Greater Manchester residents asked for input on development plan for nine boroughs
A consultation will run for eight weeks, inviting people to have their say on a big plan to build thousands of new homes and 55 million sq ft of office/industrial space.
Greater Manchester residents and businesspeople are being asked for their feedback on a new masterplan designed to shape how the city-region could look up to 2037.
A consultation is now open for ‘Places For Everyone’ – which is the successor to the former Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (scrapped last year when Stockport Council withdrew from the process).
New proposals are suggesting the construction of 165,000 new homes (fewer than in the earlier draft), with a 60% reduction in green belt development.
55,000 of these properties will also be classed as affordable housing, with 30,000 available for social rent.
Proposals also include 55 million sq ft of office, industrial and warehousing space.
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❓ The Places for Everyone consultation is now open until 3 October.
🏡 The plan is about determining the kind of development that will take place across nine Greater Manchester boroughs.
— Greater Manchester Combined Authority (@greatermcr) August 9, 2021
Nine of the ten Greater Manchester councils have approved Places For Everyone, with Stockport the lone exception.
The consultation is now at its final stage before being submitted to the Secretary of State.
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Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett, Chair of the Places for Everyone Joint Committee, said the plan would “decide what kind of development takes place and where” whilst “maximising the use of brownfield land and urban spaces while protecting green belt land from the risk of unplanned development.”
He added: “It will benefit our places and helps us recover from the pandemic, tackle housing inequality, and pave the way for a low-carbon economy.
“It’s important for people to know that this will be a different kind of consultation to the ones previously carried out, with questions about whether the plan meets specific criteria.
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“All nine councils have taken steps to make this consultation as open and accessible and possible, and will be engaging with residents over the next eight weeks to make sure everyone knows how they can take part and have their say.”
The consultation will run for eight weeks / Image: GMCA
The consultation is live now online and will run for eight weeks, closing on October 3.
Greater Manchester public urged to help get people ‘off the streets and on their feet’ before Christmas
Emily Sergeant
Locals are being urged to help get hundreds of people “off the streets and back on their feet” this festive season.
As the temperatures told colder by the day, and Christmas creeps closer and closer, Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity is bringing back ‘1000 Beds for Christmas’, and the massively-important initiative is aiming to provide 1,000 nights of accommodation to people at risk of homelessness before the big day arrives.
Forming part of the ongoing ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme, this festive fundraising mission is designed to provide food, shelter, warmth, and dedicated vital wrap-around support for those who need it most.
The charity says it wants to build on the “incredible success of 2023”, which raised more than £55,000 and provided 1,800 nights of accommodation.
Stockport-based property finance specialists, Together – which has supported the campaign for the last two years – has, once again, generously pledged to match every public donation for the first £20,000 raised.
Unfamiliar with the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme? Since 2017, when rough sleeping peaked, the initiative has helped ensure a significantly-higher rate of reduction in the numbers of people facing a night on streets in Greater Manchester than seen nationally.
The landmark scheme has given people the chance to rebuild their lives, while also giving them access to key services and opportunities that allows them to stay off the streets for good.
Despite the scheme’s recent success, organisations across Greater Manchester are under “a huge amount of pressure” to meet the demand for their services this winter, and given the current economic outlook, household budgets will continue to be squeezed – leaving people on the sharp end of inequality and poverty.
“Help us be a lifeline to organisations on the frontline,” Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity urged in it’s public appeal for donations.
You can help make sure ‘A Bed Every Night’ is a reality for all by donating here.
Featured Image – EthelRedThePetrolHead (via Flickr)
News
Former Manchester police officer jailed after sexually assaulting a child while on duty
Emily Sergeant
A former Manchester police officer has been jailed after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a child while he was on duty.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) explained that, on 29 December 2023, Dean Dempster was one of three officers responding to a domestic incident involving an adult and children, and it was while he was taking an account from a six-year-old girl, away from his colleagues, that he sexually abused her when he should have been there to protect her.
After GMP investigated a complaint received later that evening in relation to the incident, Dempster was immediately confronted by his supervisor when he returned to duty the next morning.
The 35-year-old was arrested that day by officers in Oldham, and then “relentlessly pursued” by GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate to “explore any further evidence of offending” in an investigation directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
A former officer has been jailed for sexually abusing a child on duty last year.
Swift action from local officers made sure Dean Dempster never stepped foot in the community again.
Our unit for professional standards has brought Dempster to justice for his despicable crimes. pic.twitter.com/IN2HQOHQEw
A review of Dempster’s electronic devices revealed “further serious offending”, GMP revealed, including the making of indecent images of children.
Sadly, the police investigation also found images on Dempster’s mobile phone taken from his body-worn video camera at the incident in December 2023 of a second clothed child, and of another clothed child at a separate incident dating back to 2022 – with the victims of both families having been made aware, and kept updated throughout the investigation
Dempster was convicted and sacked “at the earliest legal opportunity” by the Chief Constable at an accelerated misconduct hearing in May this year, and he has since admitted six counts of making indecent images, and two counts of Misconduct in Public Office.
After pleading guilty, the former officer has now been jailed for nine years, and has also been ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
Deputy Chief Constable, Terry Woods, said Dempster “represents the very worst of society”.
“He is not a police officer, he is a child sex offender, a criminal, and he has no right to be near police uniform or serve the public,” DCC added. “Dempster was rightfully arrested and charged before he could ever work in our communities again.”
The Manc -
10th August 2021 
