News round-up 29 August-2 September

Article published: Sunday, September 4th 2011

Welcome to Mule’s weekly news round up, where we bring you our pick of this week’s events. The government resorts to some unusual blue sky thinking in sorting out the housing crisis, Preston residents prepare to challenge an energy company, the council responds to critics of its youth service cuts and MediaCityUK wins a top award – though probably not the one they were hoping for…

Monday

Families worse off by £11 a week

Households are poorer by £11 per week compared to last year, a new study has found. The average weekly disposable UK household income fell by 6.4 per cent to £166 over the last twelve months according to the ASDA income Tracker, as earnings were squeezed between inflation and rising unemployment.

Unemployment in the North West rose higher than any other British region to hit 8.6 per cent in August according to the Office for National Statistics, while the Manchester Evening News (MEN) reports that the number of people claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance in Manchester increased 6.4 per cent in the last year. The ASDA study expects a further rise over 2011 and 2012 “as public sector cuts start to take effect.”

Families have also been hit by the rising cost of living as earnings fail to keep pace with inflation, with the study noting large increases in the costs of food and transport. The price of petrol increased by 15.4 per cent in the last year despite recent drops in crude oil prices, with costs expected to “remain at historic levels”. Some commentators, including US investment bank Goldman Sachs, blame much of the rise in food and fuel prices on financial speculation in global commodities markets caused by investors shifting funds away from equities following the collapse of the house price bubble.

North West housing market decline continues

House prices in the North West fell by 0.4 per cent in August, four times as fast as the national drop of 0.1 per cent according to figures from property consultants Hometrack. Prices across the country are down 3.7 per cent from last year, and are falling in 28 per cent of postcodes while rising in only 9 per cent.

London bucked the trend with its house prices rising by 0.1 per cent and it took six weeks to sell a property in the capital compared to 11 in the North West, prompting yet more identifications of a “continuing north-south divide” from analysts. Hometrack Research Director Richard Donnell noted how “since the beginning of the year, the impetus for house price rises has emanated from London, while the overall trend has been downward across all other regions.”

Housing demand is expected to fall in the autumn as “weak consumer sentiment, pressure on household incomes and the uncertain economic outlook” according to Hometrack. Lower prices may seem welcome for some, but figures from Rightmove suggest tightening access to mortgage credit as the market implodes will leave young people unable to afford a house until they are at least 37 years old. The National Housing Federation also noted that an under-supply of affordable new houses may cause a future house price boom that would drop home ownership back to 1980’s levels. Seemingly, the market whether it rises or falls is unable to provide decent livable homes – a good time for a massive expansion of public housing, perhaps?

North-South mortgage divide as households in negative equity rises

Recent research by everyone’s favourite credit rating agency, Standard and Poor’s, suggests that a growing number of people in the north of England are struggling with their mortgages as the economic downturn worsens. The decline in the housing market outside the south has led to a £17 billion increase in the value of mortgages in negative equity, which occurs when the value of the property falls below the value of the loan the owners used to buy it. In consequence over 9 per cent of loans to homeowners in the North West are in negative equity, compared to just 2.5 per cent in the south. People in the north are also one-third more likely to be behind on their mortgage payments than people in south. S&P explain the figures by pointing to the government’s program of public sector spending cuts, which are having a disproportionate impact on the North.

Tuesday

On yer boat mate

Housing minister Grant Shapps told councils this week there will be financial rewards for those who encourage residents to live on boats in a further ‘attempt’ to ease the country’s housing crisis, which has resulted in more than 100,000 people on the housing waiting list in Greater Manchester alone.

Residential boats will become eligible for the new homes bonus, where the government will match council tax on a dwelling for six years. He said ‘innovative’ ways of housing families will “play an important role in allowing people to live near to their place of work, children’s school, or family, and where perhaps they would not be able to afford to otherwise.”

