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Here's today's Mancunian Way:
By Damon Wilkinson, Friday July 1
Hello and welcome
A 'reasonable experience' for passengers is probably the bare minimum a major international airport should be aiming for. But following a chaotic summer of long queues, staff shortages, cancelled flights and lost luggage Manchester Airport's new boss Chris Woodroofe can be forgiven trying to manage expectations.
In his first big interview since starting the job last week he's been outlining how he plans to turn things round, but in the meantime he's asking for a bit more patience from holidaymakers. We'll hear more from Mr Woodroofe in today's Mancunian Way.
Elsewhere we'll take a look at a new city centre tower block backed by a Premier League star that's been described as a 'gold-cladded monstrosity'.
And we'll also reveal what the deal is with all the shipping containers that have been piling up in Piccadilly Gardens this week.
'It's not going to be as good as it was in 2019'
Chris Woodroofe has got a big job on his hands to say the least. So in the circumstances striking a tone of cautious optimism is probably sensible.
In a wide-ranging interview with transport reporter Charlotte Cox, Manchester Airport's new MD admitted things have been 'poor' so far this year, but, with the summer holidays on the horizon, he insisted it will get better.
"It’s not going to be as good as we want it to be, it’s not going to be as good as it was in 2019 but what it will be is considerably better than it was three or four weeks ago," he said.
“The vast majority of passengers this summer are going to have a reasonable experience.”
If you're jetting off any time soon you'll still be asked to turn up three hours before your flight, but the aim is for 93 per cent of passengers to get through security in less than 30 minutes. And it's hoped this will soon rise to 95pc.
That's still some way off the benchmark at Mr Woodroofe's old stomping ground Gatwick, where the aim, in 2019, was to get 95 per cent of passengers through in five minutes. And with 50,000 passengers expected to travel through Manchester every day, there'll still be in queues of 'up to an hour' at peak times, it's predicted.
But not just security that's causing a headache. There's also problems with baggage handling, check-in, immigration, delays and cancellations. And they're all the responsibility of the outside agencies and airlines.
In a bid to tackle that Mr Woodroofe says he has already met with the UK managing director of handling agents Swissport and ABM, with special assistance firm PRM and with the boss of DHL.
A recruitment drive to replace the workers lost in mass redundancies during the pandemic is also ongoing. This year, more than a thousand staff have been hired to replace them, with 500 on the floor and another 500 going through security and background checks.
And in response to trade union criticism that airport's problems were caused by ‘slashing jobs’ to ‘boost corporate profits’ the MD was fairly bullish, insisting the business had to survive 'in order to be there tomorrow'.
An engineer by trade Mr Woodroofe says 'You won't get a sales pitch from me' and instead asked to be judged 'on what we do'.
With the airport so tied up in the region's fortunes, let's hope he comes up with the goods.
'Gold-cladded monstrosity'
Piccadilly ward councillor Sam Wheeler didn't pull his punches when it came to describing the plans for Manchester's latest tower block.
"It is a horrendously ugly building," he told the planning committee, before going on to describe the 15-storey high-rise on Store Street as a 'gold-cladded monstrosity utterly out of keeping with the surrounding area'.
Developer LW Group, who have the backing of Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita, is behind the £15m M1 Piccadilly building. It will include 54 flats, none of which are affordable, and its construction will also mean the felling of 30 trees.
LW Group have offered to pay £125,000 towards affordable housing elsewhere in the city, while the planning committee have also requested that all the lost trees are replaced.
And as for that flash colour-scheme, LW Group director Faizal Atcha said gold is 'very relevant' to Manchester.
"You go down to London and you find all different types of architecture – but in Manchester it's all brick," he added. "We just want to push through the boundaries of what can be achieved."
Covid cases soar
In worrying news health correspondent Helena Vesty reports how coronavirus is continuing its latest surge in Greater Manchester.
A total of 470 patients were admitted to the region's hospitals in just a week - an 11 per cent rise on the previous seven days - as health chiefs warn the virus is now starting a new 'wave'.
