get their licences.

See the current fee structures

Income generated from licensing fees will be used to pay for the consultation process, administration, management and running of the scheme.

The Council does not generate surplus funds from selective licensing schemes. The income generated, the bulk of which is collected in years one and two, is required to manage and resource the scheme for its full designation.

Manchester City Council Website Review

Resident & Business Digital Experience Programme

Have your say on making manchester.gov.uk easier to use

Manchester City Council wants to understand how it can improve its website so that it is easier and quicker to use. The Council is seeking views about what works well on manchester.gov.uk, what doesn’t work well and what you want to use the website for.

There are two options to take part as a resident or as a business.

Residents

What will be involved

The feedback sessions will be events (in-person and online) taking place at a number of locations in Manchester between October 2022 and April 2023. Other residents will attend, and we will gather feedback from everyone in a group setting, with structured discussions facilitated by our team. 

These events will be run specifically to gather feedback about manchester.gov.uk, we won’t be able to answer specific questions about council services, such as bin collections etc. 

How to sign up

Complete the Manchester Resident Website Feedback Group Sign Up Form before 14 October 2022, with your name and contact details. Places in the feedback group are limited, but we may invite you to take part in other feedback sessions in the future. 

In this form, you’ll be asked to provide some contact details so we can share details of the Website Feedback Group events with you. See Manchester City Council’s privacy policy.

Businesses

What will be involved

You will be invited to attend feedback sessions (in-person and online) taking place in Manchester between October 2022 and April 2023. Other businesses will attend and our team will facilitate structured workshop discussions. 

If you would like to be invited to take part in the feedback sessions, please complete the Manchester Website Feedback Group for Businesses sign up form by 14th October, with your name and contact details. 

Places in the feedback group are limited, not everybody who registers will receive an invitation to the first feedback event but we may invite you to take part in future sessions.

Your feedback will help us improve our digital systems so that they are better in the future.

Have your say on making manchester.gov.uk easier to use

At Manchester City Council we want to understand how we can improve our website so that it’s easier and quicker for Manchester businesses to use. 

We’d like to hear your views about what works well on manchester.gov.uk, what doesn’t work well and what you want to use the website for. 

You’re invited to sign up to take part in the Manchester Website Feedback Group for Businesses.

Council Integrated Communities Strategy Consultation

Manchester City Council is holding a consultation on its “Integrated Communities Strategy”.

The council wants views on:

  • How [the council can] strengthen the ways Mancunians could get along even better.
  • Your experiences of how different communities interact where you live.

Summary information is below or you can see more detailed information and respond to the consultation HERE

The consultation closes on Friday 15th July 2022.

Manchester Integrated Communities Strategy Consultation

Getting along with each other is key to making Manchester the best it can be for everyone who wants to call our city home.

The Council is currently running a consultation so that residents can tell us about how we strengthen the ways Mancunians could get along even better, and their experiences of how different communities interact where they live.

These views will be used to create the city’s first Integrated Communities Strategy. This strategy will support communities and relationships within them to become stronger – it’s about improving everyone’s chances of a good life.

Further Discretionary £150 Council Tax Rebates

Manchester City Council is making additional £150 payments to people via a council tax rebate.

This is a further payment from the government that Manchester City Council has decided how to allocate from the government’s £1,626,150 discretionary fund allocation to Manchester.

Manchester City Council says:

“We’ve made discretionary Council Tax Energy Rebate payments of £150 to some of our residents most in need. For some families and residents aged 80 or over, this is a second payment of £150. If you pay your council tax by Direct Debit, we’ve paid the £150 directly into your bank account and sent you a letter. If you don’t pay by Direct Debit, or have no council tax to pay, we’ve sent you a Post Office Voucher.”

Manchester City Council

People who qualify for these payments should receive them by 11 July 2022.

Further details are available HERE

National Rail Strike Information

Information from Manchester City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester.

Three days of strike action across the country’s railway networks are due to take place this week on Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June, resulting in very few services running.

Disruption is expected to spill over into non- strike days and services that do run are expected to be extremely busy. Local rail operators Northern and Transpeninne Express are encouraging passengers not to travel with them.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is working with operators to provide enhanced services across the bus and tram network, where possible.

Additional double trams will be running across Metrolink on strike days and will be prioritised in areas of greatest demand to help passengers get around, with thousands of free park and ride spaces available at dozens of sites across Greater Manchester.

A dedicated travel information page has been set up to help people plan their journey HERE

Burnage Ward Hustings 2022

Levenshulme Community Association was pleased to host the Burnage Ward hustings at St Peter’s Church this evening.

We are grateful to Greg Sammons who represented the Liberal Democrats (standing in for Bryn Coombes) and Sham Raja who represented the Conservative Party (standing in for Md Shahed Hossain). They are pictured here with Jeremy Hoad (LCA Secretary) who hosted the evening.

Unfortunately Dick Venes (Green Party) had to pull out due to illness. Murtaza Ranjha Iqbal (Labour Party) sent his apologies.

Thanks to Rev. George Reeves for providing St Peter’s Church as such a splendid venue.

We look forward to returning to St Peter’s for the Levenshulme Ward hustings at 15.00 on Saturday 23 April.

Photo: (L to R) Sham Raja, Jeremy Hoad, Greg Sammons

Local Election Hustings 2022

It’s election time again and we’re back with hustings for both Burnage Ward and Levenshulme Ward after being prevented from holding them because of the pandemic restrictions.

This is your opportunity to ask questions of local election candidates in person and see how they respond. All questions will be addressed to all candidates. These are the people standing to be your local councillor and representative on Manchester City Council.

Thank you to Rev. George Reeves, Rector of St Peter and St Mark’s Parish, for kindly hosting the hustings at St Peter’s Church.

Burnage Ward Hustings

  • Thursday 21 April
  • 18.45-19.45
  • St Peter’s Church, Stockport Road, M19 3BS

Levenshulme Ward Hustings

  • Saturday 23 April
  • 15.00
  • St Peter’s Church, Stockport Road, M19 3BS

Candidates

Posters

£150 Council Tax Rebate

The government is providing a £150 rebate on council tax for select households.

If you pay by Direct Debit you should receive the rebate automatically in April.

If you do not pay by Direct Debit Manchester City Council should contact you to directly so you can claim the rebate.

The rebate is available to people living in council tax bands A to D – including 95% of rented properties.

Further information is available from the government HERE

Information from Manchester City Council is available HERE

Storm Eunice Warning

Advice from Manchester City Council

An amber warning has been issued for Manchester tomorrow as Storm Eunice is forecast to bring extremely strong winds.

Winds may reach 50-70mph between 10:00 and 16:00 tomorrow. Although still likely to be windy after 16:00 it is not expected to be disruptively so. The initial forecast impacts of snow are not thought to be likely across Manchester. Saturday is expected to be calmer but further heavy rain and high winds are expected Sunday into Monday with potential flooding but this will be closely monitored.

The key utilities providers and Emergency services have high levels of preparedness and resilience. Disruption to the rail network is expected to be high and they are asking people not to travel by rail tomorrow. Transport for Greater Manchester is asking people to consider if there journey is really necessary and only travel if required.

Key impacts as a result are likely to be damage to trees, buildings, particularly tall buildings and building sites with cranes/scaffolding, flying debris and disruption to travel.

With the unusually high speed of the winds please be aware about potential for damage on building sites, cranes, scaffolding etc. 

For weather updates please visit the Met Office website and remember to check Transport for Greater Manchester for any changes to travel services.

Coronavirus Business Grants

Information from Manchester City Council

Financial support for your business


There are now three financial support schemes available to businesses through funding that was announced by the Government to help businesses in light of the Omicron variant.

COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) replaces the right to request a reduction in business rates from the Valuation Office Agency due to COVID-19 and allows us to pay successful businesses a relief of up to 100% of their 2021/22 business rates bill. The fund is limited and only available to businesses that have been adversely affected by COVID-19 and are ineligible for existing COVID related business rates reliefs.
Read more about CARF and how to apply.

Additional Restrictions Grant top up (ARG) is designed to support businesses that have been impacted by the latest Covid-19 variant but are not eligible for the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (OHLG).
Find out more about the discretionary scheme and how to apply.

The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (OHLG) Did you receive a Local Restriction Support Grant last year? If your business offers in-person services on the premises in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors you might be eligible for a one-off Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant payment of up to £6,000.
Check eligibility and apply online.

Active Neighbourhood Consultation Extended

The council held the first of the two video calls on the Active Neighbourhood last night (Thursday 13 January 2022). This was an opportunity for people to ask questions about the current proposals / plans.

The Project Team has responded to the request by Levenshulme Community Association and Levenshulme Traders Association for an extension to the consultation. The new deadline is Sunday 30th January 2022. The deadline was extended to 28 January on 13 January and then extended to 30 January on 14 January. Full information on how to comment is available HERE.

The Project Team has finally provided a plan for Grangethorpe Drive (available HERE), another request of the LCA. Unfortunately a summary of the Randolph Street / Balleratt Street proposals is still missing. The online Feedback Survey is still inconsistent with the proposals listed on the website or on the overview map but at least it is now possible to comment on more than two proposals. The Project Team refused to take comments or questions on any of the 14 trial blocks / filters in Levenshulme which have inexplicably been left out of the consultation.

Although the proposals were broadly welcomed by people commenting on the video call there was frustration that the proposals were disjointed and disconnected and opportunities had been missed. The Project Team said they would look at several locations where issues were raised although it seems we are unlikely to see any revised plans before the council starts implementing them if it secures funding.

Data, evidence, reports or analysis to support the proposals have still not been released and it seems unlikely that Manchester City Council or the Project Team will ever publish this information. The claim by the council from the outset that this would be an evidence based, data driven and community led flagship project ring slightly hollow if members of the community are not allowed to see any of this data or evidence.

We still think an extra four days for the consultation is insufficient to allow people to comment and engage fully when many people have still not received letters informing them the consultation is even happening, posters and hard copies of the plans have only just been made available (we don’t know where these are yet) and the online survey has been changed without informing anybody. All these corrections have been made almost three quarters of the way through the original consultation period. This means a possible six week consultation period is effectively only a consultation of two weeks at best with partially corrected information.