It’s certainly innovative – trying to alleviate a chronic housing shortage without building or refurbishing any houses. Not to mention Shapps’s apparent lack of discomfort at boats being an only viable financial option for some families to live in. It’s just a wonder he didn’t try to pass it off as a long-term climate change adaptation policy too…

NWDA assets to be transferred

The Northwest Development Agency’s (NWDA) land assets are to be transferred to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) on 19 September. These include Ancoats Urban Village in Manchester, North Manchester Business Park and Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale.

NWDA is to be disbanded in March 2012, replaced by a number of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) including the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership.

HCA will be setting up Local Stewardship Partnerships with local authorities, LEPs, businesses and other local partners to plan the future of these public assets. Chief executive Pat Ritchie says HCA will be “building on our existing relationships with local partners to deliver the best outcome for local communities through future development and disposal of the former RDA assets.”

Will the ‘local communities’ get a say we wonder, or maybe just freebies all round for businesses?

Wednesday

MCR Property Group housing companies fined over ‘death trap’ student accommodation

Two property companies were fined for breaching building regulations and risking the lives of their tenants in student accommodation described in court as a “death trap”. Cost Design and UK Real Estate were found guilty of serious breaches of failing to meet safety standards at a development of 55 apartments at Grafton St in Ardwick, after students moved into what was described to be little more than a building site.

The firms were fined a total of £14,479 after pleading guilty at a Manchester Magistrates’ Court hearing on Wednesday 24 August. The two companies are part of MCR Property Group.

Councillor Nigel Murphy, Executive Member for the Environment, said: “Allowing this building to be occupied when it was so flagrantly unfit for occupation is inexcusable. These two MCR Group companies let their own self-interest take priority over the safety of students and the council had to step in and ensure that vital safety work was carried out before students could move back in.

“I hope this case serves as a lesson to the developers never again to put profit before safety. I also hope serves as a timely reminder to students, as they look for accommodation for the next academic year, to be very careful where they put their trust.”

NHS subcontracting

DTZ has been appointed by NHS Shared Business Services to provide property services to NHS Trusts in the North West and beyond. The global real estate advisor has been appointed as part of a framework agreement that will last for four years, and is one of a number of organisations appointed by NHS SBS.

The contract will involve providing NHS Trusts with the full range of property and estates services, including acquisitions and disposals, valuations, rent and leasing advice and estate strategies.

Frack Off

Local residents and farmers near Preston held their second meeting for the Ribble Estuary Against Fracking campaign. The group is attempting to build support ahead of a Lancashire County Council planning meeting on Wednesday 14 September which will consider granting permission for shale gas drilling at Preese Hall, Kirkham by the energy company Caudrilla Resources.

The process of hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’, used to extract the gas involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into hydrocarbon-permeated shale in order to fracture the rock and release natural gas for extraction. The method has proved controversial, with University of Manchester scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research finding that “evidence from the US suggests shale gas extraction brings a significant risk of ground and surface water contamination”, and was temporarily suspended in May following two minor earthquakes in the area.

Thursday

MediaCityUK a ‘crime against the built environment’

Peel Holdings’ MediaCityUK has been voted the ‘ugliest new building’ in the UK and won the Carbuncle Cup. The £600m development at Salford Quays, where the BBC is soon to be based, got a unanimous thumbs down from the jury consisting of architecture critics, Rowan Moore of the Observer, Hugh Pearman of the Sunday Times and the Guardian’s Jonathan Glancey.

“How uncreative can a ‘Creative Quarter’ be?” asked  Glancey, “and which truly creative person would ever want to work in such a place?”

Oh dear…all that bluster from Salford and Manchester politicians over the triumph of that gentrified eyesore. If you want the real dirt on MediaCity though, go search for it on the Salford Star website.

Manchester 42nd best city in the world to live

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Global Liveability Survey, Manchester has climbed again to reach 42 in the list of places to live. It ranks 140 cities across the world based on stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. If you want to know more about how they came to that conclusion, it’ll cost you at least $315 it seems. Perhaps that’s some sort of metaphor?

