Hyde Masterplan

The first look at a masterplan for how Hyde could be rejuvenated over the next two decades has been revealed.

A four-week public consultation will launch in May to get people's views on the new vision for Hyde town centre, which aims at 'unlocking' its 'comprehensive redevelopment'.

The programme is envisioned to take 15 to 20 years, with both short and long-term goals being set by the local authority.

The draft proposals aim to make Hyde a ‘desirable place to live, socialise and shop’ and a ‘thriving hub for daily urban life’, reversing a decline in its ‘viability and vitality’.

Once adopted it will act as a ‘material consideration’ as part of any planning applications that are submitted in the area in the future.

“Cultural resurgence is at the heart of the masterplan and this will define the area’s future reinforcing its distinctive character, allowing Hyde to flourish and find its own identity within the context of Greater Manchester and the North West,” a cabinet report states.

As part of the plans, the Town Hall could be re-purposed to be a vibrant cultural hub for Hyde and the wider borough, with the newly pedestrianised areas around it creating a flexible space for its activities to ‘spill out’, officers say.

The markets could be re-located to new, ‘high quality facilities in a prime location’ on Market Place. Meanwhile Market Square would become a ‘flexible, high quality public realm environment’ suitable for markets and events.

The re-imagined shopping area is aimed at creating a welcoming shopping and residential area, with wide tree lined streets connecting all areas of the town centre.

And chiefs are considering the ‘rationalisation and relocation’ of parking areas to create ‘high quality’ development sites for the town centre to grow into with a new ‘diverse’ offer.

The masterplan also includes improved public space area and traffic calming to creating safe pedestrian routes from public transport and facilities.

Director of place, Julian Jackson said: “It’s a plan that will position Hyde town centre for future investment and funding opportunities coming forward.”

Councillor Joe Kitchen, ward member for Hyde Godley, told the cabinet meeting: “This is the kickstart I think that Hyde needs.”

To date 1,254 responses were received to a fact-finding questionnaire about the town, and 250 people ‘of all ages and backgrounds’ attended at a drop-in event in the Clarendon Shopping Centre.

“Responses received from the fact finding exercise demonstrate that there is local pride in Hyde,” officers state.

“People want to see improvements to the town and for Hyde to become a place where there are good quality services and diverse offer for everyone throughout the day and night time.

“The draft masterplan aims to identify interventions in order to ensure a step change in the regeneration of Hyde.”

Following the consultation in March, comments will be reviewed and it is expected that the cabinet will adopt a formal masterplan in August.

The Hyde Town Centre Delivery Group – which has been recently established – will steer and support the preparation, development and implementation of the masterplan and deliver its vision, the report adds.

https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/news/tameside-reporter/first-look-at-masterplan-to-rejuvenate-hyde-town-centre/

Tameside Council has appointed HemingwayDesign and GL Hearn to lead the development of its new vision, masterplan and strategy for Hyde town centre.

Bringing with them expertise and a proven track record in urban design and developing successful and innovative visions and masterplans and a strong track record of proposals being delivered for other towns across the UK they will provide a welcome boost to the ambition to regenerate Hyde town centre.

Hyde plays a significant role in Tameside’s Inclusive Growth Strategy. It was named as one of 70 towns across the country to take part in the Government’s High Street Task Force programme and is part of the Hyde Triangle alongside, Godley Green and Hattersley, which has been identified as one of the Greater Manchester Growth locations and a great opportunity to regenerate the area.

The team is starting its fact finding journey by opening with a survey to gain views, perceptions and a wish list for what local residents, communities and stakeholders from Hyde and across the borough want and need from the town centre.

These views will kick-start the process and will be followed with a further public consultation exercise in early 2023 when masterplan options have been developed.

The planning team is also joining forces with the Hyde High Street Task Force Team and The Martin Property Group, which recently acquired the Clarendon Square Centre, adding their weight to the plans as it is keen to support the vision to improve the future of the town centre and ensure its success.

Wayne Hemingway, partner at HemingwayDesign, said: “It is no secret that town centres have to adapt with changing times.

“As we evolve our shopping and social habits, it’s important we move forward to meet the needs and tastes of new generations.

“Things have been moving particularly fast these last few years and there has never been a better time for Hyde town centre to make some purposeful, forward thinking moves. HemingwayDesign and GL Hearn have significant experience but our success comes from listening to the people who know best, the people who live, work, visit, or pass through a town.”

Cllr Vimal Choksi, executive member (towns and communities), said: “It is really exciting and we are pleased to be working with such a great team with a strong track record.*

* Please be aware that the company which owns and sets the high rent for the Clarendon centre is Martin Property Group, I would challenge the strong track record statement from the councilor. As residents of Hyde have seen, a dissolving of their shops and independents cant afford to rent the properties inside unless they get charitable rates and discounts. We should expect more of the same.

