Joanne Roney: Last News

A festival of football will be coming to Manchester to celebrate the countdown to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 tournament this summer.

direct to your inboxThe awarding of a 250-year lease to allow for a controversial glass tower to be built in Manchester’s Northern Quarter did not need extra scrutiny, councillors have heard.Salboy, the firm owned by billionaire bookie Fred Done, had plans for a 17-storey office block opposite Shudehill bus station approved last June despite fierce opposition over recent years.The decision was made by the council’s chief executive Joanne Roney under delegated powers during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic.Last month, Ms Roney also agreed to grant the long-term lease of 1-3 Back Turner Street, 30-32 Shudehill and 1-3 Nicholas Croft to pave the way for the development.The move led to calls from Labour councillors in Piccadilly, who

direct to your inboxTributes are being paid to an inspirational community worker who dedicated her life and career to helping others, after her tragic death.Nahla Eljack, a mother-of-two, was 50.She passed away in hospital from Covid-19 earlier this month.Nahla worked for Manchester city council as a neighbourhood officer in Chorlton and was a passionate women's rights activist.She was also heavily involved in the creation of the Manchester Refugee Charter, which has been endorsed by more than 100 individuals and organisations including the council, her family revealed.The council's chief executive, Joanne Roney, said Nahla, who lived with her family in Sale, Trafford, was 'someone who made things happen and made a difference'.She died at

“Their memories will endure and Manchester will never forget them.

Manchester city council has been accused of using the coronavirus lockdown to approve controversial housing schemes 'behind closed doors'.

including an updated application relating to a long-disputed tower block on Shudehill, were green-lit by Joanne Roney under powers delegated to her by councillors during the early days of the pandemic. That was in spite of the Labour group’s secretary, Pat Karney, emailing members last Monday to promise ‘all current planning applications will go to the full committee’, a decision that was to be implemented ‘immediately’ by the committee chair, Coun Basil Curley.Four days later three more applications were again decided in private under delegated powers.

got the go ahead to build the striking 17-storey building in the Northern Quarter last year.

Plans for more than 400 new homes across Manchester have become the latest to be signed off by the council’s chief executive - instead of the city’s planning committee.

New council houses, huge tower blocks and the further redevelopment of a former bus depot are among the latest plans to be ruled on by Manchester’s top civil servant.