Friday

Military discipline in Greater Manchester

The Coalition government’s Free Schools Programme, which allows parents, charities and businesses to set up new schools, has predictably unearthed some rather unorthodox local champions. A report by the right-wing think tank the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is using the proposal for the so-called ‘Phoenix School’ – to be run entirely by ex-soldiers at a location in Greater Manchester – as the centrepiece of its new report Something Can Be Done.

The report written by Tom Burkard and former army captain AK Burki suggests that Britain’s first free school, run exclusively by former military personnel, should open in Greater Manchester within two years. Burkard told the BBC that the school would use military-style discipline.

Supporters think it’s the perfect way to tackle gangs and ‘problem’ children with poor discipline, and say it could be replicated across the country. Oldham is apparently the most likely location, according to the MEN, “with organisers hoping to move into pre-existing premises such as a former army barracks”.

Former army chief Lord Guthrie is backing the scheme, saying: “This would be no sticking plaster for the social problems our country faces… Rather, it would help to address deep-seated problems which are now increasingly apparent.”

Tim Knox, director of the CPS, said: “Putting troops on to our streets may control the symptoms of social breakdown, but putting troops into our schools would do far more to address the underlying problems.” Says it all, really…

Council youth spokesman replies to critics after riots

Lead councillor for youth and Executive Member for Culture and Leisure Mike Amesbury has written in response to an open letter circulated by Manchester Coalition Against the Cuts (MCAC) which criticised the closure of the city’s Youth Service.

MCAC’s letter, written in March after the announcement of the forthcoming budget cuts, said scrapping the service would lead to “more young people ‘criminalised’ as they are left to use the streets, as the Youth Centers close…vulnerable children abandoned by those with whom they can develop relationships”, and “a generation of young people abandoned”. MCAC urged the council to “adopt a strategy of resistance to these cuts so that funds can be won or located to ensure the continuation of Youth Centres in Manchester”.

In response, Amesbury said “The unfair settlement imposed on Manchester by this coalition government goes further and faster than the Tory Governments of the 1980′s. The 25 per cent reduction (£170 million) over a two year period is not consequence free when it comes to services, jobs and buildings.

“As a Labour authority we will do our utmost to mitigate the effects of this on our communities, in particular those that are in most need, in some cases we have had to explore new avenues and partnerships with the third sector.”

He added, “Of the 1,000 people that responded to the consultation (many of them young people) the majority wanted to see an improved youth provision in local communities with accessible recreation opportunities central to new services. Like your signatories, I also believed that it would be short sighted to withdraw our support from Connexions, unlike other authorities we have retained Connexions to provide information, advice, guidance and support in Manchester.

“The Valuing Young People Board that I chair, has just awarded £2 million worth of contracts to third sector groups to provide youth provision in communities throughout Manchester. On top of this Sports Development and active lifestyles provide some directly delivered recreational opportunities in our local communities.”

Amesbury also claimed that “as for your reference to the riots and youth support services nothing could be further from the truth. I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing those events in Manchester City [sic] first hand. I saw the minority of those  people that let our city down. Lots of them blokes my age and older, not exclusively the youth as some would like to portray.”

You can read his full reply here, and the original open letter to the council here.

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Comments

1. A drop in home ownership back to 1980s levels?

   That must cheer the hearts of all champagne and/or Guardian style socialists who moaned about increasing levels of home ownership during the 1980s.

   Of course, these affluent people owned their own homes then as now. They just didn’t like the idea of the riff-raff owning them too.

   Comment by simon on September 5, 2011 at 9:31 pm

2. That reminds me, I’ve run out of champagne.

   Comment by tom on September 6, 2011 at 10:28 am

3. I might be tipsy off all that Champagne but …

   Gizza Kiss Simon

   >MWAH<

   CM

   Comment by CM on September 6, 2011 at 12:03 pm

4. Or Gizza job?

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2inSqo3Q3c

   CM 😉

   Comment by CM on September 6, 2011 at 12:05 pm

5. Champagne? At lunchtime? Deary me, no wonder such dissolute lefties support the shameless greed of public sector workers

   Comment by richard on September 6, 2011 at 3:29 pm

The comments are closed.