Category: Politics

Community News, News, Politics

Woodhouse Park Lifestyle Centre gets green boost
Cllr Tracy Rawlins
Woodhouse Park Active Lifestyle Centre is set to launch a scheme to reduce its carbon footprint after securing a £1.2 million Government grant.
Manchester City Council has been awarded around £300,000 in the latest round of the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and will contribute the remaining £879,000 to cut 52 tonnes of carbon emissions a year by making the leisure centre and community facility more energy efficient through the installation of an air source heat pump and LED lighting.

The money has been awarded in the latest round of the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is initiated by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and delivered by Salix Finance, as part of a joint bid administered by Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The Council has previously secured around £30m in funding for carbon reduction schemes to install solar PV cells, air and ground source heat pumps, LED lighting and other energy saving features in key buildings across its estate. Since 2019/20 a 30% reduction in carbon emissions has been achieved.Work on the Woodhouse Park Active Lifestyle Centre scheme is due to be completed by the end of March 2024.

Baguley councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Environment for Manchester City Council, said:
“Our buildings are the Council’s biggest source of direct emissions and one of the areas where we are leading by example in cutting greenhouse gases. This latest scheme will be another contribution to that cause.”

And Salix Director of Programme Ian Rodger said: “We are looking forward to working with Manchester City Council on this project which will help cut carbon emissions and will make this well-used community facility more energy efficient. We will support the Council throughout this decarbonisation journey, helping it meet its net zero targets.
News, Politics

Woodhouse Park candidates line up to face the public in hustings event

Candidates fighting to represent Woodhouse Park in the May local elections will be facing voters at a hustings session on Wednesday (20th April 2022).

The hustings will begin at 7.30pm at William Temple Church, (Robinswood Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester, M22 0BU).

The candidates fighting the seat are Anna Hablak for the Liberal Democrats, Astrid Johnson for the Green Party, Sarah Judge for Labour, and Stephen McHugh for the Conservatives.

Labour are defending the seat and will be hoping to fend of a challenge from the Greens looking to secure their second seat in the ward.

Last year the Greens pulled off a shock victory, unseating Labour’s Brian O’Neil, securing their first seat on Manchester City Council in 13 years.

Anyone attending the the event can submit questions ahead of the hustings by email: hustingswhp@gmail.com

News, Politics

Tributes for Wythenshawe health justice campaigner Pete Mossman

Tributes have been paid to Peter Mossman who campaigned tirelessly to get justice for victims of a NHS treatment disaster which led to the deaths of thousands of people.

Mr Mossman, from Baguley, Wythenshawe was one of about 7,500 patients, who had been given blood transfusions infected with contaminated blood products. He died last month, aged 78.

The scandal, in which victims contracted hepatitis and HIV as a result of the contamination, was described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. A public inquiry into the scandal was set up by the government.

Mr Mossman was treated with contaminated blood and infected with hepatitis C in 1985 after discovering bruising on his leg. Immediately afterwards he became desperately ill  and later suffered worsening bleeds and severe liver damage. 

Continue reading “Tributes for Wythenshawe health justice campaigner Pete Mossman” →
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Travel industry workers’ plea for help to rescue industry and save jobs

The trade union, UNITE, staged a day of action yesterday at Manchester Airport in support of the hard-hit travel industry.

The union is calling for tailored support for the industry brought to its knees by the Covid 19 pandemic and is demanding greater transparency in the government’s traffic lights travel restriction scheme.

Unite also wants the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to be extended for the aviation sector beyond the current cut-off date of September, while government restrictions are preventing travel, to protect jobs, routes and airports and to ensure that the UK still has a viable industry when travel can safely return to normality.

Unite members and their supporters also took part, with other unions and the TUC, in a lobby of parliament organised by trade association Airlines UK, and the travel industry.

The protest was backed by Wythenshawe MP Mike Kane, Labour’s spokesperson for aviation. He said: “1.6 million jobs depend on the UK’s aviation sector which contributes £22 billion to the UK economy. This is why I am supporting #traveldayofaction.”

Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland said: “It is totally unprecedented for all areas of the aviation sector and the travel industry to come together with a joint call of action for the government.

“Hopes of a gradual recovery in the aviation sector have been placed in the deep freeze as a direct result of government policies. Therefore the government has a moral duty to act and act swiftly.

“Aviation is essential to the long-term success of the UK’s economy, and to keeping people connected. If a meaningful, sustainable and resilient industry is going to be in place when travel can return, then the government must provide immediate support for the workers who will make this happen.”

Community News, Politics

Sun power for Wythenshawe Forum in bid to cut emissions
Wythenshawe Forum

Wythenshawe Forum is now powered by solar electricity, with the installation of a new photovoltaic array on the building’s roof completed.  

New carbon-saving features for the popular community hub are set to reduce emissions by 121 tonnes per year, while also saving more than £50,000 in energy costs annually.  

To complement the solar array, 1,386 of the Forum’s light fittings are being upgraded to LED, reducing their energy consumption by 70 per cent, with a new and more efficient lighting control system also installed.

The upgrade is part of a £25m project by Manchester City Council to reduce carbon emissions across the City, which is seeing retrofitting work carried out across its buildings working towards achieving its zero-carbon goal by 2038 at the latest.  

The £10m first phase of the council’s programme, to retrofit its highest emission buildings, is drawing to a close and will achieve an emissions cut of 1,600 tonnes a year.  New solar installations are underway at Moss Side Leisure Centre, Hough End Leisure Centre, East Manchester Leisure Centre, Arcadia Library & Leisure Centre, the Manchester Tennis & Football Centre, Belle Vue Leisure Centre, the Space Project and the Sharp Project.  

Work to enable a £15m second phase of the programme, which will reduce emissions by a further 3,000 tonnes a year, is now progressing.  

Since 2009/10, the Council has already reduced its annual direct carbon emissions by more than 50 per cent.  In March 2020, it agreed a landmark Climate Change Action Plan 2020-25, setting out an ambitious target to halve its emissions again in the space of just five years – from around 32,000 tonnes a year to around 16,000 tonnes a year.  
 
Executive Member for the Environment, Planning and Transport, Councillor Angeliki Stogia, said: “This project to modernise the energy supply for Wythenshawe Forum is a great example of the work which is happening right across the city to cut carbon emissions from the Council’s buildings as quickly as possible. 

“Wythenshawe Forum’s solar power installation will help to reduce the Council’s direct carbon emissions, as part of our radical proposals to rebuild a greener Manchester in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Having declared a climate emergency, we’re committed to doing everything within our power to rapidly reduce the Council’s carbon emissions, in line with science-based targets which comply with the Paris Agreement.”

Eddie Flanagan, chief executive of Wythenshawe Forum Trust said: “As one of Manchester’s largest public buildings and a busy community hub, it’s essential that we support and contribute to the city’s carbon reduction targets. This has been a complex project, affecting almost all of the Forum and has needed buy-in from all of our stakeholders. We are looking forward to the new equipment and technology coming online this year, which will bring significant reductions in carbon emissions and energy costs.”