And that's not all. In the absence of mass free testing, doctors and public health officials fear infection rates are likely being heavily underreported, with one source saying 'Covid is everywhere' at the moment.
Fewer people are likely to report their results as tests now come at a cost, and there are no rules in place to make the reporting mandatory.
But even so infection rates have risen in all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester.
Weather, etc
Saturday: Cloudy with intermittent showers throughout the day. 19C.
Pollen count: High
Roads: Lane closures on the A6 Buxton Road at Hazel Grove for water man repairs. Expect delays.
Today's Manc trivia question: Who were the first band to perform at the Manchester Arena - then known as the Nynex - following its opening in 1995?
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter
Little Italy
Two world wars were the only thing that previously stopped the Madonna del Rosario procession marching through Manchester. But the pandemic has meant this weekend will be the first time in three years that the vivid legacy of Manchester's Little Italy will again fill the city's streets.
A thousand people are expected to take part in the colourful celebration of religion and culture on Sunday afternoon. The procession is headed by men from the Italian community who carry a statue of the Madonna adorned with white lilies, The Calvary, St. Anthony and banners.
Women walk in Italian dress and children who have recently taken their First Holy Communion also take part.
It will start from St Michael's RC Church in George Leigh Street, Ancoats at 1.30pm and is expected to reach St Peter’s Square by 2.30pm, and leave at 3.15pm returning to the church at 4.15pm. Chief reporter Neal Keeling has more here.
What a waster
Has the summer really started until some students have left behind a massive pile of rubbish in south Manchester? Neighbours in Withington say their streets are turned into a dumping ground at the end of each academic year when students return home.
Photos show bins overflowing and rubbish piled up in the streets, while charity shops in the area say they're unable to take donations due to the huge demand.
Julie Colville, who has lived in Withington for 28 years, said: “It’s heartbreaking. We have to live with this all summer."
Contain your excitement
If you've been confused by the shipping containers stacking up in Piccadilly Gardens this week read on.
They're being used to transform the gardens into a football fan zone for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 championships starting later this month.
They'll be a big screen to watch all the games and council bosses have revealed the the zone could be retained to host events in the future, including at Christmas, with performance spaces, community areas and children's activities all being considered. More here.
Manchester headlines
Drowned: A university student found dead after a month-long search by police had run away from his parents in a prank that turned tragic, an inquest heard. Film student Charley Gadd was found in the River Irwell by Media City on January 10 this year. More here.
Crackdown: A tattoo parlour where staff inked customers while under the influence of drink and drugs has been shut by police. Officers swooped on Stingin Ink in Chorley Old Road, Bolton, as part of a major crackdown across the town.
Accused: A former charity boss has been accused in Parliament of 'spreading misinformation' in relation to child sexual exploitation in Oldham. Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon used parliamentary privilege to accuse Raja Miah of seeking to make financial and political gain by 'spreading hate, racism, and disinformation' on his online blog. Read more
Parking spot
It's now home to the National Football Museum, but before that the land opposite the Printworks - then known as Maxwell House - was once one of the most central car parks in the city, as this aerial image from 2000 shows. It came into being after a hotel was flattened in the 1980s, but it was swept away in the huge wave of development that followed the 1996 IRA bomb and was eventually replaced by Cathedral Gardens and Urbis.
Worth a read
Greater Manchester's new Transport Commissioner banked more than £600,000 in taxpayer money after leaving Transport for London, Charlotte Cox reports. Vernon Everitt, who has vowed to ‘write the next chapter’ of the region’s transport story, was previously a director at TfL. It’s understood to be the biggest annual remuneration ever paid by TfL. He left the board in January as part of cost-saving measures, only to take up his position in Greater Manchester in May.
That's all for today
And that's all from me. Hope everyone has a good weekend. Beth will be back with you from Monday when I'll be returning to the day job. If you have any stories you would like us to feature or look into, please contact me or Beth at beth.abbit@reachplc.com or damon.wilkinson@menmedia.co.uk
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The answer to today’s trivia question, Clydebank's favourite blue-eyed soul boys Wet Wet Wet were the first band to headline the arena, on July 25, 1995
