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Hello,
Manchester’s rush hour was the second slowest moving in the UK last year, according to the TomTom Traffic Index.
The average travel time for motor vehicles was 23 minutes and 10 seconds during peak hours for a typical 10 km (6 mile) trip across the city centre. That was one minute and 10 seconds more than in 2021.
Manchester was the second slowest in the UK, just below London (36 minutes and 20 seconds average) and above Liverpool (22 mins and 20 seconds).
It means motorists in Manchester were travelling at an average speed of 16.1 miles per hour at peak times. In London they were travelling at 10.3 mph and at 16.7mph in Liverpool.
Traffic here was at its worst on Wednesday evenings between 5pm and 6pm, when it took an average of 30 minutes and 50 seconds to drive 10km.
And the worst day to travel through Manchester last year was November 2, when it took an average of 28 mins and 40 seconds to travel 10km.
The average yearly cost of driving in Manchester during rush hour was £651, while the average time spent travelling during rush hour through the year was 215 hours - the approximate time it would take to read 43 books.
Manchester Council last week announced its Active Travel Plan - aimed at improving ‘walking, wheeling and cycling throughout the city centre’.
Many of the city’s roads look set to be reduced to a 20mph limit while 40mph speed limits will be cut to to 30mph by 2028. Council bosses say it will create less pollution, better fuel efficiency and lead to fewer crashes. They also say it will make cycling safer.
London is the world’s slowest city to drive in with the longest time for a 10km journey last year out of all the 389 cities in 56 countries analysed. India’s Bengaluru had the second slowest time at 29 minutes and 10 seconds, followed by Dublin (28 minutes and 30 seconds) and Sapporo, in Japan (27 minutes and 40 seconds).
Analysis of the cost of driving - based on the price of petrol, diesel and charging an electric vehicle (EV), and taking into account the impact of congestion on fuel consumption - found that London was the world’s second most expensive city to drive in last year, behind only Hong Kong. Manchester was the 47th most expensive.
‘It was the only way to guarantee the flat’
If you’re looking to rent in Manchester at the moment, it can be very hard. Not only is it expensive, it’s also extremely competitive.
We talk about this regularly in this newsletter, but I must say I was shocked to read about Matt Hatt and his partner George, who paid a full year’s rent to secure a flat in Didsbury. The couple - who were living in Dubai at the time - didn’t even view the property before offering up the cash.
“It was the only way that we could basically guarantee somewhere and we knew it would set us apart from other tenants. We used our savings and now we’re paying ourselves back each month instead of paying the landlord,” Matt told property writer Phoebe Jobling. "It's pretty tough for people especially if they want to live in areas like Didsbury."
With the average rent in Manchester now £1,600 per month the city is becoming increasingly unaffordable. And with desperate home hunters now signing rental agreements without even viewing properties, things are getting even tougher.
Scandal-hit service hit with 'inadequate' rating
A mental health service has been served with another notice to improve after inspectors found wards for older people were unsafe.
They found nursing associates were left in charge at Woodlands Hospital in Little Hulton, Salford, as there was a lack of qualified nurses. The Care Quality Commission carried out unannounced inspections of wards for older people with mental health problems at the facility - which is run by Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust.
Inspectors found staff had failed to complete life-support training, risk assessments and handovers, care plans were incorrectly completed and wards were physically unsafe with ligature risks. The CQC has downgraded the wards' safety rating from a good to inadequate. They were given a rating of ‘requires improvement’ overall.
GMMHT was last year rocked by undercover footage broadcasted on the BBC’s Panorama programme, which appeared to show staff bullying, humiliating and mocking patients at another mental health unit - the Edenfield Centre.
The trust was served with warning notices to improve in November after inspectors found the service to be unsafe over the summer. Multiple investigations have been launched and NHS England has placed the trust 'in the equivalent of special measures’. The trust has also been under scrutiny after three young people died within nine months, with families saying staff needed to be held to account.
Health reporter Helena Vesty has been looking at the CQC report for Woodlands and has the details here.
It’s not ‘just a pub’
The UK has lost billions of pounds in income from the pub, restaurant and nightclub industry in the post-pandemic period, according to a new report.
And Greater Manchester’s nighttime economy lead, Sacha Lord, says the government has 'failed' independent business operators and the cultural sector.
The hospitality business contributed nearly £37 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) to the UK economy in 2019, but this had dropped to £24 billion by 2021.
The new figures, published by the Night Time Industries Association, come as record numbers of bars, restaurants, pubs and theatres close down. The number of people employed by the sector has also fallen from 425,000 people across 38,000 businesses in 2018, to 392,000 jobs and 34,000 businesses in 2021.
Mr Lord says the government has been engaging with hospitality, but the voices at the table are the CEOs of the big corporates. “It just highlights how much we need support. It’s not ‘just a pub’. It’s not ‘just a club’. It’s not ‘just a theatre’. We need to protect these places for future generations, because we need social activity for our own wellbeing,” he says.
'Live, Laugh, Love will tear us apart'
There’s a new Joy Division-inspired bar in the Northern Quarter that has certainly divided opinion. Disorder, on High Street, will feature a number of nods to the post-punk band, including a mural of Ian Curtis. It will serve Japanese fusion dishes 'with Manchester vibes' and host bands in the downstairs ‘dive bar’.
While many have welcomed it, Mancunian journalist and author @BeardedGenius tweeted: "I don’t want to s*** on anyone trying to make a go of a business venture in this economy, but in general Manchester needs to stop worshipping its cultural past. It’s the antithesis of the spirit all these bands shared. They were young and exciting and different, not looking back."