Wesley Evans, the Project Manager, announced the new deadline and summarised the process from this point at the end of the video call:

“Just to say I think we’ve heard loud and clear that the consultation should be extended. There were a few technical issues and what we would do is instead of closing on Monday 24th January we will try and now close it on Friday 28th January.

The reason we don’t want to extend it too much is we want to try to get this works completed really and to do so we’ve got a window of opportunity in order to obtain funding there’s a March 2023 deadline so the next step now is we’ll have the further consultation event next Thursday [20 January 2022] and we’ll close the consultation say the 28th January which give us then time to digest and there’s gonna be a lot of people with different views, different recommendations and we need to at least consider that really so there’s gonna be, er, we need to sit down and go through what people are making recommendations.

Then following on from that we’ll take what we call these outline designs and work on what’s called detailed designs so some of the designs may change but I don’t fundamentally see things changing significantly but there may be tweaks there could be some things we have missed and stuff so as I say we’ll work on what’s called detailed designs next.

Following on from that we move into procurement and then once we’ve got a contractor appointed that’s when we’ll look to start construction of the works. The only thing I would also like to highlight the trial say for Phase One was like an 18 month trial and that ceases I think, I can’t remember the exact date, right at the end of June so we may try to look to do some early work to make what we call the temporary filters permanent, erm, so it may be that we start early works on those to make them permanent and then following on from that hopefully not long after it starts to make the actual works permanent with what you’ve seen today how that evolves really so the next stage is very much we try to enter into detailed designs but like I say we will consider everything and try and do as much as we can.

Like what people say we all wish we had billions of pounds to do absolutely everything. Unfortunately we can’t but all we can do is do our best. We have tried to do our best from the word go but unfortunately we can’t do everything but like I say all I can say is we will consider everything and try and do as much as we can.”

Wesley evans, Active neighbourhood project manager, 13 January 2022

Active Neighbourhood Poster and Overview Map

A poster for the final Active Neighbourhood Map and an overview map are now available.

The documents are below and also available for download as higher quality PDFs in the documents section for the project HERE.

The current consultation started on 17 December 2021 and ends on 24 January 2022.

Call for Active Neighbourhood Consultation to be extended

Levenshulme Community Association and Levenshulme Traders Association have jointly called for the current Active Neighbourhood consultation to be extended. There are multiple problems with the way the consultation is being run. We believe these problems must be corrected and then the consultation should be extended to allow proper community engagement.

The letter and concerns are reproduced below and have been sent on 11 January 2022 to: Levenshulme councillors (Zahid Hussain, Dzidra Noor and Basat Sheikh); Burnage councillors (Azra Ali, Ben Clay and Bev Craig who is also Manchester City Council Leader); Manchester City Council Executive member Tracey Rawlins; Andy Burnham (Greater Manchester Mayor); and local MPs Afzal Khan and Jeff Smith. Copied to the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood Project Team.

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Covid Support Over Holiday Period

These are the opening times of the Covid Support Helpline over the holiday period.

Manchester Covid-19 Helpline

Manchester Covid-19 Helpline

There’s a Manchester Covid Helpline. Please use it if you have any questions, want to book a vaccination, need to book a test or need help isolating.

Lines are open every day 09.00-17.00

0800 840 3858 (phone)

07890 036 892 (text)

Get vaccinated to protect yourself, your family and your community.

Active Neighbourhood Consultation and Full Plans

  • Information released 17 December 2021
  • Updated with Grangethorpe Drive plan 14 January 2022
  • NEW DEADLINE for consultation 30 January 2022 (announced 14 January)

Manchester City Council has released the final plans for the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood today. A consultation is now open for the next six weeks.

The overview map is below. An interactive version that you can zoom in on is available HERE.

Scroll down to see ALL information published by the the council.

How can you comment on these proposals?

View the map and have your say

There will also be two engagement events held on:
  • 13 January 6.30pm to 7.30pm
  • 20 January 6.30pm to 7.30pm

If you would like to attend one of these events please email the council’s Project Team at levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk to register your interest. You will be sent details on how to join.

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Councillor Surgeries Finally Restarted

Councillor Surgeries have restarted. They were cancelled at the start of the first lockdown in March 2020 and were never restarted even when lockdowns and restrictions were removed.

Now they’re back. The council did not advise anybody of this change but we have seen the change on the council’s website.

Drop in Advice Sessions and Surgeries 

Attended by the Ward’s three Councillors on a rota basis 

2nd and 4th Monday 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm (except August & Bank Holidays) 
Arcadia Library 
Yew Tree Ave 
Levenshulme 
Manchester 
M19 3PH 

Burnage Councillor Bev Craig elected as Manchester Labour Leader

Councillor Bev Craig (Burnage Ward) has been elected leader of the Manchester Labour group this evening (5 October 2021).

It is understood that Councillor Craig won in the second ballot with 51% of the vote against Councillor Luthfur Rahman (Longsight Ward). Two other candidates were eliminated in the first ballot: Councillor Garry Bridges (Old Moat Ward) and Councillor Ekua Bayunu (Hulme Ward).

It is expected that Councillor Craig will now take over from Sir Richard Leese in December as Leader of Manchester City Council. Richard Leese ends a period of 25 years as leader of Manchester Labour and Manchester City Council.

Councillor Craig has been Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council since May 2021 (Councillor Luthfur Rahman is the other Deputy Leader). Councillor Craig has been a councillor for Burnage Ward since 2011.

Levenshulme Community Association would like to congratulate Councillor Craig in her new role as leader of Manchester Labour. We look forward to continuing to work with her in the future.

Councillor Bev Craig

Active Neighbourhood – Nothing Confirmed Yet

What’s Going On With Our Active Neighbourhood?

Councillors have confirmed the Active Neighbourhood scheme will have a new public consultation and nothing is confirmed yet.

A meeting attended by over 60 residents, including Levenshulme Community Association Secretary Jeremy Hoad, was at times tense but has brought some welcome clarity to the current status of the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood.

Levenshulme Councillors Basat Sheikh and Zahid Hussain attended a meeting organised by the One Levenshulme group on 20 September after the release of a statement from Manchester City Council that said:

Following the end of this trial, and reviews of feedback, all 14 filters will be made permanent.

Manchester City Council statement, 13 September 2021

Councillors say this statement by Manchester City Council about the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood scheme was made “out of context” and this is only a partial explanation of the current situation. The current road blocks / “modal filters” will only be made permanent if a full plan for the Active Neighbourhood is approved for implementation following a public consultation.

The next stage designs will provide a full plan for interventions well beyond the current trial of 14 road blocks / “modal filters” in Levenshulme. This is the first time our community will be provided with comprehensive proposals and and a plan for the Active Neighbourhood, three years after the project started. It is understood the plans will include measures for both Levenshulme and Burnage.

The statement went on to say that:

“This month [August 2021] the Highways Service presented the initial outline designs for the proposed next stage of the Active Travel Neighbourhood scheme to ward councillors in both areas. These were agreed in principle, with the plans also submitted to Transport for Greater Manchester for their review and comment.”

Manchester City Council statement, 13 September 2021

A New Public Consultation

The new plans will be released soon and go to a public consultation. Councillors did not provide details of the consultation but accepted that previous consultations and the scheme as a whole had been “…a complete mess from the beginning…” and that it had “…gone wrong…”. They stated they had been “…working behind the scenes…” to improve the plans and had rejected previous drafts before accepting the current proposals.

Councillor Hussain stated that so far the project had spent £800,000 and that the budget had been reduced for the whole scheme. The original budget was up to £700,000 for development work and to undertake a trial with a further £1.8m available dependent on a successful business case proposal to TfGM for full implementation.

When pressed by residents councillors clarified that if residents were not happy with all the proposals then the scheme would not go ahead and everything – including the current road blocks / “modal filters” – would be removed.

It was also stated by councillors that the road blocks / “modal filters” would not be retained or made permanent until or unless problems on all roads were addressed, something councillors had insisted on for the scheme to progress. No scheme would be approved before that. However, councillors were confident that the community would welcome the final plans when they saw the designs.

Where’s the Data?

Councillors were also asked “Where’s the data?” as the whole scheme was claimed to be evidence based and data driven as well as community led. Councillors explained that the filters had been left in place so that the project could gather more data after the trial had finished [in June 2021] as Covid19 restrictions were lifted. Monitoring, managed by Manchester Urban Observatory (based at the University of Manchester) had taken place throughout the trial. Doubts were raised by residents about how accurate, useful or comprehensive this data was as well as the placement of monitoring equipment.

What will the final plans look like?

More comprehensive, inclusive and balanced, it seems. Reference was made to traffic calming, chicanes, crossings, pavement improvements and speed tables (large raised flat areas on the road). These are the sorts of measures residents, businesses and community groups (including Levenshulme Community Association) have been calling for throughout the project.

Unfortunately the attitude previously of the Project Team (with Sustrans and Levenshulme Bee Network before they were removed from the project in 2020) was dismissive of this more balanced approach and focussed primarily on installing road blocks / “modal filters” to create a “Low Traffic Neighbourhood”.

Residents also raised concerns about a number of related issues: dangerous driving in the area which was getting worse; problems with HGVs; speeding; anti-social behaviour around the road blocks; ongoing issues with emergency services and problems for carers and other service providers needing to easily meet residents’ needs. These reflected concerns that had consistently been raised by the LCA, residents and businesses that the approach throughout the project had been limited and did not focus on solving the problems we faced as a community or prioritise the aims of the project to actually make our roads safer and encourage walking and cycling.

Councillors stressed that the scheme was “…not about cycling…” but about “…Active Travel, creating shared space and provision for walking, cycling and drivers getting around.”

What happens next?

The final Active Neighbourhood plans should be made public in the next few weeks. The council has already indicated there will be a public engagement meeting in late September / early October.

