The MEN has published a letter (below) written by one of the core group members of Climate Emergency Manchester, writing in a personal capacity (1).
Your report on the City Council taking over the car parks from NCP (Fees rise as car parks taken over by council, M.E.N. 12 January) made me wonder.
Firstly, what were these mysterious $400k in “higher than anticipated costs’ that mean expected income will be reduced. Extra-expensive canapes at the handover ceremony? An all-in fact-finding trip to Dubai?
Secondly, has the Council done any thinking about the tension between increasing its reliance on car parking revenues and its July 2019 declaration of a climate emergency. Given its 35.5 per cent ownership of Manchester Airport Group, the answer to this question is probably “nope.”
Knowing that the Council never gives an answer (distinct from giving a reply – usually full of vague waffle) unless forced to – I’ve submitted a Freedom of Information Act request about this. If/when I get an answer (or even just a reply), I will let readers know.
Dr Marc Hudson
Footnotes
(1) There are seven members of the core group. We are free to speak for ourselves (doh!), but if we are writing as a core group member, we have a system where someone else in the core group checks for tone/content and okays it..
