Police are vowing to leave “no stone unturned” as they attempt to find those involved in recent large-scale disturbances in Manchester city centre.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP), Manchester City Council, and other partner organisations have joined forces in a bid to “identify and apprehend” the people involved in a number of instances in the Market Street and Piccadilly Gardens areas of the city centre over this past weekend.
Officials have claimed this “kind of behaviour will simply not be tolerated” in Manchester.
It comes after last Friday (21 July), GMP were called to two incidents in the city centre – the first involving “a large group of youths” who were congregating in the Market Street/Piccadilly Gardens area just after 3pm, and the second being after officers became aware of video footage circulating on social media of “several people fighting” on Market Street.
#UPDATE | GMP and partners join forces to leave "no stone unturned" to identify and apprehend people involved in large scale disturbances in the city centre
— Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) July 25, 2023
Three arrests were made on suspicion of public order offences after the first incident, and an adult male was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and affray following the second.
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All those arrested have been released on bail pending further investigations, GMP confirmed.
That’s not all though, as on Monday night (24 July), police were once again called to the city centre following reports of large groups of youths “causing public disorder” – which led to four police officers being assaulted, and subsequently another four people, aged between 16 to 18-years-old, being arrested on suspicion of affray.
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Investigations are currently ongoing to establish whether the three incidents are linked, GMP has revealed, and is working with the Council to “ensure every attempt is made” to identify the instigators of the disturbances.
Police will leave ‘no stone unturned’ to find youths involved in large-scale city centre disturbances / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“We are working closely with our partners to ensure that no stone is left unturned,” Chief Inspector of Neighbourhoods in the City Centre, Stephen Wiggins, assured the public.
“Our investigations are gathering at pace and we will be making more arrests.
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“As part of our large-scale investigation, we have also been undertaking extensive CCTV enquiries and acting on intelligence we have received from members of the public. Officers are being deployed in and around the area in significant numbers to provide reassurance to the local community.”
Several arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, Cllr Luthfur Rahman, says he is committed to making sure “these two unrelated incidents do not reflect Manchester city centre”.
“Together with the police we are sending out a message that we utterly condemn violent or disruptive behaviour in our city.
“We won’t allow these rare incidents to create negative perceptions about our city.
Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons
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Greater Manchester officially launches five-year climate change action plan
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has officially begun its five-year climate change action plan, with the overarching goal of becoming a net-zero city region by 2038.
The comprehensive pledge put together over a number of years itself will see Manchester City Council and the nearby local authorities put into action a number of key measures that will help to reduce not only central carbon figures but, eventually, across the 10 boroughs in turn.
Over the last 15 years, emissions have been reduced by approximately 64%, saving an estimated 44,344 tonnes of carbon through cleaner building energy, street lighting and other electronics, as well as the increasingly green and over-growing Bee Network.
They have also insisted that it isn’t just about cutting down on greenhouse gases; the aim is to make the city region and the surrounding areas more sustainable, affordable and create a better standard of life.
Our five-year plan to tackle climate change launches today. 🌏
It details how we’ll continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon we emit (the biggest contributor to climate change). 🏙️
As per the summary on the Council website, in addition to creating more efficient homes, they’re hoping to provide more access to nature and good-quality green space, “public transport you can rely on”, and “better health and wellbeing for those who live, work, study and visit here.”
With a steadily recovering local and national economy (touch wood), they’re also hoping for an influx of new jobs, too.
Summarising the key bullet points leading up to the end of the decade, these are the next steps currently outlined by the Council:
Lower carbon emissions
Grow the use of renewable energy
Improve low-carbon travel in the city
Improve air quality
Grow the city’s natural environment and boost biodiversity
Improve resilience to flooding and extreme heat
Engage and involve our workforce and our city’s communities
Reduce waste and grow reuse, repair, sharing and recycling
Support a move to a more circular economy
Minimise the negative impact of events held in the city
Develop our knowledge of our indirect emissions and lower them
Create a green financing strategy and explore new funding models for the city
Influence the environmental practices of other organisations
As for emissions, the target is now to drop the present output by another 34%, which will prevent almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from being pumped into the atmosphere.
Having touched upon the continued expansion of the Bee Network infrastructure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is also set to install multiple new travel links over the coming years, including both new tram stops and train stations – further
You can read the climate action plan in full HERE.
Manchester’s firework displays are ‘back with a bang’ as they return from 2026
Emily Sergeant
Council-organised firework displays in Manchester’s parks are set to return from next year, it has been confirmed.
You may remember that these once-popular events have not been held since 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic initially prevented them from taking place from 2020 onwards, and then following that, they remained paused on a trial basis while the Manchester City Council sought to ‘reprioritise funding’ to support a wider range of free community events across the city.
But now, as it seems, the door was never shut on their potential return.
An ‘improved financial position’ now means that the Council is in a position to bring firework events back, while also still continuing to support other community events.
Papers setting out the Council’s financial position show that fairer funding being introduced by the Government next year will leave the Council better off than previously anticipated, he the reason firework displays have been brought back into the mix.
The Council has admitted that ‘pressures remain’ after so many years of financial cuts, but this new funding creates the opportunity to invest in the things residents have said matter the most to them.
“Manchester prides itself on free community events and we know many people have missed Bonfire night firework spectaculars,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council.
“That’s why we are pleased to confirm they’ll be back by popular demand in 2026.
“We know that generations of Mancunians have enjoyed Council-organised displays and that free family events are a great way to bring people together… [and] now that this Government is actually investing in Councils like ours rather than the cuts we had since 2010, we can bring back Bonfire events.”
Emily Sergeant -
26th July 2023 