Serious concerns were raised about how the consultation would be run. Residents made clear that they were dissatisfied with previous consultation and engagement and councillors accepted this had not been done well. Residents at the meeting highlighted the exclusive, biased and insecure nature of the online Commonplace system and the limited and ineffective information available.

As yet it is unclear what changes will be made to the consultation process, when it will start or how long it will run for. It is also unclear how decisions will be made, what criteria will be used and what attempts will be made to ensure the whole community can get involved and have their voices heard effectively.

Councillors Sheikh and Hussain were thanked for their attendance at the meeting and it was made clear by residents that this ongoing discussion was very welcome. Thanks also to Mark at the Bluebell for hosting the meeting.

Levenshulme Community Association will continue to provide updates and announcements as they are available to enable residents and businesses to be fully involved in this next stage of what has so far been a frustrating and difficult experience for many people.

Active Neighbourhood Update & Community Engagement Event

The Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood Project Team are planning an event. The Project Team has stated today (9 September 2021):

“We are hoping to hold a community engagement event around Late September/ Early October, in which people can give their thoughts and feedback on the Active Neighbourhood plans in person.”

The intention of the meeting is to provide:

…an opportunity to give thoughts and feedback on the existing filters and any future measures that may be put in place.

No date or time has been set for the meeting / event yet.

It is intended to hold the event “for Levenshulme” at Arcadia Library and Leisure Centre on Stockport Road. This suggests the Project Team might hold a separate event for Burnage. If this is the case Levenshulme Community Association will promote both events.

After Manchester City Council took direct control of the project and removed Sustrans and Levenshulme Bee Network in 2020 the project was split into two – Phase 1 for Levenshulme and Phase 2 for Burnage. No clear explanation has ever been provided as to why the project was fragmented in this way and changed along political ward boundaries.

Councillors have previously stated that a final plan for the project would be released in September and then put out to consultation. The Project Team has stated any final plan would not be released until it had been signed off and agreed by local councillors and Transport for Greater Manchester. Whether this community engagement event in September or October is to consider a final plan or is an opportunity for general discussion is unclear.

The Manchester Message

Our Manchester message – stay safe as the city reopens

(A message from Manchester City Council)

As of Monday, July 19 the majority of Covid restrictions in England have been dropped.

But, with cases of Covid still high in Manchester it is more important than ever to be considerate, and think of others now that life is returning to normal.

This means getting vaccinated, wearing a face covering in crowded spaces, or thinking about people you visit.

Click here to find out how you can help get Manchester where it needs to be, and to protect your communities from Covid.

In Our Nature Community Funding

Funding of up to £10,000 is available from In Our Nature. Information below.

Apply for up to £10k of grant funding & bring your community project to life!

Are you part of a Manchester based community, youth or voluntary group? Has your group got an innovative project idea to help your community come together to take positive action on the environment?

If the answer is yes – apply for a community project grant and bring your group’s ideas to life! You’ll be helping us on our mission to unlock the potential of households and communities to respond to the climate emergency.

What are we looking for? We are looking for projects that take an innovative, community-led approach to tackling a local environmental issue, which also delivers social and financial benefits to their local community.

Who can apply? We can award grants to a variety of non-profit and voluntary groups such as community groups, youth clubs, schools, resident and neighbourhood associations, community interest companies and social enterprises. 

Successful groups will receive…

  • A grant of up to 10k to bring their project to life.
  • Opportunities to connect and share experiences with the other successful groups.
  • Access to wider support through the “In Our Nature” programme including:
  • Graphic design support
  • Guidance with evaluation and measuring impact
  • Guidance with applying for further funding
  • PR opportunities and support

Want to get started? Great news! 

Check out our In Our Nature Community Grant page to read more and begin the application process.

Application deadline: 23:59 on 31st July.

Got a question about the grant process? Get in touch inournature@hubbub.org.uk

Covid Infection Rates & How To Protect Our Community

Covid infection rates

Our local rates (as of 1 July 2021):

  • 650 (Levenshulme Central)
  • 442 (Levenshulme South & Burnage North)
  • 498 (Levenshulme North)

and within a kilometre the rate is 962.

The rate for Manchester as a whole is now 544. On 17 May the rate was 43.

Levenshulme was designated a High Risk Area on 20 May and the Director of Public Health said action was needed to avoid rates getting to 300 as they were in Bolton at that point. There was a two to three week window of opportunity with it being a “race against time” to prevent a rise in infection rates.

Since then the government also designated Greater Manchester and much of the North West of England an Enhanced Response Area on 8 June with people told to get tested twice a week. An update on ERA status is available HERE.

As of 1 July 61.2% of adults have had one vaccination and 39.4% have had two vaccinations in Manchester.

Rules removed

You can read the full government announcement from 5 July 2021 HERE

Manchester will be the same as all of England on 19 July with pretty much all restrictions and rules used to protect people removed.

Protect Yourself and others

Please get vaccinated for your own protection and for the protection of our community.

Protective measures such as face masks and social distancing may not be compulsory from 19 July but it is advisable to remain cautious during this third wave of infections.

Check the Manchester City Council website for updates including pop-up vaccination centres HERE

The closest pop-up vaccination centre is currently at Belle Vue with a free shuttle bus running through Levenshulme with a pick up point on Matthews Lane.

Volunteer For The Alma Park School Street Trial

Manchester City Council is looking for volunteers to help with the Alma Park School Street Trial scheduled for 1 July. Details are below. The deadline to get involved is Monday 28 June, 12.00 midday.

Volunteer Invitation

You may be aware of aware of our planned School street is a way to encourage parents/carers / residents to use active travel methods when dropping/picking up children from school. This is a great way to promote clean and safe environments, as we hope this event will help us achieve our aims to create a healthier environment around the school and local community. 

The process of ‘School Streets’ events require temporary road closures around a school. To ensure the smooth running of the event, we are asking for some volunteer support to act as marshals between the hours of 1pm-4.30pm.

We need around 20 marshals to make the trial possible; all marshals will receive training material to review beforehand and have a briefing on the day. If you are interested, please email centralnt@manchester.gov.uk no later than Mon 28th June 12pm. 

Please note, the briefing session will take place online via Microsoft Teams on Tues 29th June from 5pm-6pm. If you do not have access to Microsoft Teams, please let us know.

We hope you can be available and look forward to working with you. 

Alma Park School Street Trial

The council is organising a trial of a “School Street” at Alma Park Primary School.

What is a School Street?

A “School Street” means roads are closed to traffic for a specific period to encourage parents and pupils to walk and cycle to school rather than be dropped off or picked up by car. Council staff and volunteers will manage the trial. Alma Park Primary is sending letters out to parents and will be informing the community as well. At the moment this is a one-off trial.

This information is subject to confirmation from Manchester City Council. We will provide further information once we have received the full details from the council.

When?

The trial will happen on Thursday 1st July from 14.00-16.00

Where?

Alma Park Primary School and surrounding streets

Which roads are likely to be closed to traffic? (to be confirmed)

  • Marshall Road at its junction with Albert Road
  • Forest Range at its junction with Albert Road
  • Errwood Road from its junction with Alma Road to its junction with Carson Road
  • Alma Road at the railway bridge
  • All roads leading onto Errwood Road such as Arliss Avenue and Preston Road will have restricted access through the above access points.

Where do I park if I need to use my car?

We understand an arrangement has been reached with Levenshulme Tesco to allow people to use the Tesco car park as a “Park & Stride” facility.

What about buses?

We understand arrangements will be made for any buses to be walked through the School Street by a marshall.

Volunteering

Manchester City Council is looking for volunteers to help make the trial happen. Around 20 people are required and training will be given to marshall the trial. The invitation to volunteer is available HERE.

Further information

For general information about School Streets see HERE

Council Finally Launches More Vaccination Centres

Over a month after Manchester City Council designated eight areas of Manchester – including Levenshulme – as “High Risk” for Covid-19 infections with low vaccination take-up rates a series of new vaccination centres have been launched. These are walk-in facilities for anyone over the age of 18.

The LCA has been trying for the last four weeks to find out what action was being taken in Levenshulme. Unfortunately no Levenshulme councillors have been able to respond to any phone messages or requests for information in that time. David Regan, the Director of Public Health for Manchester said on 20 May that the city was in a “race against time” in the High Risk areas to prevent infection rates reaching around 300 with urgent action required in 2-3 weeks. We are now a month after this was stated and it is too late to prevent infection rates for Manchester rising from around 43 on 17 May to 328 on 13 June. Hopefully the new vaccination centres can now begin to reduce infection rates.

You can find a list of Manchester vaccination centres HERE

Pop-up vaccination clinics are listed HERE and below. Please note these centres are subject to change so check the link for the latest information.

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Greater Manchester Enhanced Response Area & Levenshulme High Risk Area for Covid-19

Greater Manchester has been designated an “Enhanced Response Area” for Covid-19 by the government. This follows Manchester City Council classifying Levenshulme as a “High Risk Area” on 20 May apparently because of low vaccination take up and the high incidence of infections.

David Regan, Director of Public Health for Manchester released a briefing note on 9 June which stated: “ERA work – which is like to start from the end of this week – will give us further support with the plans and strategies we already have in place, along with all the fantastic work that you and our communities are already doing.” You can read and download the full briefing note below.

One of those plans was to prevent infection rates increasing in High Risk areas like Levenshulme although it has been impossible to find out clear information of what this plan was or what measures were taken from 20 May. The intention was to prevent infection rates rising to around 300 as happened in Bolton. This was said to be “…a race against time” with “…a two to three week window” by David Regan. Infection rates for Manchester were around 45 on 17 May and 285 on 12 June.

Thanks to Joanna Midgley, Manchester City Council Executive member with responsibility for health for talking to Jeremy Hoad, LCA Secretary and providing the community briefing note. Unfortunately no Levenshulme councillors have been available over the past month to discuss these matters.

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COVID-19 Advice for South Asian Communities

Please share this message with South Asian Communities. You can download this briefing in Arabic, English, Gujarati, Indian Punjabi and Urdu (see below)

Briefing for South Asian Community Groups and Organisations

VOC-21-APR-02 is the technical term for the new variant of concern that was first identified in India. This variant is thought to be driving the increase in Covid cases being seen in younger adults across the North West, particularly in Bolton and Blackburn.

