Last month Manchester’s free internet service, the _FreebeeMCR network,  expanded across the city, with  WiFi access now available at key city centre transport hubs, too. But what more can the city do to bridge the so-called ‘digital divide’ and ensure that all Mancunians benefit from the city’s digital success?

A briefing on Greater Manchester's Low Carbon Hub; it's priorities, programmes and the evidence base it's using to create growth across the low carbon and environmental sectors.

In this Perspectives Essay, the Leader of Manchester City Council, Richard Leese, argues that for the foreseeable future a healthy, sustainable future for Manchester and, by association, Greater Manchester depends on maintaining a growth trajectory. This is not growth at any cost. The city should continue to be capable of sustaining human life in a socially acceptable and civilised way. Drawing on evidence from the city’s recent history of urban development, he concludes that Manchester is going in the right direction, and that the city-region is taking the right approach, building consensus and taking people with it, but that the pace of change needs to quicken.

What value is a plan if it doesn't lead to action? Influenced by stakeholders, compilation of a GM project database and the consideration of priorities and programme targets, the GM Climate Change Strategy Implementation Plan puts in place attainable levels of activity and targets to ensure Greater Manchester tackle the opportunities and challenges presented by climate change for the period up to 2020.