Salford is set to see ‘play streets’ reintroduced to the borough once again 90 years after it pioneered the scheme in England.
The launch of the pilot scheme was confirmed by Salford City Council during a council meeting yesterday.
As part of the project, streets in the borough of Salford will be shut for four hours a day to allow children to safely play out and residents of the streets will be in charge of the closures with help from the council. The streets will be put forward by the residents themselves and will need at least 60% of the neighbourhood to be in favour of creating a ‘Play Street’.
The idea behind the scheme is that residents will be able to close off their street to vehicles and allow children to play safely, without the risk of oncoming traffic.
Those affected by the street closures will be consulted and Salford City Council is planning on releasing a consultation in due course, with guidance and risk assessment forms for residents who put themselves forward as organisers.
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Applications for Play Streets will only be considered on roads managed by the council, cul-de-sacs, through-route roads with low traffic numbers, and in areas with suitable alternatives for drivers.
Through traffic will be diverted, and residents who live on the streets will not have to move their cars.
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They will be free to enter or leave the street, however, will be asked to drive at ‘walking speed’ and will be escorted by a volunteer.
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This modern re-invention of the scheme is hoping to encourage young Salfordians to be more active, and to enable stronger neighbourhood bonds through the increase of friendships among children and adults.
The ‘Play Street’ project was first introduced in Salford back in the 1930s.
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It was the first place in the country to introduce a play street, and came after then Salford Chief Constable, Major Cedric Valentine Godfrey, brought the idea to the city upon seeing how the concept worked in the tightly-packed districts of The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan in New York.
Derek Antrobus – Lead Member for Planning and Sustainable Development at Salford City Council – said: “Salford, historically has been a leader in the creation of play streets.
“This is the modern version of it.
“It allows residents to close off their street for events, regular play activities, but it was a convoluted experience for people to go to and what we’ve done is to try to cut through all the red tape and make it easier for communities to create safe spaces for their children and families.
“It’s a response to what the communities were demanding and we’ve managed to address it in a very sensible way.”
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People label Beyonce the ‘Peter Kay of pop’ as pre-sale sites crash in scramble for tickets
Daisy Jackson
It’s happened again, guys – fans have managed to crash the O2 Priority website in their scramble to buy tickets, and this time it’s Beyonce who’s thrown a spanner in the works.
The star, who announced her Renaissance tour yesterday, has lured hundreds of thousands of music-lovers into the online pre-sale queues.
And the O2 Priority website hasn’t coped well at all, leading to ‘Peter Kay‘ suddenly trending on Twitter again.
The Bolton comic also managed to crash the pre-sale site with his massive return to the stage last year.
Beyonce has now been labelled the ‘Peter Kay of pop’, which is a title that would probably go way over her head.
O2 Priority has apologised for all the issues fans are experiencing, saying they’re ‘doing everything they can behind the scenes’ to cope with the phenomenal demand.
It looks like standing tickets will cost £106.80, while seated tickets are priced between £56.25 and £199.
Then the VIP packages are WILDLY expensive, priced all the way up to £2400.
One person tweeted: “what an absolute joke yet again from O2 #priority same with Peter Kay and now @Beyonce tickets – App has issues and the website sends you a code only to tell you its invalid. You knew this was coming and you failed again. A nightmare.”
Credit: Instagram, @beyoncePeter Kay. Credit: BBC
Another said about the pre-sale: “The only other person that’s crashed o2 priority is peter kay would’ve never called beyonce ‘the female peter kay’ but here we are x.”
Presented Andy Goulding posted, alongside a screenshot of an error message: “What do Beyoncé, Peter Kay and a free Greggs sausage roll on a Friday, all have in common?”
Someone else said to O2: “App not working. You would think you would learn after the Peter Kay fiasco.”
It’s also caused another weird issue, because the O2 Priority app also has a promotion on for a free Greggs mocha – one person tweeted: “You lot fully crashed the O2 priority app, I can’t even get my free greggs mocha!! Get off the damn app!! Beyoncé can wait, I need my mocha now!!”
A statement from O2 Priority said: “We apologise to anyone experiencing difficulties trying to get Beyoncé tickets through Priority. Tickets are selling and we’re seeing huge demand. We’re doing everything we can behind the scenes to help keep the app running smoothly.”
Fans were also fuming yesterday when Beyonce announced her UK tour dates – and shunned Manchester.
The 41-year-old megastar is instead going to performing three nights in London at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, plus shows in Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Sunderland.
Featured image: BBC / Instagram, @beyonce
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Greggs announces return of fan-favourite pasty – but vegans are ‘gutted’ about it
Emily Sergeant
Greggs has announced that one of its fan-favourite vegan pasties has returned for a limited time only, but vegans aren’t too happy about it.
In fact, some would go as far as to saying they are pretty “gutted”.
After teasing its comeback for the past couple of days now, with fans of the beloved bakery chain doing some hardcore sleuthing work to try and figure out what it was, Greggs finally took to social media this morning to announce that the Vegan Sausage, Bean and CheeZe Melt is back on the menu at stores nationwide.
The chain explained that after a three month hiatus from the menu to make way for the Vegan Festive Bake in November, the Vegan Sausage, Bean and CheeZe Melt is making a comeback, and is now available to tuck into from just £1.90.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the bake, the vegan-friendly version is designed to mirror the original and much-loved Sausage, Bean and Cheese Melt, and is also wrapped in layers of golden puff pastry – but instead of the classic filling, it’s loaded with pieces of vegan sausage, grated original and mozzarella flavour vegan cheeZe, and, of course, baked beans.
Greggs says the pasty’s return follows “pleas from fans”, who’ve been encouraging it to reintroduce the item back to the menu.
But if social media’s been anything to go by this morning, it looks like those pleas have been somewhat drowned out by disappointed vegans and non-meat eaters who were hoping it would be the popular Vegan Steak Bake returning instead.
Greggs announces return of fan-favourite pasty – but vegans are ‘gutted’ about it / Credit: Greggs
“What has happened to the vegan steak bake? I know I keep banging on about it, but they don’t even stock them in my local Icelands anymore. Miffed,” another fan wrote, while a third added: “The vegan steak bake is so much better than the vegan sausage, beans and cheese.”
Another fan wrote: “Gutted – was hoping for the vegan steak bake.”
While some fans seemed to be happy about it, the general consensus seems to be that the announcement was “pretty disappointing” after they were left waiting all week to find out would be returning.
For those disappointed fans though, Greggs has already launched a new selection of new meat-free menu items this month – with the introduction of the Vegan Southern Fried Chicken-Free Baguette, Vegan Chicken-Free Goujons, Vegan Chicken-Free Cajun Roll, and Warm Winter Vegetable Soup.
The Vegan Sausage, Bean and CheeZe Melt is now available in all Greggs shops across the UK.