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By ROB PARSONS - August 8 2022
There were just over 5,300 people present when Manchester City Women played Manchester United (admittedly during a period of very high Covid-19 rates) this February at the club's City Football Academy.
But with the England Lionesses' Euro 22 triumph having sparked a surge of interest in women's football and a desire to promote it more widely, their next clash at the city's massive Etihad Stadium on December 11 is expected to have a far, far bigger attendance.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, part of the Greater Manchester Women's Football Board set up in June to change the game in the region, told Sophie Halle-Richards of the Manchester Evening News : "That's going to be a big moment for women's football here. I hope that will be a full house. Why shouldn't it be?
"This Euro victory was made in Manchester. I will now be telling people to get on board, get your tickets, let's fill the Etihad and let's properly show the Lionesses their achievements have already had a legacy."
Greater Manchester is home to two of the biggest Premier League clubs in the world, but attendance for Manchester United and Manchester City's women's teams has been woefully low in the past, as Sophie reports.
And whilst demand for tickets in the Women's Super League has shot up since last Sunday's final, with searches for Manchester City tickets rising by over 3,000%, there is worry that this could be short lived.
Beth Barnes, the co-founder of the Alternative Football League in Manchester who plays for Manchester Laces, wants the legacy of the Lionesses Euro win to change the traditionally sexist stigma that has previously overshadowed the women's game, and to create more excitement for the WSL.
"I love the WSL games and the tickets are really cheap. You can actually afford to take the whole family as it's nowhere near as expensive as the men's game."
Meanwhile in the North East Sophie White, who plays for South Shields Ladies , said the spotlight on women's football since last weekend had been "incredible".
She tells Sam Volpe of ChronicleLive : "It's really encouraged people on the outside to see the opportunities in women's football. Even before the Euros one of the standouts was when Newcastle Women played at St James' Park. A tier 4 team getting 20,000 fans was a massive achievement."
Railway station could be a lifeline for troubled airport
It's fair to say the timing was...interesting for the rather low-key announcement by the Department for Transport that it will pay for a new railway station at Doncaster-Sheffield Airport .
The news , which came not in a press release but a document setting out the projects being funded under the £5.7bn City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements divided between mayoral areas, arrived just weeks after it emerged the airport could soon face closure.
Its owners the Peel group sparked outrage last month by announcing last that "aviation activity on the site may no longer be commercially viable”. Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher, one of those opposing the proposed closure, said the move "opens up a whole new market to the airport" but that the funding could be taken away if the airport closes.
The Government document , which lists all the projects in areas including the Liverpool City Region and West Yorkshire given approval, says the railway station will have two 100 metre platforms and will be part of the major Gateway East development at the airport.
But Mr Fletcher told his followers on Facebook that "it appears" it will connect to the local Lincoln Line, rather than the major East Coast Main Line which connects London with Yorkshire and Scotland.
It also begs the question of why in 2020 the Department for Transport rejected a proposed £300m rail link between DSA and the East Coast Main Line because the link – requiring 7.2km of new track – “would not offer value for money”.
Former mayor and Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis said today: "While it’s welcome news that there’s progress being made to provide a rail link at the airport, it feels a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted."
Meanwhile, South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard has said the news of a bus company in the region going bust shows that the whole public transport system ‘is broken’.
Powell’s Bus, which operates around 26 services in South Yorkshire, the majority in Sheffield and Rotherham, has announced it will cease operations by today. Stagecoach Yorkshire has already said it will come in and replace some of the services affected.
Mayor Coppard said Powell’s had received financial support from his authority and the announcement was ‘another blow’ at a time when ‘operators are already failing to provide passengers with the services they need’.
Right to buy is evil, claims Labour city council leader
The leader of Newcastle City Council has branded the Government’s right to buy policy as “evil” and says it threatens the availability of housing in the city, writes Local Democracy Reporter James Robinson .
Right to buy was first introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Government and allows council tenants a chance to buy their own home at a discounted rate. However, it has long faced criticism due to the fact that the houses sold are not replaced, meaning there is less social housing for other families.
At a meeting of the city council’s overview and scrutiny committee, Cllr Doreen Huddart told Labour leader Nick Kemp – appearing before the committee for the first time as leader – she was concerned about the council’s social housing stock due to Right to Buy.
Cllr Kemp replied: “It is an evil policy that destroys the fabric of a lot of communities. There is an increasing call from the Local Government Association (LGA) to put an end to it. It is a huge pressure on us. It is part of the city’s housing strategy trying to build what the city wants, rather than what developers want to do.”
The Government has recently announced that the Right to Buy scheme will be extended to housing association tenants, which prompted criticism from the LGA. There are fears local authorities will not be able to keep pace to replace the homes that are sold.
