The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has released a statement this morning regarding government discussions over potential Tier 3 reclassifications.
Mr Burnham, together with the leaders of all 10 councils in Greater Manchester and Deputy Mayor Baroness Bev Hughes have announced that they have a unified position on the government’s announcement introducing tiers of restrictions.
In the joint statement published on the GMCA website, Mr Burnham and the authorities said: “We are clear: the health of the people in the city-region is paramount and our primary focus continues to be on driving down the rates of COVID-19 infection.
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“Back in July, we took the difficult decision to agree with the government’s request for additional restrictions [and since then] our communities have been living with this patiently for months now, with no indoor mixing between households, and some of our businesses remaining shut for longer than in the rest of England.
“We are also clear that, alongside managing the virus, we need to protect people’s jobs and businesses [and] we will not let Greater Manchester be levelled down by this pandemic and the response to it.
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“We agree with the principle of having tiers of restrictions to provide simpler messages for our communities and for enforcement actions [as] this is better than a patchwork of restrictions that vary from council area to council area which are often in conflict with national messages.”
?️ "We will not let Greater Manchester be levelled down by this pandemic and the response to it."
The Leaders of all 10 councils, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, have a unified position on Government’s announcement introducing tiers of restrictions.
The statement continues: “We wrote to the government over the weekend putting forward a strong set of proposals for Greater Manchester building on Tier 2 with additional measures which will protect public health and maintain economic activity,”
“We have not yet had a substantive response to our letter [and] we do not believe we should be put into Tier 3 for two reasons.
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“First, the evidence does not currently support it.
“The rate of COVID-19 infection in Greater Manchester is much lower, at 357.6 cases per 100,000, compared to Liverpool City Region which is in Tier 3 at 488.0 cases per 100,000. Plus, our hospital admission rate is much lower than in LCR as Deputy CMO, Jonathan Van Tam, highlighted in his press conference this week. Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 7-day rolling average Covid patients in beds is at around the 225 mark and in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust it’s at the 100 mark.
“Second, the financial package accompanying Tier 3 is nowhere near sufficient to prevent severe hardship, widespread job losses and business failure.
“At the Prime Minister’s press conference on Monday, the Chief Medical Officer said that Tier 3 measures would only limit the spread if they included much more widespread business closures than the baseline of pubs. However, the Government has not put in a place an economic package to support this level of business closure.
“For that reason, we believe the Tier 3 proposal is fundamentally flawed [and] the Government is placing councils in an invidious position,”
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“We therefore reject the Government’s current drive to pile pressure on places to enter Tier 3.”
Mark Waugh
It was also revealed that a number of leaders in Greater Manchester support for calls of a “national circuit break” lockdown.
The statement continued: “If the government pursues its current strategy, we believe it will leave large parts of the North of England trapped in Tier 3 for much of the winter with all the damage that will do.
“If cases continue to rise as predicted, and the government continues to refuse to provide the substantial economic support that Tier 3 areas will need, then a number of Leaders in Greater Manchester believe a national circuit break, with the required financial support would be a preferable option.”
The statement closes out with Mr Burnham and the authorities saying they “would welcome the opportunity to have a serious discussion with the government about these important issues.” and once again re-emphasising that: “All of this should be underpinned by a full financial package to support delivery [which] includes a furlough scheme of at least 80% of wages offered to all businesses forced to close or severely affected and suffering a serious loss of trade due to restrictions.”
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It continues: “We await keenly the promised engagement and dialogue with government and stand ready to work with government to ensure we have the right measures in place in Greater Manchester with the powers and funding we need to make the restrictions work.”
You can read the statement in full via the GMCA website here.
News
Beloved plant-based independent street food business Herbivorous is set to close imminently
Danny Jones
We hate writing this, but we have news of yet another local hospitality closure as beloved Manchester-born and pioneering plant-based brand Herbivorous has confirmed they’ll soon be calling it a day.
If you can hear us sighing through the screen, apologies – we’re just getting really fed up of saying farewell to our favourites, so god knows how rubbish those involved feel.
As you can see, the team behind the multi-location vegan street food specialists began by writing: “It’s a long one so stay with me… It seems you can’t open social media at the moment without reading about another hospitality business closing down.