It is normal for any virus to change over time. Coronavirus is the same – and our vaccines are very effective in preventing serious illness against the strains. It’s also very normal – as with the flu vaccine – to tweak the vaccines or give boosters against new strains as they develop.

We are briefing community organisations and leaders for South Asian communities because the increase in cases has been particularly high, especially among the Pakistani and Indian population. It is important that we take steps to protect ourselves, our families and communities.

The public health team in Manchester has advised that:

– evidence that is being analysed suggests that this variant is more transmissible – or easier to spread.

– it has spread very quickly in other areas and so could spread very quickly among Manchester residents

– people who have not been vaccinated are more likely to catch the new variant and spread it to others

– we need to be cautious as the Covid restrictions in order to protect our communities- especially older family members who may not have been vaccinated and would be more vulnerable to severe disease

The public health team are also looking at providing vaccination, in line with JCVI guidance, to younger people in some parts of the city where the risk of the variant of concern spreading quickly is higher – as they are doing in Blacburn- they will keep us up to date with plans for this and how people can access the vaccine when it is available. As per national recommendations, any vaccine that is offered to people under 40 will either be Pfizer or Moderna.

What should we do now?

It’s really important that everyone who has symptoms, goes for a Covid test – that way we can monitor and pick up any new cases or strains very quickly and take the right action.

In addition, if you don’t have symptoms, Lateral flow or “rapid antigen” tests are free and you can get them and test twice a week.

Stay cautious, even though the rules are changing it is still important to
– limit the number of different people and households you mix with
– meet outdoors wherever possible
– keep washing hands, wiping surfaces, wearing masks or face coverings when needed, – keeping rooms ventilated and social distancing
– get your vaccine as soon as it is offered to you

If anyone needs help and support with food, medical supplies or other COVID-related support they can call Manchester’s Community Response Hub (MON-FRI 9am-5pm) on:

Messages responded to by the next working day. The hub can help with:

• Access to food
• Delivery of medication
• Combating loneliness
• Managing fuel top-up payments
• Getting access to services online

You can download this briefing in the following languages:

2021 Local Election Candidate Statements

Levenshulme Community Association has asked all candidates in the 2021 local elections for statements. As always we have included both Levenshulme Ward and Burnage Ward because the ward boundaries run across our community. The statements are listed in the order candidates will appear on the ballot paper. The text of all statements is reproduced below as submitted by the candidates.

The official declaration of candidates can be found on the Manchester City Council website for Levenshulme HERE and for Burnage HERE.

Levenshulme Ward (5 candidates)

  1. JEREMY HOAD (Independent)
  2. ZAHID HUSSAIN (Labour Party)
  3. GREG SAMMONS (Liberal Democrats)
  4. ALEXANDRU STANCU (The Conservative Party Candidate)
  5. DICK VENES (The Green Party)

Burnage Ward (5 candidates)

  1. BRIAN CANDELAND (The Green Party)
  2. BEV CRAIG (Labour Party)
  3. JAMIE DWAN (Liberal Democrats)
  4. SHAHED HOSSAIN (The Conservative Party Candidate)
  5. ANDREA TIMONEY (Independent)

Levenshulme Ward


JEREMY HOAD (Independent)

Hello. I have lived in Levenshulme for almost 20 years. I love the people. I love the place.

Levenshulme is a special place with a strong diverse community that I am proud to be part of. However, many people tell me they do not feel they are being listened to, they are being taken for granted and problems persist year after year. I think we deserve better.

I will be an independent voice for Levenshulme, standing up for the priorities that we have as a community. Listening to everyone and fighting for you regardless of who you are.

I have never stood for election before or been a member of a political party and believe local politics should be about people, not parties. I am someone who knows the area, lives round the corner and who you can rely on to be open, honest and accessible.

I fought against the council’s proposals to close our baths and library and helped secure the new Arcadia facility. I am Secretary of Levenshulme Community Association and organise Levenshulme Pride, the largest free local Pride in Manchester. I have celebrated with you, been at vigils with you, campaigned with you and have challenged our councillors and council, holding them to account.

It would be an honour to represent Levenshulme as a councillor and to fight to make Levenshulme the best it can be. This is my community, your community, our community.

Think local. Be independent. Vote Jeremy Hoad on May 6.


ZAHID HUSSAIN (Labour Party)

I’m Zahid Hussain and I’m the Labour candidate representing the Labour Party in Levenshulme. I’m a working dad with three young children. I run school literacy projects to inspire underprivileged children to become young Shakespeares.

There’s a lot to love about Levenshulme. Here local residents have launched projects like Levenshulme Clean Air and Barlow Road Community Orchard, two shining examples of the Mancunian spirit.

But sadly, Levenshulme faces challenges:


– Litter louts and fly-tipping fools cause misery. I will work with residents, community groups and businesses to sweep out the rubbish.

– Reckless drivers put everyone’s life at risk. I will work with Greater Manchester Police, the Community Safety Team, and residents to make Levenshulme safer.

– Manchester City Council has declared a Climate Emergency. We must make strides in getting the neighbourhood active and I encourage parents and children where it’s safe to walk to school.

– The Pandemic has hurt families, driven up unemployment and increased poverty. Food Banks are a lifeline to many, and I will work with local groups to get the resources they deserve. No child should go hungry in our city.

The ruling Conservatives have crippled the NHS. Today we live in a world of zero-hour contracts, endemic homelessness, few affordable homes, and rising hate crime. What’s the answer to this mess? A Labour government which puts communities first.

If elected on 6 May I will diligently represent Levenshulme and help make it an even better place in which to live, work and play.


GREG SAMMONS (Liberal Democrats)

Levenshulme Station needs Access for All.
For the last year, I have been in contact with TfGM, Network Rail and Northern; arguing the case for Levenshulme, after it emerged that Heaton Chapel got funding for long overdue accessibility. Wheelchair users still can’t catch a train, I’ve seen cyclists clambering to carry their bike up to the platforms and people with mobility issues would really struggle. Manchester City Council lacks ambition but Andy Burnham has finally cottoned on. I will fight to make sure that Levenshulme station is top of any Greater Manchester list.

Levenshulme Active Neighbourhood is a fantastic idea, poorly delivered.
Despite delays in consultations and getting things set up, it still seemed to come as a surprise to so many when it was finally implemented, with no explanation of how potential later phases might alleviate issues on boundary roads. Manchester City Council lacks ambition but I would work with them to establish better consultation and communication as we near the end of this trial period.

I am invested in making Levenshulme a better place.
I am the chair of Levenshulme Inspire Foundation, a charity serving our unique and diverse community. I’m a school governor at St Andrews, which my daughter attends. I was part of a group of local residents who organised a campaign to install a pop-up bike lane along Stockport Road using government money last summer. I have campaigned alongside Clean Air Levenshulme for School Streets. Manchester City Council lacks ambition but I don’t.


ALEXANDRU STANCU (The Conservative Party Candidate)

I am running as candidate because I want accountability from our Local governence. Labour also seem to only pass the blame for their obvious failings are down to “cuts”, but ask yourself this: “How have Conservative councils with the same “cuts” elsewhere managed their finances to produce infinitely better local services than Manchester?”

The answer is that it is actually down to 25 years of uninterrupted local mismanagement. They treat residents with lofty contempt, believing they can take our votes for granted. We, on the other hand, are committed to fighting for the interests of everyone left behind by Labour. So if elected, my priorities are:

– Tackling crime. Manchester has one of the worst crime rates in Britain, with just 3% of crimes prosecuted. Police should be on beat and not the tweet.

– Stopping our local green spaces being sold off, like Nutsford Vale – being earmarked for development. Disregarding resident’s wishes to create a wildlife haven and wasting millions of pounds spent re-purposing the area into a wonderful conservation area.

– Restore/preserve our heritage site. Manchester City Council has the worst record when it comes to looking after our civic heritage, just look at Levenshulme Library back in 2016. I vow to restore our neglected heritage areas for tourists and residents alike to enjoy.

– Encourage educational opportunities for children of every background via partnership & outreach programmes.

On May 6, YOUR vote can have a critical difference to the political future for Levenshulme and for Manchester.

Your Sincerely,

Dr Alexandru Stancu
Conservative Candidate for Levenshulme


DICK VENES (The Green Party)

Once again, I’m the Green Party candidate for Levenshulme ward because I think it’s important for citizens to have the opportunity to vote for a party which places care of the Earth’s environment and people at the heart of its policies. 

A healthy Green vote will act as a signal to Manchester’s Labour Council that the citizens of Levenshulme wish the protection of the local and global environments, including big issues such as climate change, to feature much more strongly in the Council’s actions.

Manchester’s political leaders often claim a link to Manchester’s radical past.  In my view, this has been lost in the mists of time as the Council has embraced conventional economic theories of continuous ‘economic growth’  at the expense of an increasing inequality of citizens, and increasing adverse environmental impacts, particularly climate change. 

At a local level, Levenshulme deserves better action on:

  • congestion, walking and cycling;
  • air pollution and related health issues;
  • support for community groups;
  • planning for affordable housing;

If elected, these will be my main areas of interest.

I have lived in the area for over 40 years.  Now retired, my main career was as a brewer, latterly at Joseph Holt’s.  I have always been involved in community organisations, including spells on the committees of sports clubs, as a cycling campaigner, and an active member of the Friends of the Fallowfield Loop. 

Thanks to the LCA for organising one of the few ward hustings held in advance of the local elections!


—Levenshulme Ward Statements End—


Burnage Ward


BRIAN CANDELAND (The Green Party)

Brian has been a member of the Green Party for almost forty years and has lived in South Manchester for the past thirty-six years.  Over the years he has represented the Party in elections at local, Parliamentary and European level.   He is currently Chair of the Greater Manchester Green Parties Federation.  

Now retired, his other interests include amateur dramatics and walking.   He is a member of Friends of the Fallowfield Loop.