Top charity calls for 'urgent investigation' into crab deaths
Unrest, debate and protests over huge piles of dead crustaceans on the North East and Yorkshire coastline have rumbled on since problems first started last autumn at Seaton Carew, South Gare, Redcar, Marske and Saltburn.
And now in a significant intervention a national charity has urged the government to open an “urgent investigation” into the mass die-offs of crustaceans along the coast.
The RSPB has also called for a temporary end to dredging on the River Tees, as Bill Edgar reports for the Northern Echo .
A naturally occurring algal bloom was deemed to be the likely culprit for the mass deaths in a study led by the Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
But this was countered by a report by Tim Deere-Jones, commissioned by those concerned in the fishing industry. The report said algal blooms did not occur naturally in our coastal waters in October because the temperatures were too low.
The RSPB statement said: "While algal bloom toxicity may have been a factor in October, the die-offs have continued throughout the last nine months which clearly indicates an alternative underlying cause, requiring urgent investigation.”
Meanwhile the structural problems which have dogged the landmark Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge over the River Tees are much worse than previously thought, the town's mayor has revealed.
The bridge was labelled a “death trap” after a report in 2020 found more than £3m of repairs and maintenance would be required at the iconic structure in the next decade. Efforts to find money to restore a passenger service at the bridge have continued.
But now Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston has said the problems facing the Edwardian landmark are “much worse than we were originally advised” - and warned saving it would take time and money, as Local Democracy Reporter Alex Metcalfe reports .
The mayor added: “One of the legs is actually sinking - which is damaging the steel framework - so more surveys are needed to find out the full extent of the required repair work."
Henry VIII's fortress set to be state-of-the-art university campus
They were commissioned by Henry VIII in the 16th century and have served as a medieval fortress and court buildings.
But now Carlisle 's historic Grade I listed Citadel buildings are being turned into a state-of-the-art University of Cumbria campus with a shared public realm after the plans were given the go-ahead by local planners, as Local Democracy Reporter Gareth Cavanagh writes .
The £77.5m Carlisle Citadels campus will include a medical school run jointly with Imperial College London. The site incorporates the Grade I-listed Citadel rotundas along with other heritage features, such as the Woolworths building.
Planning permission has now been approved and it is hoped construction will begin early next year. Facilities will include a 200-seater lecture theatre, café, the Carlisle Business Exchange centre and publicly accessible amenity spaces.
Councillors were told last week that the project will have a minimal impact on the character of the area and in some cases will see the return of some of the structures’ historic aspects.
David Chesser, the university's strategic lead on the project, said: "The historic nature of the site does present us with challenges, but we feel its uniqueness gives us the opportunity to bring back to life some incredible heritage assets alongside new digitally enabled, flexible teaching and academic facilities."
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Northern Stories
Many of Bradford ’s remaining “tired and outmoded” 1990s phone boxes could soon be replaced with more modern models and trees. New World Payphones has submitted applications to Bradford Council to remove phone booths and a number of linked, free standing ATM machines. In their place will be new, state of the art public phones which will “better meet the needs of society”. The company has pledged to plant a tree for every kiosk they upgrade.
Newcastle is the latest city to announce it will bid to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 . The event’s organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, previously decided the event cannot be held in the war-torn Ukraine following the Russian invasion. Newcastle City Council has announced it will join a variety of UK cities including Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield in bidding to host the annual music competition.
More problems with a crumbling Teesside hospital have been flagged up by chiefs – with a warning another £3m of repairs are needed . Surveys have found University Hospital of North Tees is seeing water seep behind concrete panels in its north and south wings – with “significant cracks” in panels. Board papers have also shown concrete is showing signs of cracking in the north wing basement. Bosses at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust lodged a £380m bid to build a new hospital to replace North Tees in autumn.
The National Railway Museum’s controversial proposals for a new central hall at its York site have been approved after a knife-edge vote . City of York Council planning committee chair Coun Chris Cullwick used his deciding vote after a four-hour discussion about the NRM’s plans, which will see the two halves of the museum united with a rotunda. The plan has attracted significant opposition from residents as it will see Leeman Road – a direct, 24/7 route to and from the city centre for around 4,000 people – cut off.
Part of Liverpool 's new Lime Street cycle lane has been ripped up just days after opening to the public . The long-awaited revamp of the major gateway around Lime Street Station and St George's Hall opened in earnest last week, with the city council welcoming the public to use the new cycle lanes in the area from August 1. But there were immediate concerns raised about potential dangers at the junction that would take cyclists from Renshaw Street towards Lime Street, crossing the busy junction outside the Adelphi Hotel.
The Great Northern Conference 2022 will take place on November 3 at University Academy 92’ in Manchester. Now in its fourth year and Bringing together key politicians, business leaders, academics and thought provoking influencers, The Great Northern Conference hosted by The Northern Powerhouse Partnership and National World will continue the debate on how best to grow the economy and build a greener, fairer, equal future for the North.