“Throughout 8 years of Herbivorous years we’ve come up against many challenges from Covid 5 years ago to watching all the big vegan brands from London and beyond come to Manchester and largely disappear again to the closure of Hatch our busiest site, but with continually increasing costs its becoming really difficult to maintain a thriving business.”
Herbivorous started out life back in 2016 as a cult hit at the old outdoor food, drink and entertainment hub centring around a ‘container village’, the first of its kind in the city and soon to reopen under new owners and a new name.
Since then, co-founders Robyn and Damian have gone on to expand not just to one permanent site over in Withington but with outposts in Sheffield and York, having gained a strong reputation with stalls and pop-ups all over.
Their hospitality story might not have the ending we personally would hope for, but it’s been a brilliant one for so many foodie fans – us lot included.
Nevertheless, they go on to add in the emotional statement that external pressures such as a recent bereavement and their own ever-growing family have also contributed to the decision which, despite being an understandably hard one, “feel like the right time.”
“We are so incredibly proud of how far we’ve come from spending long days slinging duck wraps from our green vintage horse box at festivals to three Herbi locations across the North of England”, they continue, “and with that we’ve also met so many fantastic people!”
“Whether you worked for us at a few festivals over [the] summer or for years at our restaurant, we just wanted to say and massive thank you! The memories will stay with us forever and, of course, how can we not mention our fabulous customers!
“Thank you all so much for choosing Herbivorous over the years. Those of you who had our food at Festivals and then found us at one of our permanent locations, those of you who came back week after week to Hatch, Spark, Withington and beyond.”
They signed off by detailing their final business days, with their Sheffield Kommune spot having already shut for refurbishment; meanwhile, their spot in SPARK York will be wrapping up on Saturday, 19 April.
As for their flagship brick-and-mortar venue here in Greater Manchester, Herbivorous Withington will be shutting on Friday, 25 April.
Once again, there’s nothing we can say other than thank you for years of delicious food, that we’re guttted to see you go, and that everyone at The Manc Group wishes you the best whatever comes next.
AJ Tracey is playing a VERY intimate gig in Manchester next month
Thomas Melia
London rapper and respected grime artist AJ Tracey is ‘live and direct’ once again, announcing a whole host of UK dates, one of which is a rather intimate gig right here in Manchester.
It’s official: one of UK rap’s leading gents is getting back on the road and he’s showing a ‘Little More Love’ to lots of cities, including Manchester.
In a post on the UK star’s socials, AJ Tracey trades his music persona for that of a sports pundit as he announces the dates for his upcoming tour while impersonating an F1 commentator.
Anyone looking to attend Tracey’s ‘Not Even A Tour’ can catch the star up and down the country on his over 20-date tour with a stop in Manchester as soon as this month.
The rapper has reached phenomenal heights since dropping the unforgettable ‘Ladbroke Grove’ in 2019 and is heading out across the nation to make sure everyone knows about it.
Get ready to spit bars left and right as this rapper’s discography is stacked with serious tunes like ‘Dinner Guest’, ‘West Ten’, ‘Thiago Silva’ and more.
More recently, he collaborated with Walsall’s finest Jorja Smith for a flirty garage beat also known as ‘Crush’ with the video being the two artists talking it out in a good old fashioned caff.
The latest collaboration with Smith marks the start of a new era for Mr. Live and direct as it fell in line with the announcement of his third studio album.
Titled Don’t Die Before You’re Dead, we’re sure he’ll be “building a vibe” wherever he goes and probably previewing a few exclusive tracks from his upcoming project too.
This gig may come as quite a surprise for any hardcore fans of the ‘Ladbroke Grove’ star as the venue in which he’s performing is definitely intimate only, holding just over 250 guests.
This rap giant is bringing his unbelievable beats to none other than the legendary small-cap city centre live music venue, The Deaf Institute, at the end of this month.
It’s safe to say you won’t get many more chances, if any, to see him in such a tight-knit space again.
AJ Tracey is bringing ‘Not Even A Tour’ to Deaf Institute in Manchester on 30 April, with tickets on sale Friday 4 April from 12 noon.
The Manc -
14th October 2020 
