THING OF THE WEEK
ROOFTOP RUNNERS… When it comes to outside amenity space, Glenbrook has nailed it. If you’re a keen runner who also happens to be in the market for an apartment, you could do much worse than the developer’s £60m Vox scheme in Cornbrook: no longer will you have to contend with poorly lit streets and endless puddles on your evening jog, simply head upstairs and take advantage of the rooftop running track. For those interested, you won’t have to wait too long, construction of Vox is now entering the finishing straight.
GMSFFS… Just weeks after we dared to dream that the end to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework saga was in sight, its future hangs in the balance. A cross-borough Conservative mutiny has thrown the plans into doubt, with Stockport looking odds-on to abandon the GMSF altogether. Trafford, Bury and Salford Conservatives have also rallied against Labour-led councils in a bid to halt the progression of the framework. With a Greater Manchester mayoral election in the offing in 2021, could Andy Burnham’s failure to push the GMSF through in the years since his election in 2017 spell trouble for the man some call the King of the North?
c.Кирилл Венедиктов
RASH DECISION…There could yet be salvation for the GMSF and Burnham, though. Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has made a name for himself off the pitch this year with his ability to force Conservatives into making hasty U-turns. Perhaps the mayor should consider asking the striker to sit down with Greater Manchester’s Tory councillors to see if he can rescue the GMSF. After all, the England star is on a bit of a roll at the moment; after being made an MBE, Rashford has now been awarded a City of Manchester Award by the council. If anyone can…
GHOST STATUE… Plans for a statue to commemorate a police dog who died in the line of duty have been approved by Liverpool City Council. Ghost, a German Shepherd hit by a car when tracking intruders in St Helens in 2016, will be immortalised in bronze outside Merseyside Police’s Operation Command Centre on Leeward Drive in Speke. A fitting tribute for a very good boy indeed.
FIREWORKS… The window during which the letting off of fireworks is deemed acceptable seems to widen every year. It is a time of screaming children, spooked pets and swearing out of the window trying to locate the source of your aggravation. Organised fireworks displays can be spectacular and enjoyable but a couple of noisy rockets in your neighbour’s back garden is just annoying, at least that is what one Blackpool councillor thinks. Cllr Jim Hobson, cabinet member for environment and climate change, has put forward a motion requesting that legislation be introduced to limit the potency of fireworks sold to the public. Under Hobson’s proposals, fireworks sold to your everyday person in the street would be limited to 90db, safeguarding the vulnerable and allowing the rest of us to watch TV in peace. Not the first suggestion to legislate fireworks differently, will they go up in smoke or land well?
LORD OF THE PUB...Sacha Lord, Greater Manchester’s nighttime economy advisor, has earned a lot of admirers from within the beleaguered hospitality sector for his rabble-rousing during the pandemic, and he is not finished yet. The Shiredale, a pub in Harpurhey, was about to close its doors for good before Lord stepped in and donated a five-figure sum to keep the boozer afloat. A magnanimous gesture that was gratefully received, but why this pub in particular? Alas, in the months ahead many much-loved establishments will face similar hardship, is Lord going to bail them all out? If so, he might be skint, but he’ll never have to pay for another drink in his life.
