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Mayor Andy Burnham releases statement after government announces Greater Manchester Tier 3 discussions

The statement was released together with the leaders of all ten councils in Greater Manchester.

The Manc The Manc - 14th October 2020

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.

It comes after it was announced yesterday evening that the government is set to hold a ‘gold command meeting’ today to discuss whether Greater Manchester and Lancashire need to be reclassified into Tier 3.

Today is the first day to which the new three tier restrictions system comes into effect in England.

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. 

“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.

“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.”

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.

“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,”

“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.”

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

Manchester is working to make residents with terminal illnesses exempt from paying council tax

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Patient in a hospital bed

Manchester is aiming to become one of the UK’s major cities to exempt its residents with terminal illnesses from paying council tax.

After Marie Curie’s recent ‘Dying in Poverty’ report found that around 42% of working age and 30% of pension-age residents in Manchester die while living in financial hardship, Manchester City Council has announced that it’ll be working together with the UK’s leading end of life charity to ensure that those with terminal illnesses become exempt from paying council tax.

The Council says addressing this ‘profoundly important issue’ is at the heart of a larger plan to support the most vulnerable residents in Manchester.

New proposals set out a plan for the Council to change its Discretionary Council Tax Policy (DCTP) to explicitly include a commitment to support people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

To become exempt, clinicians will need to fill out a form to confirm that a person has a progressive disease, and consequently is expected to pass away within a 12-month period.

Council Tax
Manchester is working to make residents with terminal illnesses exempt from paying council tax / Credit: gov.uk

Using DCTP, the Council will then make up the difference of any shortfall in council tax, so that in any situation where a member of the household qualifies – whether an adult, child or non-dependant – the household will have nothing to pay.

The support will then apply to the household’s council tax bill until the date of the persons death.

The Council will also be working to ensure that a ‘tell us once’ protocol is in place so that, in the event of a claimant’s passing, no undue burden will fall upon their family, and steps will also be in place to retain the discount for the remainder of the financial year to provide additional support for the passed person’s family.

Once delivered, it’s estimated that this scheme could support around 175 residents in Manchester – the majority of which would be of working age.

“The moment when you or your family member gets the devastating news of terminal illness is heartbreaking,” commented Manchester City Council leader, Cllr Bev Craig, as the plans were announced this week.

“The last thing you need to worry about is money and bills, but we know for too many people it takes up too much time and stress.

“Too many people are living in poverty in our city… and that’s why we are exempting people with a terminal illness from council tax, alongside a wider package of support with the cost of living, doing everything in our power to ensure families have one less thing to worry about during such a difficult time.

Read more:

“We want to thank Marie Curie for their vital work, and as a Council want to do all we can to ease the burden at the end of someone’s life.”

Featured Image – Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)

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Hotspur Press to be part-demolished following catastrophic fire

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Hotspur Press to be part-demolished following catastrophic fire

Manchester’s historic Hotspur Press will be partially demolished following the fire that tore through the building earlier this week.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said that part of the centuries-old mill would need to be pulled down to enable safe firefighting.

The Hotspur Press building stands just off Whitworth Street West behind Oxford Road train station, and previously operated as a printing press.

It later became a home for artist studios and creative spaces until officially becoming derelict in the late 2010s.

Despite standing empty, the magnificent old mill has been an iconic and oft-photographed landmark in Manchester, and one of only a handful left in the city centre.

But that huge fire on Monday evening has gutted the Hotspur Press, and now it will be ‘partially’ demolished.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: “Firefighters continue to work hard to bring the fire at Hotspur Press to a safe conclusion. Alongside Manchester City Council, Greater Manchester Police and partners, a decision has now been made to partially demolish the Hotspur Press building over the coming days.

“This is to enable safe firefighting and excavation in areas that are currently inaccessible, mitigating any risk to life. This will also allow safe internal investigations to begin.”

Plans have been in place to turn The Hotspur Press into a student accommodation tower block, which had included a 35-storey student tower built out of the original mill facade.

The Manc has contacted property developers Manner, who own the Hotspur Press site, to see what will happen to the space following the blaze.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

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