Brian’s priorities if elected include affordable housing and improving the local environment including protecting green spaces.  He wants to see better, more-integrated public transport, cleaner air, and improved walking and cycling.  He strongly supports the principle of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods but feels they need better consultation than has been the case in the Levenshulme Burnage area.  Brian said “We must treat the climate emergency with the seriousness which it deserves, and all our policies must be built on that.   “Burnage is an interesting, diverse and underrated part of the City with historic and beautiful areas; it would be an honour to serve the people of Burnage as a city councillor.”   


BEV CRAIG (Labour Party)

I am so proud to have been a Burnage Councillor for the last 10 years and I hope with your support I can continue delivering for our local area.

Moving to Manchester from Belfast, I love our city and having lived in Burnage and Levenshulme for over a decade, I’m passionate about making it an even better place to live.

The last decade of Tory and Lib Dem cuts has been hard for our city and the council had £400million axed from its budget. Despite this I’ve stood up for our area, representing you and getting stuff done. I have championed reducing poverty, affordable housing, health, and equality causes.

This last year has been tough for us all. As the Cabinet Member For Health and Wellbeing, I’ve overseen the city’s response to the COVID crisis and am so proud of how our city and local communities like ours came together, so I want to say thank you.

Pledges: A local Labour voice, standing up for you

  1. Fairer: keep building more affordable housing, reduce poverty and support the vulnerable
  2. Cleaner: Take action on litter and fly-tipping
  3. Safer: Call for more police to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour and safer roads for all
  4. Greener: Tackling the Climate Crisis, planting more trees and investment in parks and green spaces
  5. Supporting you: Continue supporting local community groups, and the hundreds of individual residents I help each year

I always want to hear your views, please get in touch: cllr.bev.craig@manchester.gov.uk


JAMIE DWAN (Liberal Democrats)

Manchester is a fantastic city. We are a real home for culture, innovation, and a melting pot of ideas and cultures. I’m proud to have been born here and to live in the south of the city to this day, and I love living in a community with such variety.

However, our city has real issues. Growth is a good thing, but too often, too few people have seen the benefits of Manchester’s expansion. In my eyes, a large contributing factor to this is the lack of transparency and accountability at City Hall. Manchester has been a one-party state for too long, and we need change.

The Liberal Democrats have always been the main voice of opposition to Labour in Manchester, and to this day fight the corner for transparency, decency, and to create a Council that listens. That fierce localist spirit is what attracted me to the Lib Dems, and is what I want to bring to the table at City Hall.

If elected as your next City Councillor, I will be a tireless voice of opposition in holding Labour to account. I will bolster the opposition group and bring a fresh, younger perspective to the table. I’ll also be sure to deliver a regular FOCUS newsletter and update on my activities to Burnage residents and keep in touch all year round, not just at election time.

I hope that you consider voting for me as a much-needed voice of opposition at City Hall!


SHAHED HOSSAIN (The Conservative Party Candidate)

I moved to Manchester in 2005, after I completed my BSc on Business Management at Roehampton University. Since then I have been an engaged member of the community: doing charity work; being a member of the Darussalm Mosque in Longsight; and have volunteering over 422 hours to the NHS to help them response to the ongoing pandemic.

If elected, my priorities will be:

More transparency within council management: Labour has abandoned any attempt to create balanced communities in Manchester and treated with contempt people whose votes they believe can be taken for granted.

To hold the Labour council accountable. They tell everyone their obvious failings are down to “Tory cuts”, yet countless other councils are able to do more for their residents with less money.

Relieve the city’s badly congested road network – we need a transport service that can get us across and around Manchester not just a funnelled service which leads to/from the city centre going down a few main roads.

Combat fly-tipping – we need to return to more regular bin collection from monthly to fortnightly. We also need to ease access to tips and reduce the permit charge, a policy which has directly led to increased fly-tipping. The emphasis should be shifted to community service/fines to those found guilty of fly-tipping.

Do not accept yet another year of abuse and neglect of our city. Vote Conservative on 6th may and let’s foster a new age of pride and opportunity in Manchester.

Your Faithfully,

Md Shahed Hossian Your Humble, Conservative Candidate for Burnage


ANDREA TIMONEY (Independent)

Hi, my name is Andrea Timoney, and I am standing as an independent candidate for the Burnage ward in 2021.  I am passionate about the area and it would be a privilege to represent Burnage if elected on 6th May.

Burnage is a great place to live, but there are always things we’d like to improve.  I have lived here for six years and I can see the great projects which happen all over Burnage and the positive changes that can come about when residents and community groups work together locally.

If I am elected as your councillor I would like to focus on key areas such as:

– Roads and transport – promoting speed reduction measures in the ward to improve pedestrian safety and addressing the bus service reduction locally

– Crime and safety – working with GMP to get more PCs and PCSOs patrolling in Burnage

– Investment in youth services – working with schools and community groups to identify gaps in youth provision and promote the development of facilities for younger people as a long term investment in the area.

Being independent means I don’t answer to a political party.  Instead, I promise to listen to residents and always fight for what is best for us.

Working with fellow independent candidate Jeremy Hoad in the Levenshulme ward, we will be working across the whole of M19 to benefit all of our community because I really feel we deserve better.

Please get in touch with me on Andrea.BurnageM19@gmail.com

Join our Facebook Group ‘M19 Independents’


—Burnage Ward Statements End—


International Women’s Day At Highfield Country Park

Monday 8th March is International Women’s Day. Levenshulme Ramblers encourages residents to travel to Highfield country park to learn about the various women that shaped our city.

Across highfield there will be over 20 information sheets dotted around the place. Who can you find? And what will you learn?

This is socially distanced activity for International Women’s Day in conjunction with and funded by Manchester City Council.

Thanks to Levenshulme Ramblers for organising this.

Active Neighbourhood Phase 2 (Burnage) Consultation Extended And Online Events Announced

Phase 2 Consultation deadline extended

The consultation for what has been reclassified as Phase 2 of the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood covering part of Burnage Ward has been extended to 25 January 2021. The council website says 21 January but letters recently sent out to some people now state 25 January.

You can leave comments by sending an email to the project levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk or giving feedback using the project website HERE

PHASE 2 Online Events

The council Project Team is also planning four online video events to allow people to comment. These are planned to happen in January. The council says it is organising these meetings geographically “…to allow people to talk in more detail about their local area and hear the views of their neighbours“. Each meeting will last one hour.

The meetings will be:

A Grangethorpe Drive, Crossley Road and connecting streets and the area to the south of the LBAN boundary between A34 Kingsway to the south of Cringle Park

B Area between A34 Kingsway and Burnage Lane, south of Fallowfield Loop

C Area bounded by A34, Moseley Road, and streets off Slade Lane north of the Fallowfield Loop

D Area bounded by Albert Road and the railway line, and streets off Forrest Range and Errwood Road north of the Fallowfield Loop

E Area bounded by Stockport Road and Crossley Road, including streets off Errwood Road south of the Fallowfield Loop

If you are interested in attending one of the online events to talk about the trial in Phase 2 of the project covering the Burnage Ward please email: levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk stating which event (A-E) you wish to attend.

NOTE: The project email address has not been working for some weeks. If you have any difficulty all we can suggest is you keep trying. The council has been made aware of this problem.

Elections postponed

The elections scheduled for May 6 2021 have been postponed because of the pandemic. This includes both the local elections and the election of the Greater Manchester Mayor.

New dates have not been confirmed yet but the elections are expected to take place in the summer (June or July). There is also the possibility they may be delayed further to the autumn.

The option of holding elections using postal ballots only has been ruled out.

We will post again when further information is available.

You can read the BBC News report on this HERE

Levenshulme Businesses Invited To Active Neighbourhood Meeting

The council is holding an online event for businesses to discuss the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood scheme Phase 1 (Levenshulme). The Project Team says:

“We felt that people attending [previous] events did not fully represent all of the business community in Levenshulme, and for this reason, we are reaching out to offer an additional event to ensure local businesses are aware of the scheme and have the chance to have their say.”

The event will take place at 18.00-19.00 on Thursday 14 January, 2021

The meeting will be attended by Levenshulme Councillors, colleagues from the Highways Service and Central Neighbourhood Team.

If you wish to attend the meeting please email the project at: Levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk

Please also share this information with any other businesses in the area who you think would be interested in taking part. The Active Neighbourhood project and the current trial of road blocks / “modal filters” are likely to have a significant impact on businesses. You can find a list of the locations at www.manchester.gov.uk/consultations.

[EDIT: The project email address is now working again]

Thee project email address has not been working properly recently so please feel free to email the LCA and we will pass your request on to the Project Team. If you cannot get through on the project email use this email address <secretary@levenshulmecommunity.org.uk> and add “LBAN Business Meeting” in the subject line.

Action on Dangerous Planters

Large wooden planters were installed on 14 roads across Levenshulme on Monday 4 January as part of the council’s Active Neighbourhood scheme for Levenshulme and Burnage.

Currently the planters pose a significant danger as there are no signs on them and no reflective hazard strips. They are particularly dangerous when it gets dark as well as when people come across them unexpectedly on the roads. No road signs are in place to warn of changes to the road layout either. Unfortunately some planters have also been moved and modifications have been made to block pavements to prevent vehicles driving around the planters.

LCA Secretary Jeremy Hoad has been in touch with councillors to highlight these problems and the LCA can confirm that:

  • Warning signs will be added to the planters starting on Wednesday 5 January to be completed by Friday 7 January at the latest;
  • Street signs will be installed to notify road users of the change to road layout and restricted access;
  • Additional measures will be put in place to make the planters more secure, possibly by adding brackets and bolting them to the ground or linking them together.
  • New bollards will be installed on pavements either side of the planters to prevent vehicles driving around the planters.

This is very welcome news and will make the planters more effective and safe during this six month trial.

How to give feedback

A formal consultation is now active. If you wish to comment you can use the project website HERE.

