Students at Manchester Metropolitan University have been left shocked after being offered £100 a week to live in accommodation in cities up to 30 miles away.
With September now upon us, it won’t be long before a whole raft of students from across the UK are to enter into higher education and start out lives in new towns and cities – but for those attending the Manchester’s largest university, it appears they may not get to spend as much time in the capital of the North as they had originally though.
Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) offers more than 600 courses across its five faculties, and is generally home to more than 34,000 students at any one time, but it’s now being said that the institution is going through a bit of an “accommodation crisis”, the Manchester Evening News reports.
According to reports, due to “significantly more offer-holders than anticipated”, the university has had to offer some students “temporary options” for accommodation in nearby cities and towns like Liverpool and Huddersfield.
Students waiting for accommodation to be allocated received a message on the university’s portal yesterday explaining the demand for housing in Manchester, and so were offered residence at halls that MMU said was just “a short distance away”.
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MMU assured students that the temporary halls offered to them are around a “15 minute walk” from a train station where they can then get a 40-minute train to Manchester.
Man Met students shocked after being offered £100 a week to live in halls 30 miles away / Credit: MMU
Those that have been offered accommodation in locations such as Liverpool and Huddersfield – which are both over 30 miles away from Manchester – will receive £100 a week from the university to cover additional living and travelling expenses.
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One student due to start at Manchester Metropolitan University but offered accommodation in a city away from where they’ll be studying told the MEN that “no one really knows what’s going on” and “the communication has been awful”.
“We only found this out yesterday because we’ve been told to wait for days, but obviously we weren’t them expecting to come out with a whole new city and offer us that, so it was a surprise,” the student explained.
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Addressing the reports and the accommodation crisis, a spokesperson for Manchester Metropolitan University said: “Manchester is an incredibly popular student city and there is significant demand for accommodation.
“We have offered places to our target student numbers this year and planned our accommodation based on long-term experience of how many of those offers are likely to be accepted, while also building in a considerable cushion – however, significantly more offer-holders than anticipated have been accepting and meeting the conditions of our offer.”
The city’s largest university is reportedly going through a bit of an “accommodation crisis” / Credit: MMU
The university confirmed that the issue around accommodation availability affects around 2% of undergraduate students planning to start in September.
“While we continue to work hard to secure accommodation for them in the city region, we are now providing temporary options with our private hall partners in Liverpool and Huddersfield,” the spokesperson continued.
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“We will cover travel costs to Manchester for any students who take up this offer.
“We know that this will be disappointing for them, and we are doing everything we can to find them to rooms in Manchester as soon as we can.”
Featured Image – MMU
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How and where to recycle or donate your Christmas tree in Manchester | 2026
Emily Sergeant
The new year is here, and the ’12 days of Christmas’ are up… which means it’s time for a fresh start.
Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve both feel like things of the past now, and for most of us, this is our first proper week back at work too, which means (if you haven’t already) it’s time to tackle the task of taking down and putting away all the festive decorations – even if it is one of the dullest times of the year and it signals that the magic of Christmas is over.
For those of us that opt for a real Christmas tree though, the end of the year always brings one question – now what do we do with it?
Manchester City Council has aimed to answer that very question by providing residents with a handful of different ways to recycle their Christmas trees to make sure they’re put to good use and don’t go to waste or get dumped.
Here’s the different options.
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Recycle it in your food and garden waste bin
You can recycle your Christmas tree by cutting it up and placing it in your food and garden waste bin, but you’ll need to make sure you take the following steps before doing so.
Remove all decorations and fairy lights
Take off the base or wooden block if your tree has one
Make sure the trunk is not thicker than your wrist. Wood thicker than your wrist is too big and can’t be put in the garden and food bin. Large trunks and wooden bases can be taken to a recycling centre.
Donate it to charity
Did you know you can donate your Christmas trees to charity? That’s right – for residents living in Manchester, all you’ll need to do is register your tree with national charity JustHelping, along with a donation towards the collection, and you can help a local hospice or charitable cause in the city-region.