“We cannot solve problems with the kind of thinking we employed when we came up with them.”

“We are committed to improving and regenerating all our town centres to support our economic growth priorities, making them a place the whole community can enjoy. It will be great to watch the vision and plans start to take shape.

“At this stage, views are a valuable part of the process and will sit at heart of the plans for Hyde town centre, in order for the process to be a success, we want everyone to have their say.”

Gary Martin, of Martin Property Group, said: “The council and The Martin Property Group have a shared ambition to improve Hyde town centre.

“The Clarendon Centre sits at the heart of the town and the local community and we are pleased to be working in partnership with Tameside Council to look at ways to improve the centre, to continue to support our tenants and to enhance the quality and diversity of the offer for the people of Hyde.”

The survey was open for a period of six weeks from Tuesday, January 3, 2023. www.thinkhydetowncentre.co.uk

Tameside's COVID-19 rapid testing programme is now underway

The rapid testing programme is being used to help detect and fight COVID-19. It uses lateral flow tests and the programme is only for people showing no symptoms. The tests are free.

Targeted COVID-19 Rapid Testing for key workers with no Symptoms

What is the rapid testing programme?

We are making those eligible aware and inviting them to get tested at an Asymptomatic Testing Centre (ATS)

You must not turn up to be tested at an ATS if you have any symptoms. If you have symptoms, Please book a PCR test at https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or call 119.

If you’ve been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, you may be entitled to a £500 payment.

Are you:
✅employed or self employed?
✅on a low income?
✅unable to work from home?
✅losing income through self-isolating?

Find out more:https://t.co/ztUUQdrZlX

— Tameside Council (@TamesideCouncil) January 24, 2021

Who can access the rapid testing programme?

Across the borough of Tameside frontline workers showing no symptoms can be rapid tested. If you're unable to work from home and need to come into contact with others at work you'll be eligible for rapid testing.

The tests are aimed at key workers like health and social care staff, nurseries and early years staff, carers, taxi drivers, other transport workers, those working in manufacturing and retail, police, fire, retail workers and frontline utility staff.

If you have had a Covid vaccination it is still important to come for rapid lateral flow testing as it is still possible to become infected with Covid, not have symptoms and pass it on to others.
If you have had Covid it is still important to come for rapid lateral flow testing. This is because it is possible to catch Covid twice and people’s antibodies decline at differing rates.

How do I get tested?
You don't need to book, you can simply turn up at one of the rapid testing centres across the borough and bring ID and proof of occupation.
We're encouraging you to get tested every week to provide greater protection to both yourself and others.

Where are the rapid test centres, and when are they open?

Dukinfield Town Hall Chapel Street entrance
King Street, Dukinfield, SK16 4LA Monday - Friday 7am-7pm

Stalybridge Civic Hall - (Old Market Hall) entrance near the Statue
Trinity Street, Stalybridge SK15 2BN Monday – Friday 9am-5pm

What will happen at the rapid test centres?

You'll need to ensure you follow the instructions carefully at the test centre at all times.

1. You should wear a face covering at all times except when the test is taking place, unless you're exempt.
2. You'll be asked to register your test ideally using your own device such as a a smart phone with QR reader. If you don't have access to a device we'll be able to help you register.
3. You will be guided to a booth where you'll follow a step-by-step guide to self-administer the test.
4. The test should take you no longer than a few minutes to complete and is similar to a COVID-19 test for when you've symptoms.

Your test results

You should receive your results by text or email after 30 minutes of having your test.

If you test negative this does not guarantee that you do not have Covid so you must continue to follow COVID-19 measures. You should also continue to get tested weekly to provide greater protection to both yourself and others.

If you test positive, you'll need to:
Self-isolate immediately.
Book a PCR test or get a home test. If that also comes back positive, you and your household will be required by law to continue isolating for 10 days from the date of your rapid test.

Book a PCR or home test.
If you're isolating, unable to work and on low income you can find out if you're eligible for a £500 Test and Trace Support Payment.

Tameside Leaders warn ‘exponential rise’ in new Covid-19 cases

More than 9,000 people have already been vaccinated in Tameside but bosses warn the borough is facing an ‘exponential rise’ in new Covid-19 cases.

Greater Manchester is currently locked down for the third time as part of tough nationwide measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

A new more transmissible strain of the virus is now circulating in the region, which is also seeing infection rates and hospital admissions increase again.

Leaders say that locally infections have ‘doubled in recent days’ and the lockdown, with its ‘stay at home’ rules, has come at a crucial time to protect the NHS and save lives.

Chiefs say that despite Tameside’s rates being generally lower than many other parts of the country during the previous tier restrictions, they were ‘still too high’.