You can also email the Project Team: levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk (please note that this email address is currently not working but the council is aware of this and looking into it)

If you wish to lodge an objection (quoting reference L/GS/EVD2001/1887) you can email the council here: phlegal@manchester.gov.uk

or write to the council:

Fiona Ledden, City Solicitor PO Box 532, Town Hall, Manchester, M60 2LA

Active Neighbourhood Trials Announced

Active Neighbourhood will start very soon

The formal notification of the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood has been published. You can view the announcement HERE or read the text below. The notice was dated 18 December 2020 and states it will come into force on 26 December 2020.

Phase 1 of the scheme will install 14 road blocks / “modal filters” for at least six months across Levenshulme. The council has said that a further five road blocks / “modal filters” might be added during the trial but this has not been confirmed yet.

The council had originally said the trial measures would be installed from 4-8 January 2021 but now says “early January”.

A consultation on measures for Phase 2 (covering parts of Burnage Ward) is still live. You can take part and submit comments HERE or by emailing the council directly <levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk>. This consultation closes on 21 January 2021.

Where are the road blocks / “modal filters” going?

The 14 filters which will be installed on a trial basis early in the New Year are at:

  • Buckhurst Road
  • Cardus Street (North)
  • Delamere Road and Gordon Avenue
  • Dorset Road
  • Caremine Avenue
  • Guildford Road
  • Henderson Street
  • Longden Road
  • Manor Road (East)
  • Mayford Road
  • Molyneux Road
  • Osborne Road
  • Portville Road and Randolph Street
  • Victoria Road

Unfortunately the council has not provided any detailed plans of where these road blocks / “modal filters” will be located or whether parking spaces will need to be removed to allow vehicles accessing these roads to turn around despite repeated requests for greater clarity and detail.

Five more proposed filters are being paused until an assessment can be made of what their impact would be on surrounding residential streets, but could still form part of the phase 1 trial, with alternative solutions to be considered as part of the wider scheme development.  These are at Chapel Street (East), Crayfield Road, Dunstable Street, Manor Road (West) and Marley Road.

Public Announcement Text

Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

Notice is hereby given that on the 11th December 2020 Manchester City Council made the following Orders under Sections 9 and 10 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. The Orders, which will be introduced on an experimental basis for a period of up to 18 months are as follows:- City of Manchester (Various Roads, Levenshulme) (Prohibition of Driving Except Cycles And Revocation) (Experimental) Order 2020

The effect of the Order will be to introduce the following:

Experimental Prohibition Of Driving (Except Cycles) on –

Buckhurst Rd – both sides from its junction with Albert Road in a northerly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Cardus St – both sides from its junction with Cromwell Grove in a northerly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Caremine Ave – both sides from a point 10 metres west of its junction with Lonsdale Road in a westerly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Dorset Rd – both sides from its junction with Fairbourne Road in a westerly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Gordon Ave – Gordon Avenue/Delamere Road junction, from the north east corner of the junction to the south west corner with a minimum width of 2 metres.

Guildford Rd – both sides from a point 2 metres south west of its junction with Norley Drive in a south westerly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Henderson St – both sides from a point 32 metres north west of its junction with Nall Street in a north westerly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Longden Rd – both sides from its junction with Stovell Avenue in an easterly direction for a distance of 2 metres.

Manor Rd – both sides from a point 80 metres east of its junction Audley Road in an easterly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Mayford Rd – both sides from a its junction with Stockport Road in an easterly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Molyneux Rd – both sides from its junction with Cumbrae Road in a southerly direction for a distance of 2 metres.

Osborne Rd – both sides from its junction with Slade Lane in a north easterly direction for a distance of 5 metres.

Randolph St – both sides from a point 13.5 metres south of its junction with Mayford Road in a southerly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

Victoria Rd – both sides from its junction with Albert Road in a north westerly direction for a distance of 3 metres.

City of Manchester (Cardus Street, Manchester) (Experimental Revocation of One Way Traffic) Order 2020 The above Order is revoked in its entirety.

The Orders shall come into operation on 26th December 2020.

A copy of the Orders, together with the plans showing the roads to which they relate and a Statement of the Council’s Reasons for making the Orders may be inspected at Customer Service Centre Ground Floor, Town Hall Extension M60 2LA (for Sat. Nav. use M2 5DB) between the hours of 9.00am and 4.30pm on Monday to Friday inclusive for a period of 6 months until 26th June 2021. Due to Covid 19 restrictions please ensure that the Contact Centre is open before attending. If it is closed or you are unable to attend, a copy of the plan may be requested (without payment) by emailing phlegal@manchester.gov.uk or writing to the address at the end of this notice.

The City Council will be considering in due course whether the provisions of the Order should be continued in force indefinitely. Within a period of six months from the coming into force of the Order or if the Order is subsequently varied or amended from the coming into force of the variation or modification (whichever is the latter) any person may object to the indefinite continuation of the provisions of the Orders.

Any person wishing to object should submit their grounds of objection in writing to phlegal@manchester.gov.uk or the address below no later than 26th June 2021 quoting reference L/GS/EVD2001/1887.

Any person who wishes to question the validity of the Orders or of any provision contained in it on the grounds that they are not within the powers conferred by the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 or on the grounds that any requirement of that Act or of any instrument made under it have not been complied with in relation to the Order may within six weeks from 11th December 2020 apply to the High Court for such purpose.

Signed: Fiona Ledden, City Solicitor PO Box 532, Town Hall, Manchester, M60 2LA

Dated: 18th December 2020

TM REF: 226043115-01

Active Neighbourhood Delays

It looks like the start of the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood trial has been delayed (although it is possible we have missed the formal announcement).

The council would have had to issue formal notification of the Phase 1 road blocks / “modal filters” trial today at the latest if it was to start on 19 December as previously announced. However, there is no notice in the “public notices” section of the MEN. The council’s website also makes no mention of the trial starting on 19 December and the project website also has no announcements or updates.

In fact, reference to the Phase 1 trial start date has been removed from the council’s website which now says “The trial measures will start to be put in place from December (during school holidays).” So the trial is still planned to start in December but it doesn’t look like that will happen on 19 December.

The phrasing on the council’s website also suggests all elements of the trial will not be installed at the same time. This might have something to do with the proposed road works at the end of Broom Lane and Chapel Street where those roads meet the A6 that are part of the plans released in September 2020. These haven’t even started yet. Without those changes all residents and businesses in the blocked off area off Chapel Street would have to access their properties via Elbow Street. If the trial measures are installed in phases that would also suggest the trial will run for longer than the original six months as all measures must be trialled for a minimum of six months.

So we have more waiting with a continued lack of information. It isn’t even clear today – the legal deadline for announcing the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order to commence on 19 December – when the council might even start to install the trial measures, how long the trial measures will take to install fully, where specifically there are to be located on the roads, how turning points and access will be facilitated, whether emergency services have approved any plans yet or even what will be included in the plans as they might change from the revised plans announced in September. Or they might not.

Phase 2 (Burnage)

At the moment we also do not know how and plans for Phase 2 covering Burnage Ward will be decided on or trialled. There is an ongoing consultation on Phase 2 until 21 December 2020.

We understand an online consultation event was planned for Crossley Road and Grangethorpe Drive although no details were provided when requested.

Monitoring and data gathering

Additional traffic and air quality equipment is also planned for some of the busier “through routes” but this might not be installed until next year. We will provide further updates once any changes or additions are confirmed. This monitoring is being done by Manchester Urban Observatory at the University of Manchester and started earlier this summer. Unfortunately this means there may not be any substantive pre-trial data for comparison with the trial data once the road blocks / “modal filters” are installed for our busiest roads.

The Active Neighbourhood project itself has not installed any traffic or air quality monitoring equipment in the almost two years the project has been running despite previous claims this was being done in the summer of 2019. Information on the Manchester Urban Observatory monitoring was previously reported by the LCA HERE and the data is freely available on the MUO website HERE.

Further consultation

The Active Neighbourhood project has confirmed its intention to hold further consultation events online with businesses and what it identifies as “the BAME community”. This was announced at the online events at the end of October 2020. So far not dates have been confirmed for these events but we will provide information as and when they are confirmed. The second stage consultation on the revised plans announced in September ended on 4 November 2020.

The further delays and lack of information is, to say the least, disappointing.

Clarification on road works near schools

For clarification please note that the roadworks being undertaken on Barlow Road at the back of Chapel Street Primary School, the previous work done on Broom Lane to install traffic calming and the work done around Alma Park Primary School has nothing to do with the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood project. This work is part of a separate initiative for safer streets around schools. A previous LCA article about this is available HERE.

Active Neighbourhood Business Consultation

Business engagement and consultation

Please see below a message from Cath Keane, Neighbourhood Liaison Manager at the MCC Highways Service and part of the Active Neighbourhood team, regarding an event for local businesses. This is welcome and follows up on a previous commitment for further engagement.

Please draw this to the attention of any businesses in the area so they can take part.

Manchester City Council held formal consultation around a scheme to make walking and cycling easier and safer in Levenshulme. We also held a number of face to face on line events which allowed people to have their say on the suggested measures. These events were well attended and gave around 170 people the chance to have their say, while more than 3,500 others have responded through our website.

However, we felt that people attending these on line events did not fully represent all of the business community in Levenshulme, and for this reason, we are reaching out to offer an additional event to ensure local businesses are aware of the scheme and have the chance to have their say.

Although the formal consultation end date has passed, we are still keen to receive feedback for the next six months as this will inform any final, permanent measures which could be implemented.

If you or representatives from your organisations would be interested in attending an on line event about the trial in Levenshulme, please email levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk.

If you would find it useful to have an interpreter at the on line event, please let us know and we can arrange it.

The event date will be confirmed in the near future and we will send details to everyone who has emailed us to request an invite.  To join the meeting, you will need a laptop or smart phone . A link will be sent which you can click and join.

Please use the levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk email address if you have any other queries concerning this scheme. Further information about Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhoods scheme is also availabe on our website at www.manchester.gov.uk

We look forward to hearing from you.

Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood Business Engagement Event

The Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood website is available HERE

Active Neighbourhood Update: Documents, Deadlines & Feedback

The LCA has requested all publicity material for the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood Project including in different languages. All material that is currently available can be downloaded below as PDF documents. There are instructions here on how to comment on the plans online, by email and by written questionnaire including deadlines that have now changed.