Meanwhile @JT7062 simply tweeted: "Live, Laugh, Love will tear us apart".
But @Post_liberal said the city ‘has to make the most of what it has’. “People on Twitter hate this because it represents the commodification of Manchester’s pop-cultural legacy but how does any city build any type of tourism industry without doing so?” they commented.
Owners Sam Koropisz and James Stewart say the venue is ‘a love letter to Manchester music’. “The idea is to bring unknown pleasures to Manchester. We’ve always spoken about doing a bar and music venue, and the space came available, so we jumped on it,” they said.
‘He gave me a conker for some reason’
Speaking of Manchester’s cultural past, The Lottery Winners are definitely a band happy to embrace it.
The Leigh four-piece worked with Happy Mondays star Shaun Ryder on their latest single Money and were delighted when he reprised his legendary ‘call the cops’ line while recording.
Frontman Thom told reporter Adam Maidment being in the studio with Shaun was a ‘strange and wonderful experience’. “He gave me a conker that he had in his pocket for some reason,” he said.
Guitarist Rob added: “Thom said, 'we need Shaun to say something like ‘call the cops'. Five minutes later, Shaun said: ‘They’ve stole my money, call the cops.’ We all went: ‘Yes! He’s said the thing! We’re putting that in.’ Shaun said that line so cheekily, it was brilliant.”
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Weather etc
- Saturday: Cloudy. 12C.
- Road closures: One lane closed due to carriageway repairs on M56 in both directions between J7 A556 Chester Road ( Bowdon ) and J5 (Manchester Airport) until February 18.
- Trains: Passengers are being warned of major delays this weekend over track closures on the East and West Coast main lines.
- Trivia question: Which members of the Happy Mondays formed Black Grape in 1993?
Manchester headlines
- No parole: Darren Vickers will not be released from jail, crime reporter John Scheerhout has revealed. The Parole Board recently met to hear the case of Vickers. The 56-year-old has already served his minimum 25 year period behind bars and became eligible to be considered for release in October. But the panel was ‘not satisfied’ Vickers was suitable for release. Vickers was jailed for the abduction and murder of eight-year-old Jamie Lavis, a schoolboy from Openshaw who he groomed and snatched after he boarded the bus he was driving. Vickers gained the trust of Jamie’s parents and fronted media appeals to find the child. He even moved in with Mr and Mrs Lavis. You can read more about the case here.
Homes: Dozens of new homes are set to be built in north Manchester as part of a council plan to sell land on the cheap in return for affordable housing. The 45 homes to be built in Charlestown and Harpurhey are the first of 500 planned. More here.
- New centre: Airline Jet2.com has opened a multi-million pound new training centre in Cheadle, near Manchester Airport. Bosses said the £8.5m centre would build on the success of the company's first training facility near Bradford, which opened in 2014. A dozen new jobs have been created and the airline said the centre would 'underpin its growth ambitions by training thousands of colleagues every year'.
Explanation: The Home Secretary has demanded an 'explanation' from Lancashire Police as to why aspects of missing Nicola Bulley’s private life were disclosed at a press conference, a source close to Suella Braverman has said. According to a source close to the Home Secretary, she received an explanation from police on Thursday evening, the PA news agency reports. More here.
Overwhelmed’: The family of Brianna Ghey have said they are 'overwhelmed by support and compassion' from across the country. Candlelit vigils have taken place across the country, including in Manchester. DCI Adam Waller, of Cheshire Police, said: “I know that the family have also been overwhelmed by the messages of support, positivity and the compassion across the country and beyond – and the thoughts of everyone at the Constabulary remains firmly with them.” A boy and a girl, both aged 15, have been charged in connection with Brianna’s murder.
Worth a read
Anyone who grew up within the M60 will no doubt have fond memories of school trips to Manchester Museum. As a child, a firm favourite of mine was the absolutely massive spider crab - an artefact that both delighted me and haunted my dreams.
Well the good news is, it’s made the cut following the museum revamp and now sits in a window facing Oxford Road, gazing out at the pedestrians with its welcoming/terrifying (delete as appropriate) pincers.
What’s On writer Ben Arnold was among the first visitors to the museum this week following a major £15 million refurbishment. It’s due to open to the public again tomorrow and as you can see from the images below, it looks great.
Established attractions are returning, including the Golden Mummies of Egypt exhibition and the historic Fossils Gallery - which now has a 100 million-year-old tenontosaurus called April. But the museum is now also home to brand new South Asia and Chinese Culture Galleries.
The Chinese Culture gallery draws on both the historical and contemporary links between Manchester and China, as well as objects from the Qing Dynasty and a stunning 20-metre scroll from the 18th century, depicting Emperor Kangxi’s birthday procession through the streets of Beijing.
Next door, the South Asia Gallery is a co-curation project with the British Museum and the South Asian community of Greater Manchester. A consortium of 30 community leaders, artists and educators joined together to tell stories drawing on stories from migration to empire.
Lead curator Nusrat Ahmed hopes to engage further diaspora communities when these galleries open. “This personalised approach humanises the gallery, telling stories about real people and their objects.”
Museum director Esme Ward says: “Ultimately, museums are extraordinary places of learning. We’re at the heart of the University of Manchester, learning and research is in our DNA. It’s not just somewhere to go and discover new things but maybe encourage you to come in and explore your own history and your own background.”
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: Shaun Ryder and Bez.