And the impact of Christmas and the increased spread from the south to the north of the new more transmissible Covid-19 variant means the borough has started to see an ‘exponential rise’.

As of Tuesday, January 5 the infection rate per 100,000 people in Tameside has risen to 287, an increase of 72pc from the previous week.

The council’s director of public health Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy said: “The timing of this latest national lockdown is crucial as we must act now to have the best chance of getting a grip on our local Covid rates, which have now started to rise exponentially.

“The new variant of Covid that is increasing nationally is far more transmissible, meaning you are much likely to catch it and much more likely to pass it on to others.

“Every contact you have is a huge risk and you need to act at all times like you have Covid to safeguard against the risk of you passing it on and someone falling very ill or even dying as a result.”

She added that people must stay home ‘wherever possible’ and be ‘extra vigilant’ about washing their hands, wearing a face covering and social distancing.

The current lockdown rules mean people cannot leave their homes except for specified and limited reasons, including essential medical needs and food shopping, exercise and work for those who cannot do so from home.

However council leader Brenda Warrington said they are making progress with the vaccination programme across the borough which was a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.

“The good news is the Covid vaccination rollout in Tameside and Glossop is going exceptionally well – with over 9,000 people having had their first vaccination already and I’m pleased to say that, subject to the receipt of adequate further vaccine supply, we are well on track to getting everyone in the top priority groups vaccinated by mid February,” she added.

“My heart totally goes out to everyone – individuals, families and businesses – who have already experienced such a difficult year and made ongoing sacrifices they could never have previously imagined.

“But even more importantly, we all need to remember the people and families whose lives have been seriously affected by Covid and do everything we can to prevent further loss of lives and people falling very ill from the disease.

“The tough new restrictions including the ‘stay at home’ rule will have a huge and positive impact on preventing the number of local people getting very poorly and being admitted to hospital with Covid.

“And while the lockdown is yet another bitter pill to swallow, it could make the difference in preventing someone you know, love and care about falling ill with the virus.

“So I urge everyone to please stick to the rules – no one wants to put these restrictions on people’s lives but they are here to protect us all and ensure we can all look forward to better times very soon.”

Tameside is now the Covid death capital of the UK

Tameside records highest proportion of Covid deaths in UK

Public health official puts high figure down to early testing but local MP questions hospital infection controls

Article in the Guardian regarding Tameside. 

Link to Article

UK coronavirus death toll passes 75,000

Guardian Journalist Helen Pidd, North of England editor wrote on Tue 1 Dec 2020 that there are certain places in Britain that are used to being at the top of all the wrong league tables – seaside towns with the highest rates of deprivation, former industrial powerhouses now better known for their unemployment levels than the ships they once made.

Tameside is not one of them. One of Greater Manchester’s less famous boroughs, it is home to 226,000 people who live in a collection of former industrial towns and villages on the border with Derbyshire, overlooked by the Saddleworth moors and Peak District hills.

It may come as something of a shock to them to learn that Tameside is now the Covid death capital of the UK, with proportionally more residents having died with coronavirus than anywhere else in the country.

As of Tuesday, 500 people had died with Covid on their death certificate in Tameside this year, amounting to 221 people per 100,000. Of those 500, 396 passed away in hospital, 78 in a care home, 15 at home, nine in a hospice, one in “another communal establishment”, and one elsewhere.

It is not the first time Tameside has made headlines for macabre reasons. Hyde, a local town, was home to Harold Shipman, Britain’s most prolific serial killer, a GP who killed at least 250 of his patients over 23 years. For a while until their arrest, the Moors murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, also lived in Hattersley, a Tameside suburb.

Public Health England

Statistics from Public Health England show the health of people in Tameside is generally worse than average, with high levels of smoking, obesity and physical inactivity. A disproportionate number of Tamesiders die from cardiovascular disease and cancer too.

On the index of multiple deprivation – which ranks local authorities in England by various factors including health outcomes, unemployment levels and educational attainment – Tameside comes 20th out of 151. Blackpool is first, yet has seen far fewer Covid deaths: 203 as of Monday, amounting to 163 per 100,000.

However, the message from Jeanelle de Gruchy, Tameside’s director of public health, is: don’t panic. Part of the reason the area has had so many Covid deaths is because Tameside started testing earlier than almost anywhere else during the first wave

“In Tameside we moved quickly to try and identify and support those with Covid,” she said. “The measure of deaths within 28 days of a positive test in part, reflects our high testing rates both in the hospital, in the community and other settings for example, care homes meaning we have identified people who contracted Covid, even where this was not the eventual cause of their death.”

Looking at the current, second wave, Tameside is no longer top of the deaths table; it is 24th.

