It has been confirmed today that Greater Manchester will be placed into Tier 4 restrictions following the second official review of the UK government’s tier system.
The new classification was announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock during a direct address to MPs in the House of Commons a few moments ago.
These changes will take effect at 0.01am tomorrow.
Announcing the new classifications, Mr Hancock said: “Unfortunately, this new variant is now spreading across most of England and cases are doubling fast [and] it is therefore necessary to apply Tier 4 measures to a wider area, including the remaining parts of the South East, as well as large parts of the Midlands, the North West, the North East and the South West.”
Lancashire, Cheshire, Warrington, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen will also move from Tier 3 restrictions into Tier 4.
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Liverpool City Region will move from Tier 2 restrictions into Tier 3, while Cumbria will from Tier 2 into Tier 4.
It comes after coronavirus (COVID-19) infection rates have continued to rise across the region – with nine out of the ten boroughs seeing increases – and the latest data now showing the region-wide infection rate looking set to top 200 cases per 100,000 people again for the first time since last month.
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Greater Manchester had previously remained under Tier 3 restrictions since the country came out of the national second lockdown at the start of December, with no changes in almost four weeks.
Tier 4
The new tier 4 restrictions will see Greater Manchester residents told to “stay at home” and not leave or be outside of their home except for specific purposes.
No household mixing is allowed – aside from support bubbles and two people meeting in public outdoor spaces – all hospitality and non-essential retail must close, except for takeaway, drive-through or delivery services, and all indoor leisure and entertainment venues must too close.
Travel is only permitted for work, education or other legally permitted reasons, and residents must not leave a Tier 4 area or stay overnight away from home.
Residents in Tiers 1 – 3 should also not enter Tier 4 areas.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is now due to make a follow-up announcement regarding the return to school ahead of the new term for millions of children across the country at 3:30pm.
The review follows widespread reports by a number of major news outlets that have been emerging over the past week or so to suggest that England could immediately head into a full lockdown, or even see additional ‘Tier 5’ restrictions imposed following the confirmation by Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier this month that a “new variant” of coronavirus has been detected in the UK, which first forced London and large parts of the South East into Tier 4 “stay at home” measures over the festive period.
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It also comes after millions more people were then moved into tougher restrictions on Boxing Day, with some six million people entering Tier 4, and a further four million people placed into Tier 3.
This thus brought the total of people in Tier 4 to 24 million, which was 43% of the population.
The approval of the new vaccine is set to accelerate UK’s immunisation campaign – with 100 million doses of the Oxford jab already ordered – and is has prompted Matt Hancock to express confidence the country could now “get out of the pandemic by spring”.
Two shots will be required for maximum effect, and the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is scheduled for 4th January.
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This is a BREAKING NEWS story – More to follow.
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For the latest information, guidance and support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK, please do refer to official sources at gov.uk/coronavirus.
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Andy Burnham launches £300k scheme to stop ‘unlawful’ illegal evictions in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Andy Burnham has launched a £300,000 pilot scheme aimed at tackling “unlawful” illegal evictions in Manchester.
It’s just one part of Greater Manchester‘s first step towards protecting tenants in all types of rented accommodation, and empowering those who feel “trapped in substandard housing“.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) says it plans to “rewire the rental system” in our region, so that it “works for people, not against them”, and to support this, the Mayor announced last week that a £600,000 package of measures has now been set out to help tenants clamp down on rogue landlords.
The Good Landlord Charter is the first of its kind in the UK, will cover social and private rented sector housing, and will work with landlords who are willing to improve the standard of the properties they rent out.
It’s aiming to set out “clear, practical, and accessible” standards to drive up the quality of renting in Greater Manchester.
Today we set out how Greater Manchester will drive forward our mission to improve housing standards by:
🔍 Giving renters the right to request a Property Check 🚫 Tackling illegal evictions 🏚️ Claiming back housing benefit from rogue landlords
— Mayor of Greater Manchester (@MayorofGM) May 16, 2024
According to GMCA, recent data has shown that,’ throughout Greater Manchester, around 23% (56,000) of private rented homes, and just under 17% (82,000) of all rented homes, do not meet the legal Decent Homes Standard’.
But since many tenants feel unable to raise complaints for fear of eviction, it’s thought the true number of substandard rentals may be as high as 40%.
This is why the Mayor has announced two more new pilot projects that will come into effect over the next 12 months.
To support the Good Landlord Charter, £300,000 will be invested in the Renters (Reform) Bill and introduce a new duty on local authorities that’ll help them tackle unlawful evictions and harassment of tenants by setting up a new team of housing law experts who’ll “provide advocacy and support” to renters, and “strengthen enforcement capacity”.
When the Renters (Reform) Bill is made law, it’ll become illegal for landlords to rent out homes that don’t meet the ‘Decent Homes Standard’, and because of this, £150,000 is also being made available to support a new pilot with Oldham Council that’ll explore how GMCA, the central Government, and local Councils can work together to claim back housing benefit from landlords who are letting out substandard homes.
“Everyone across our city-region deserves a good, safe, and secure home,” declared Mayor Andy Burnham as he launched the pilot schemes last week.
“It should be the starting point for a good life. It should not damage your health or be a source of concern and anxiety, but sadly, too many people in Greater Manchester still find themselves in those situations, and are trapped in poorly maintained properties and in fear of unlawful eviction.
“But the days of bad landlords renting out unsafe and unfit homes are coming to an end.
“This new right to a property check for all residents, backed up with new measures to protect renters and take action against rogue landlords, will empower people across Greater Manchester and put us on course to become the UK’s only Housing First city-region.”
Featured Image – Super Straho (via Unsplash)
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Manchester City fans criticised for ‘absolutely vile’ amounts of litter after Premier League title win
Danny Jones
Swathes of Manchester City fans have been criticised after obscene amounts of litter were left scattered across Cutting Room Square in Ancoats.
The unfortunate scenes were captured after Man City lifted their fourth consecutive Premier Leagueon Sunday, 19 May, securing the record-breaking title on the final day.
Since the popular city centre square is one of those closest to the Etihad Stadium, City fans obviously partied hard following the impressive achievement but disappointingly left large piles of litter behind them.
Filming the state of the area after City supporters began to clear out, one TikTok user said, “The amount of rubbish left in Ancoats by football fans is absolutely vile”.
As you can see, the floor and countless outdoor benches were covered in empty cans and bottles as the camera pans to show bins overflowing.
While you can only see a few City shirts left in the background, similar complaints have been made in previous years and there were also reports of the nearby Cotton Field Park in neighbouring New Islington being forced to close early after being ‘overwhelmed’ by fans and litter.
Although there are plenty of comments arguing that the “council should put more bins out. Simple” and that “this only happens one day a year”, just as many have condemned the behaviour as “feral”, “horrendous” and “so depressing to see”.
Others brushed it off by simply quipping, “Make Ancoats rough again”, “That’s how [it] looked 10-15 years ago anyway” and “This is actually from Barry Manilow. There’s no way City would get this many people out”.
Supporters were also criticised for invading the pitch after full-time – and trying to before the whistle had even been blown, in fact.
With a domestic double-winning title parade still set to take place next month, the chance of similar scenes of rubbish as thousands of City fans descend on the city centre is very likely.
The Blues take on Man United in another consecutive Manchester derby FA Cup final and just the second in the competition’s history.
Here’s hoping the levels of litter in and around Wembley will be less shocking.