The money raised will go to good causes in the area, including Moya Cole Hospice (previously St Anne’s Hospice), Francis House, and We Love Manchester.
You can find more information and register your tree here.
It’s time to take down and recycle our Christmas trees for another year / Credit: Myriam Olmz | Tanbir Mahmud (via Unsplash)
Take it to a local drop-off point
You can drop your real tree throughout January at:
Angel Meadow Park (entrance Old Mount Street) – M4 4HA
Wythenshawe Park and Gardens Athletics Track – M23 0PH
Heaton Park (Middleton Road entrance) – M8 4NB
Boggart Hole Clough (near the Visitor Centre) – M9 7DH
Patchett Street, off Hyde Road in Ardwick – M12 4RY
Bring it to your local recycling centres
And finally, wherever you live in Manchester, you can take your real Christmas tree – and even your artificial tree that is beyond reuse – to your local recycling centre for free of charge, but it’s worth noting that if you’re planning on using a van, pick-up truck, or a twin-axle trailer to dispose of your tree, then you’ll probably need to apply for a permit.
You can find information about your nearest recycling centre here.
Are you elsewhere in Greater Manchester? Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) has teamed up with local councils and charities across the region to provide Greater Manchester residents in all 10 boroughs with several different options for either recycling or donate their old Christmas trees.
Featured Image – Jelleke Vanooteghem (via Unsplash)
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NHS releases list of first conditions set to be eligible for new ‘online hospital’
Emily Sergeant
The first conditions that are set to be eligible for video appointments via the new NHS online hospital have been revealed.
In case you hadn’t heard, back in September of last year, the Government has announced that the NHS would be setting up an ‘online hospital’ known simply as NHS Online – which will not have a physical site and instead digitally connect patients to expert clinicians anywhere across the country.
Ultimately, this means patients can be seen faster than normal, as teams triage them quickly through the NHS App and let them book in scans at times that suit them at centres closer to their home.
NHS Online – which will begin to see its first patients in 2027 – is expected to deliver the equivalent of up to 8.5 million virtual appointments and assessments in its first three years, according to the NHS, which is four times more than an average NHS trust.
And now, the NHS has selected nine ‘common’ conditions which will be the first to be treated by the NHS Online service.
📲 Introducing NHS Online 📲
A new digital hospital will transform healthcare.
From 2027, you'll be able to get specialist care:
✅ straight to your home via the NHS App ✅ faster than a traditional hospital appointment ✅ wherever you live in England
Women’s health issues, including severe menopause symptoms and menstrual problems that can be a sign of endometriosis or fibroids, will be among the conditions available for online referrals, as will prostate problems like prostate enlargement and a raised prostate specific antigen (PSA) level, along with eye conditions including cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration.
NHS Online will also provide support for other painful and distressing conditions, such as iron deficiency anaemia and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
So, how will NHS Online work then? Well, when a patient has an appointment with their GP, they will have the option of being referred to the online hospital for their specialist care instead, and then from there, they’ll be able to book directly through the NHS App.
Once referred to the online hospital, patients will have the ability to see specialists from around the country without leaving their home or having to wait longer for a face-to-face appointment.
The NHS has released a list of the first conditions set to be eligible for the new ‘online hospital’ / Credit: Nordwood Themes (via Unsplash) | rawpixel
If they need a scan, test, or procedure, then they’ll be able to book this in at a time that suits them at Community Diagnostic Centres closer to home.
Patients will also be able to track their prescriptions and get advice on managing their condition at home too.
“We’ve selected nine common conditions which the NHS Online service will initially provide support for when it launches next year, including some women’s health issues as well as prostate problems,” commented Professor Stella Vig, who is the National Clinical Director for Elective Care at NHS England.
“We know that these conditions can be painful and difficult to cope with so providing faster, more convenient access to diagnosis and treatments will have a real and positive impact on people’s lives.”
Emily Sergeant -
1st September 2022 