De Gruchy said: “Infection rates are now the lowest they have been since mid-September.”

She also suggested a better measure would be the age-adjusted figures for all causes of death, which have not yet been released for recent months. That would show which areas had the highest number of excess deaths.

Still, the Labour MP Andrew Gwynne, who represents Denton and Reddish, suggested the local hospital, Tameside General, had questions to answer about how many of those who died caught Covid after being admitted.

“There is anecdotal evidence that Covid got into non-Covid wards. I don’t know how correct that is, but I am asking these questions of the trust,” Gwynne said. “These things do concern me because in terms of successful infection control, you need to keep the virus away from those who are incredibly vulnerable in hospital.”

He said he thought that in the first wave the hospital’s “ability to isolate the most vulnerable from Covid wasn’t as successful as it could have been”.

During one week in September, a third of all Covid-19 deaths in England’s hospitals occurred in Tameside General (18 out of 52). At the time, the trust admitted it was dealing with an outbreak, but this week it said it could not confirm how many patients had caught Covid-19 in the hospital – what’s known as nosocomial infections. 

A spokesman for Tameside and Glossop integrated care NHS foundation trust, said: “The latest data on nosocomial infections actually shows that the hospital is in line with the national median and better than the average for the north-west of England.

The coronavirus infection rates across Greater Manchester in the week ending November 27.

This is the first time it has dropped below 200 since September 23.

“The hospital has rigorous infection prevention control measures in place, and the public can help support this action by following the government advice around hands, face and space.”

Active Tameside director feared he wouldn’t recover from COVID-19

Director of Health & Social outcomes at Active Tameside, Shaun Higgins, has told how he was hospitalised with Coronavirus to help highlight the severity of the virus, even in those particularly fit and active, and to urge people to take steps to stop the spread.

The 51-year-old, from Newton, Hyde was unfortunate enough to contract COVID-19 and fall seriously ill in March.

Shaun has Type 1 diabetes and told of how he suffered with extreme nausea and vomiting over 24 hours, before being admitted to hospital where it was confirmed that he had COVID-19. The virus had unbalanced his diabetes and made him very ill.

He then proceeded to develop more commonly recognised COVID-19 symptoms such as a lack of taste and smell, which he continues to experience even now almost six months later.

Shaun remained in Tameside Hospital for eight days before returning home where he was told he would be safer.

Shaun said: “It was quite scary as stories of COVID-19 were all over the media and sometimes I did really feel that I wasn’t coming out of this.”

Whilst he said he could not speak highly enough of the care and treatment he was given by hospital staff, it was very difficult experience which has taken not just a physical but also an emotional toll on Shaun.

He said: “Even five days after leaving hospital I was still very sick and unable to eat, having to be stabilised at home. After that I spent the next three weeks in bed, and even then I was only able to get up for a couple of hours a day, which for someone as typically active as me was very difficult.”

“I’ve never been much of an emotional person but there were times when I was just breaking down even when I was on the road to recovery.”

“I was off work for 10 weeks and although I’ve now returned, physical exertion still really takes it out of me. I’m also suffering with short term memory loss which can be a side effect of COVID-19 and have not got my sense of taste and smell back properly.”

Tameside Council Executive Leader Cllr Brenda Warrington said: “It’s encouraging to hear of Shaun being on the road to recovery, but this should act as a cautionary tale of how severely this virus can affect people, even those who lead a very active lifestyle like Shaun.”

“As cases are on the rise it is more vital than ever that we all work together to protect our Tameside community by following guidelines strictly, and being vigilant towards the risks.”

Shaun added: “Being on that side of it, you understand what the potential risks of the virus are; it’s key that people comply with social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands.

“You hope that people will act in community spirit, self-policing and telling other people. I think that’s what it’s going to take for people to understand.”

It’s simple and it works, residents are urged to adhere to the coronavirus guidance to keep each other safe and help prevent more people’s lives being seriously impacted like Shaun’s;

Do not socialise with anyone you don’t live with, or that isn’t in your support bubble anywhere indoors or in your garden. If you are outdoors in public, do not gather in groups of more than six.

• Keep your social distance.
• Wash your hands regularly.
• Self-isolate if you have symptoms or are identified as a close contact.
• Wear a face covering.

If you develop any of these symptoms:
A high temperature.
A new, continuous cough.
A loss of, or a change in, your normal sense of smell or taste.

Book a test or order a home testing kit by visiting: www.nhs.uk/coronavirus or calling 119.

Please only get a test if you have Coronavirus symptoms, as this will help to make sure people who need a test can get one. We all need to play our part to protect the NHS Test and Trace service for those who really need it.

Article first published - 

https://www.activetameside.com/active-tameside-director-feared-he-wouldnt-recover-from-covid-19/