Be aware that all the maps in the printed materials are different and the deadline for comment has been extended by a week because of a mistake in the printed materials that have been distributed.

As of today (16 October 2020) only the questionnaire leaflet is available in any language apart from English. That language is Romanian.

UPDATE: Urdu version of the questionnaire leaflet added on 23 October 2020

UPDATE: Bengali version of the questionnaire leaflet added on 22 October 2020

UPDATE: Arabic version of questionnaire leaflet added on 19 October 2020.

Continue reading

Active Neighbourhood Feedback Deadline Extended

The Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood deadline for feedback and comment has been extended to Wednesday 4th November 2020.

You can find out more about what the plans are and how to give feedback HERE.

Many people in our community still haven’t received notification of these plans. The LCA had written to the Project Team requesting an extension to the deadline so an extra week is helpful although we still don’t think that is sufficient. In the meantime you can download the booklet and poster by following the link above.

We have also requested a PDF copy of the Active Neighbourhood questionnaire form to make available to people but so far this has been refused and we have been told people must go to either Arcadia Library and Leisure Centre or Burnage Library to collect a paper copy of the booklets and forms. Publicity material has also been requested in other languages for distribution but so far this has not been provided and does not seem to be available yet.

Active Neighbourhood Booklet, Poster and Feedback

Manchester City Council has now released an information booklet and poster on the revised plans for the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood project. You can download PDFs of both below.

You can also request paper copies of the booklet and information in other languages by emailing: levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk Copies will be made available in the Arcadia Library and Leisure Centre and hopefully at other locations in the area (to be confirmed).

The website for feedback is available HERE. Comments must be received by Wednesday 28 October 2020.

Letters have been sent to schools this week and should be received by all residents and businesses across the project area in Levenshulme and Burnage next week. This will allow about two weeks to comment on all four response areas and the 25 proposed individual road blocks / “modal filters”.

The MCC website currently says:

Comments on the trial (Phase 1) area will need to reach us by 28 October to be accepted, but all feedback given during the trial period (19 December 2020 to19 June 2021) will be reviewed before any final decisions are made. Feedback on problem areas and what the issues are in Cringle Park (Phase 2) are also welcomed, and can influence the trial, which is currently due to start early in 2021. These will need to be received by 21 December 2020.

MCC LBAN feedback dates

NOTE: Information on the council’s website has been changing every few days in the past two weeks probably partly due to the project losing its second Project Manager after the new plans were released on Monday 02 October. The LCA will continue to monitor whatever is released and make sense of the process.

We will also request an extension to the feedback deadline as two weeks seems unreasonably short period for people to understand the complex proposals and comment on the scheme especially as no formal notification of the engagement process and new plans has been sent to residents or businesses yet.

Active Neighbourhood Dates

Active Neighbourhood online feedback deadline 28 October 2020

Road Blocks / “Modal Filters” trial will run from 19 December 2020 to 19 June 2021

UPDATE: The Manchester City Council website did not mention any dates initially, then within the last week the dates were added. It seemed the dates had been removed but actually an extra page of text was added to the MCC website on 7th October HERE that still includes the dates.

A contact email for the project has also now been added: levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk


Manchester City Council still hasn’t actually informed anybody about the new plans and consultation on the proposed Active Neighbourhood but it has set a deadline for feedback.

Letters were promised to all residents, businesses, schools and community groups but so far nothing has been sent out. We were also promised a phone line to make comments and that has not yet been provided and an email address which so far doesn’t seem to exist. The new website for commenting is only available in English. No posters or information have been put up in the area informing people about the online consultation. So the only way to comment on a scheme the council hasn’t officially told anyone about yet is online HERE.

Regardless of not telling anyone about the new plans apart from a tweet from our MP, Afzal Khan, that was shared by some councillors the council has now provided a deadline when the online consultation will end on 28th October. So we won’t be able to comment on a plan the council hasn’t told anybody about after 28th October.

There are now 25 individual road blocks / “modal filters” on the new plans in Phase 1 covering Levenshulme. The Commonplace website says temporary crossings and traffic calming will be included the trial but there is no evidence of these on the new plans although part of the online consultation invites comments about these. A summary of the new plans is available HERE.

Note that the project has now been renamed “Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood”. When it was called Levenshulme Bee Network it included part of Burnage. Now it is called Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood that part of Burnage is now excluded from the trial starting in December.

The part of Burnage included in the project is now identified as “Phase 2”. The project claims it will reduce traffic in the area but the council says the Burnage area has now been excluded from the December trial “…because of the density of schools in the Cringle Brook (Phase 2) area, and issues with traffic congestion…” which is a little confusing.

The Phase 2 area covers part of Burnage Ward and was identified previously as “Cringle Park Area”, not “Cringle Brook” as the council website says. The road blocks / “modal filters” that were in the previous plans in what is now Phase 2 have been removed from the new plans and you are invited to propose ideas for Burnage Ward. No timeline is available for Phase 2.

The project was paused in the summer to allow for further and more extensive engagement with the community. The July statement from Levenshulme councillors is below for reference. Since then a new Project Manager was appointed by the council, new plans developed that seem to be almost identical to the original plans despite them receiving considerable opposition from our community and the Burnage section of the project has been removed from the trial despite Sustrans (who developed the plans for the council) saying the whole scheme needed to be trialled or it wouldn’t work.

The whole thing is ever more confusing but further updates will be provided as things develop to try and keep people informed.

“Our Future Manchester” Council Survey

Manchester City Council is half way through its ten year strategy for the city. It is now doing a survey about priorities at the half way point. You can go direct to the survey (deadline 23rd September 2020) HERE.

The questions in the survey are weighted towards prioritising issues that have already been determined but there is also opportunity to comment.

The Council’s description / introduction to the survey is below for reference or can be viewed HERE.

The current version of the “Manchester Strategy” is available HERE. The existing priorities state that the city needs to be:

  • Thriving — creating great jobs and healthy businesses that our people benefit from. 
  • Filled with talent – homegrown in all our local communities as well as the world’s best. 
  • Fair — with equal chances for all to unlock their potential, no matter where in our city they were born, or where they live. 
  • A great place to live — with loads to do, leading the way to a low-carbon future that creates new opportunities for our residents
  • Buzzing with connections — world-class transport and brilliant broadband that put all Mancunians in touch with chances to get ahead. 

The Council says:

“The challenge to now include everyone in this successful future is bigger than ever. But Manchester is determined to do it. We’ve seen, through the COVID spring of 2020, what coming together in new ways, and doing things differently, can achieve.

Help to reset Manchester’s ambition to be the place where everyone can be everything they want to be. Take the survey, tell us your priorities, share your ideas and let us know how you can play your part in moving Our Manchester on.”

Manchester City Council Strategy Survey
Continue reading

School Crossing Safety Improvements

Significant improvements are taking place to the roads around our schools as part of a road safety project by Manchester City Council. Full details of the improvements are provided below.

The schools affected in this area are:

  • Acacias Primary School
  • Alma Park Primary School
  • Chapel Street Primary School
  • Crowcroft Park Primary School
  • Levenshulme High School for Girls
  • St Mary’s Primary School
  • St Richard’s Primary School

The aims are:

  • to reduce the speed that traffic can move around the school
  • to increase the visibility of the crossing
  • to stop drivers parking on or near the crossing.  

Manchester City Council says:

“We’re committed to making the roads around our schools much safer. These improvements are essential and should encourage more families to walk to school.

The improvements have been designed specifically for each crossing location, taking into account facts and figures relating to accident data and evidence from the site and surrounding areas.

We believe that these measures will make our school neighbourhoods much safer environments, and reduce the likelihood of accidents happening.”

Manchester City Council School Road Safety Projects

The council announcements are available HERE. Work has already started on the Chapel Street Primary School improvements.

If you wish to comment on these changes you can email the council at: engcp8@manchester.gov.uk

Please note that this project is not part of the Active Neighbourhood proposals currently in development that were previously badged as Levenshulme Bee Network.

What are the changes?

Acacias Primary School

  • Burnage Lane / School Entrance
    • Zebra Crossing
    • Bollards
    • Guardrail
  • Crossley Road and Moorton Avenue
    • Speed cushions / traffic calming
    • Bollards

Alma Park Primary School and St Mary’s Primary School

  • Errwood Road / Clare Road / Buckhurst Road
  • (assumed roads as specific locations not specified apart from Buckhurst Road)
    • Flat top junction/crossing
    • Tactile paving
    • New signage
    • Renew road markings
    • Tighten Buckhurst Road junction
    • Raised puffin crossing
    • Speed cushions
    • Bollards and railings

Chapel Street Primary School

  • Barlow Road / Cromwell Grove
    • Tighten junction
    • Realign island
    • Signalised crossing
    • ‘No Waiting At Any Time’ markings
  • Broom Lane / Chapel Street
    • Speed cushions
    • New signs and road markings

Crowcroft Park Primary School / St Richard’s Primary School

  • Northmoor Road / Stovell Avenue / Wilpshire Avenue
  • (assumed roads as specific locations not specified)
    • Kerb buildout to slow traffic
    • Bollards to prevent dangerous parking
    • Dropped kerbs for increased access
    • Tactile paving
    • Refreshed road markings
    • Reduced foliage for increased visibility

Levenshulme High School for Girls

  • Burnage Lane / school gates
    • Zebra crossing
    • Bollards
    • Guardrails
  • Crossley Road/ Moorton Ave
    • Speed cushions/ traffic calming
    • Bollards

URGENT New Covid19 Restrictions

The government announced around 21.30 on Thursday 30th July that new restrictions would be introduced at midnight. The announcement was made by four tweets and one interview from the Secretary of State for Health who then did not appear on any of the main news bulletins. Nobody from the government bothered to appear.

These new restrictions are now in force. See below for the news reports from Thursday 30th July and the new government rules and press announcement released on 31st July.

The main change is nobody can visit another household either indoors or outdoors.

News Reports

BBC News report
ITV News report
Sky News Report

North West of England: local restrictions – what you can and cannot do

Find out what restrictions are in place if you live, work or travel in the North-West area and other affected areas.

