Cyclists have been taking to social media over to express frustration at the ongoing pavement parking problems in Manchester city centre.
It comes after a frustrated cyclist shared a video this weekend documenting himself in a “traffic jam on a pavement” at a busy part of Oxford Road near All Saints Park, Manchester Metropolitan University, and a number of fast food outlets and takeaways.
The short video appeared to show a group of cars – both attended and un-attended – parked up on a wider part of the pavement.
Now it has lead many cyclists and cycling advocates to brand the particular area “horrendous” and “ridiculous” following the release of the footage and are urging the police to employ more “regular enforcement” to manage and rectify the issue going forward.
Twitter user @HarryHamishGray, who shared the video to the platform, also called out Greater Manchester Police and asked “can we have our pavement back please?”
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He also called for bollards to be installed at the location as soon as possible.
Welcome to Manchester – we do things differently around here, traffic jams on pavements pic.twitter.com/T5vR8QgFDW
Mr Gray also stated in a follow-up tweet that: “The police are here too, no fines being issued”.
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The video has amassed hundreds of likes and retweets since posting, with many too expressing their disbelief and frustration at the footage, as well going on to create a further discussion on the plans to create wider and safer accessibility for cyclists across Greater Manchester.
Criticism was also expressed at the lack of permanent action and enforcement being taken by authorities.
The discussion comes after recent hit-back from residents across the region last week at the instalment of pop-up cycling lanes across the region.
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It also follows the announcement last month that a new £85m cycling project has been outlined – dubbed the Bee Network – which will bring 55 miles of protected routes and 140 new crossings to roads throughout Greater Manchester by the end of 2021.
Greater Manchester Police appears yet to formally issue a statement on the matter addressed in the video.
However @gmptraffic did respond on Twitter asking for confirmation of the location of the incident, and agreed that “enforcement is short term [and] it needs a long term plan” such as “bollards in place”. It also went on to reassure members of the public that it is looking to “deploy some resources where [it] can the weekend”.
@cyclinggrump Hi, I’ll be honest it never will no matter how much we do. Enforcement is short term it needs a long term plan I.e bollards in place. I’ll look to deploy some resources where I can at weekend.
The full discussion can be accessed via the Twitter thread here.
You can find more information about cycling in Greater Manchester via the TfGM website here.
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M&S launches new Too Good To Go partnership – with NINE Greater Manchester stores signed up
Emily Sergeant
M&S has finally decided to partner with food waste charity, Too Good To Go.
As of yesterday, a total of 350 M&S stores across the UK – including nine major sites in Greater Manchester – now offer new Too Good To Go ‘Surprise Bags’ that are made up of surplus bakery goodies, giving customers the chance to collect quality food at a reduced price at the end of the day directly from in-store bakeries.
The launch follows a trial in a select number of UK stores, and the Surprise Bags will include bakery treats such as pastries, cookies, and fresh bread.
The partnership with Too Good To Go is the latest move in M&S Food’s work to reduce surplus food and ensure good food doesn’t go to waste.
Greater Manchester stores that will be taking part in the new Too Good To Go partnership include Manchester Market Street, Trafford Centre, Stockport, Spinningfields, Prestwich, Wigan Robin, Bolton Middlebrook, Bury The Rock, and Ashton Moss.
Each of the Surprise Bags will include three to four bakery products to a minimum retail price of £10.20 for just £3.80.
Available Monday to Saturday, customers can order their Surprise Bags through the Too Good To Go app, and collect them one hour before their local store closes.
“It’s great to be involved in this new launch with Too Good To Go to help reduce food waste,” commented Chris Parker, who is the Store Manager at M&S Bolton Middlebrook.
“Our in-store bakeries are incredibly popular with customers, and at the end of the day, customers will now be able to order and collect surprise bags offering fantastic surplus bakery products at great value.
“By finding new ways to re-purpose surplus products, we’re helping ensure more food is enjoyed rather than wasted. This partnership is another positive step towards reaching our goal of halving food waste by 2030.”
Featured Image – Supplied
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Both Manchester United and Manchester City named as teams with the least amount of local fans
Emily Sergeant
Both Manchester United and Manchester City have been identified as being teams with the least amount of local fans, according to a new survey.
We all know that supporting a local team can be seen as a mark of credibility among a certain kind of football fan, while on the flip side of that, not following a local team is often associated with being a ‘glory hunter’. But which Premier League clubs have the highest – and lowest – proportion of supporters living close to home?
Well, YouGov decided to use its profiles data to analyse the fanbases of all 20 Premier League clubs for the 2026-27 season to get the answer to this once and for all.
And it’s fair to say that it’s not looking the best for the Manchester teams.
The study found that, overall, Brighton & Hove Albion is the Premier League’s most local team – with 56% of fans based in the South East.
Sunderland (50%) and Nottingham Forest (49%) supporters are the next-most likely to live in the same region as their teams, followed by Aston Villa, Brentford, Ipswich, Leeds, Fulham, Hull, and Crystal Palace fans rounding out the top 10.
At the other end of the table, Manchester United has the second-lowest proportion of local supporters, with only a quarter based in the North West (23%), with one in six (17%) actually living in London instead.
And then as for Manchester City – who are widely considered to be the most successful team of the modern era – it has ranked fourth-bottom for local fans, as a quarter of the club’s supporters are based in the North West, with a fifth based in London (19%).
But although both United and City have found themselves towards the bottom end of the ranking, they are not the worst offenders.
That title, unfortunately, does belong to another North West team though – Liverpool.
Liverpool is the club with the lowest proportion of ‘local’ supporters, as just a fifth are based in the North West (21%) with the next highest concentration of fans can being found in London.
The Manc -
30th November 2020 