Published 31 July 2020

From:Department of Health and Social Care

Contents

  1. Affected local areas
  2. Local restrictions
  3. Changes in restrictions

An outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) has been identified in parts of Greater Manchester, East Lancashire, and West Yorkshire. The government and relevant local authorities are acting together to control the spread of the virus. From 31 July 2020, if you live in these parts of Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and West Yorkshire, you should follow these rules when meeting people who you do not live with. Separate guidance advises on the similar rules imposed in Leicester.

Affected local areas

  • Greater Manchester:
    • City of Manchester
    • Trafford
    • Stockport
    • Oldham
    • Bury
    • Wigan
    • Bolton
    • Tameside
    • Rochdale
    • Salford
  • Lancashire:
    • Blackburn with Darwen
    • Burnley
    • Hyndburn
    • Pendle
    • Rossendale
  • West Yorkshire:
    • Bradford
    • Calderdale
    • Kirklees

Local restrictions

Social contact

If you live in one of the affected areas, in order to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, you should not:

  • meet people you do not live with inside a private home or garden, except where you have formed a support bubble (or for other limited exemptions to be specified in law).
  • visit someone else’s home or garden even if they live outside of the affected areas.
  • socialise with people you do not live with in other indoor public venues – such as pubs, restaurants, cafes, shops, places of worship, community centres, leisure and entertainment venues, or visitor attractions. You may attend these venues with people you live with (or are in a support bubble with), but should avoid interaction with others. If you run such a business, you should take steps to ensure people do not interact with people they do not live with, in line with COVID-19 Secure guidance.

The government will pass new laws to enforce the changes to meeting people in private homes and gardens. The police will be able to take action against those that break these rules, including asking people to disperse and issuing fixed penalty notices (starting at £100 – halving to £50 if paid in the first 14 days – and doubling for subsequent offences).

Business closures

In Blackburn with Darwen and Bradford, the following premises must remain closed by law:

  • indoor gyms
  • indoor fitness and dance studios
  • indoor sports courts and facilities
  • indoor swimming pools, including indoor facilities at water parks

Changes in restrictions

Does my household include close family members?

Your household – as defined in law – is only the people you live with. If you have formed a support bubble (which must include a single adult household i.e. people who live alone or single parents with dependent children aged under 18) these can be treated as if they are members of your household.

What will be illegal?

It will be illegal for people who do not live together to meet in a private home or garden, except for limited exceptions to be set out in law. You should not host or visit people you do not live with, unless they are in your support bubble. If you live in the affected areas, you should not visit someone’s home or garden regardless of whether this is in or outside of the restricted area.

Can I still meet indoors with people in my support bubble?

Yes. Where people from single adult households (people who live alone or single parents with dependent children aged under 18) have formed a support bubble with another household, they can continue to visit each other, stay overnight, and visit other public places as if they were one household.

Can I still meet people outdoors?

In line with the national guidance, you can continue to meet in public outdoor spaces in groups of no more than six people, unless the group includes only people from two households. You cannot meet people you do not live within a private garden.

At all times, you should socially distance from people you do not live with – unless they are in your support bubble.

I live in this area. Can I still meet with my family and friends to celebrate Eid?

Due to higher rates of infection, if you live in this area you should not host or visit friends and family in each other’s homes or gardens. It will shortly be illegal to do so, unless specific exemptions apply. You also should not meet friends and family in other venues – including restaurants or cafes.

Up to two households, or six people from any number of households may meet outdoors (excluding people’s gardens) where there is a lower risk of infection. If you do so, you should still socially distance from those you do not live with, and avoid physical contact.

You may attend a mosque or other place or worship, where Covid-19 Secure guidance applies, but you must socially distance from people outside of your household. This means maintaining a distance of 2 metres, or 1 metre with mitigations (such as wearing face coverings). We recommend at this time that, if possible, prayer/religious services take place outdoors.

Can I still go to work in this area?

Yes. People living inside and outside of this area can continue to travel in and out for work. Workplaces must implement Covid-19 Secure guidance.

I live in this area. Can I still go to cafes, restaurants, the gym and other public places?

Yes. But you should only go with members of your own household – even if you are going outside of the restricted area.

I live in the area. Can people from outside of the lockdown area visit me at my house?

No. This will be illegal.

Do I still have to shield if I live in this area?

Clinically extremely vulnerable people will no longer have to follow the shielding guidance from the 1 August, unless they live in Blackburn with Darwen in the North West and other local affected areas across England where shielding continues.

Can I visit a care home?

You should not visit friends or family in care homes, other than in exceptional circumstances. Care homes should restrict visits to these circumstances.

Can I still have my wedding if it’s in the lockdown area?

Weddings and civil partnership ceremonies in these areas can still go ahead. No more than 30 people should attend a marriage or civil partnership, where this can be safely accommodated with social distancing in a COVID-19 secure venue. Further guidance can be found here.

Large wedding receptions or parties should not currently be taking place and any celebration after the ceremony should follow the broader social distancing guidance of involving no more than two households in any location or, if outdoors, up to six people from different households.

Can I travel outside of the lockdown area to attend a wedding ceremony?

Yes.

Can I travel into the lockdown area to attend a wedding ceremony?

Yes. Weddings should be limited to no more than 30 people and subject to COVID-19 Secure guidelines.

People living outside the lockdown areas may travel into the areas to attend a wedding, but should not go into a private home or garden.

Can I still visit a place of worship in the lockdown area?

Yes, but you must socially distance from people outside of your household. This means maintaining a distance of 2 metres, or 1 metre with mitigations (e.g. face coverings). We recommend at this time that if possible prayer/religious services take place outdoors.

Can funerals still take place in the lockdown areas?

Yes. Funerals should be limited to no more than 30 people and subject to COVID-19 Secure guidelines.

People living outside the lockdown areas may travel into the areas to attend a funeral.

Can I holiday in the lockdown area, or visit shops, leisure facilities, or cafes in it?

Yes. However, you must avoid socialising with people indoors when doing so.

Can I travel in a car with someone I do not live with?

You should try not to share a vehicle with those outside your household or social bubble. If you need to, try to:

  • share the transport with the same people each time
  • keep to small groups of people at any one time
  • open windows for ventilation
  • travel side by side or behind other people, rather than facing them, where seating arrangements allow face away from each other
  • consider seating arrangements to maximise distance between people in the vehicle
  • clean your car between journeys using standard cleaning products – make sure you clean door handles and other areas that people may touch
  • ask the driver and passengers to wear a face covering

The Department for Transport has provided specific guidance on using private vehicles. Please see their guidance on private cars and other vehicles for more information on car sharing and traveling with people outside your household group.

Published 31 July 2020

Government Press Release

New rules on gatherings in some parts of Northern England

Government announces changes to rules on gatherings in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and East Lancashire after increase in COVID-19 cases

Published 30 July 2020

From:Department of Health and Social Care

placeholder

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock has this evening announced that new rules on social gatherings will be introduced in Northern England to stop the spread of COVID-19. These changes will also apply in Leicester city.

This is in response to an increasing trend in the number of cases per 100,000 people in the area, and data from PHE and the JBC which suggests transmission among households is a key infection pathway in the area.

The areas that these changes apply to are:

  • The Greater Manchester area
  • Pendle
  • Hyndburn
  • Burnley
  • Rossendale
  • Blackburn with Darwen
  • Bradford
  • Calderdale
  • Kirklees
  • Leicester City

It means people in these areas will not be permitted to mix with other households (apart from those in their support bubbles) in private homes or gardens.

Some exemptions will be put in place, including for the vulnerable.

The government will sign new regulations to make these changes legally enforceable.

The regulations will give local authorities and police forces the powers to enforce these restrictions and more details on these will be set out when the regulations are published.

Households may go to hospitality, for instance bars and pubs, but new guidance will make clear that two households should not go to hospitality together.

Meanwhile local leaders and government have today agreed a number of changes to local restrictions in other areas.

While social gathering restrictions remain in place in Leicester City, the area will benefit from the lifting of restrictions that took place on 4 July in England, and all local restrictions currently in place in the neighbouring borough of Oadby and Wigston will end.

It means from Monday 3 August restaurants, cafes, bars and hairdressers in Leicester City can get back to business but leisure centres, gyms and pools will remain closed. In addition, cinemas and museums will open and religious ceremonies will be able to take place.

And on Saturday 1 August, Luton will be brought in line with the rest of the country after significant progress has been made in controlling the virus.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:

We’re constantly looking at the latest data on the spread of coronavirus, and unfortunately we’ve seen an increasing rate of transmission in parts of Northern England.

We’ve been working with local leaders across the region, and today I chaired a meeting of the Local Action Gold Committee. Based on the data, we decided that in Greater Manchester, parts of West Yorkshire and East Lancashire we need to take immediate action to keep people safe.

The spread is largely due to households meeting and not abiding to social distancing. So from midnight tonight, people from different households will not be allowed to meet each other indoors in these areas.

We take this action with a heavy heart, but we can see increasing rates of coronavirus across Europe and are determined to do whatever is necessary to keep people safe.

The restrictions currently in place in Blackburn, announced last Friday, which saw indoor swimming pools, indoor fitness and dance studios, indoor gyms and sports facilities remaining closed, will continue.

From Saturday, these leisure facilities will open in Luton, bringing it in line with the rest of the country.

We have been working closely with local leaders across Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and East Lancashire and have made the decision to bring in new restrictions on social gatherings for selected areas.

For those preparing to celebrate Eid Al Adha this weekend with friends and family these restrictions will come as a blow but everyone is being urged to follow the new rules and to protect the ones they love from catching coronavirus.

Mosques and other places of worship have reopened for prayer and communal worship, but in a different socially distanced and COVID-19 Secure way. This means that while mosques can remain open, many will not able to welcome as many worshippers as before.

Anyone with any symptoms must isolate immediately and get a test for free by going online or ringing 119. Everyone must continue to socially distance and regularly their wash hands to help bring this virus down further so all areas of Leicester can return to normal as soon as possible.