Star date: 28th May 2015

MANC COUNCIL SPENDS ALMOST £25MILLION ON PRESTIGE PROJECTS WHILE HOUNDING HOMELESS

As Manchester City Council spends almost £25million on prestige projects, including a new hotel for Manchester Business School, citizens are calling on it to lay off the Homeless Camp protesters on St Ann's Square, some of whom are from Salford.

An open letter being signed by journalists, celebrities and the community calls on Manc councillors to speak to the protesters and consider their demands.

Full details here...

OMG! We thought Salford Council was bad – but a cursory glance at Manchester City Council shows that, while it's been busy evicting protesters against homelessness and wringing its hands over cuts, it's also been very busy pushing prestige projects – to the tune of almost £25million.

This year's capital budget for Manc Council shows it's spending £4.3million on a thing called `Project Catalyst', which is the `construction of a hotel as part of the University of Manchester programme for refurbishment of Manchester Business School'. This, while the number of rough sleepers in the city has doubled over the last year.

The Council is also spending £2.4million this year, on top of £7million last year, on the tarting up of St Peter's Square – next to the site where the Homeless Camp was evicted from recently. Meanwhile, £5.6million is being spent this financial year (on top of £2.9million last year) for a new public square called NOMA, near the CIS building. The project's website describes it as a "safe and welcoming space".

The protesters against homelessness have always explained that this is all they want – and that the Camp provides such a space. Back in April, when the Camp was still in Albert Square, Joanne from Salford told the Salford Star "I feel safe here and everyone's looking out for each other...I'm just sitting and waiting to see who's going to help me".

Now, people from all over Greater Manchester, including journalists, trade union reps, celebrities and those who care from the community are soon to unleash an open letter to Manchester City Council calling on it to address the homeless protest's demands – which include `Individual/shared permanent housing; Prevention of homelessness; Effective challenge of the process whereby people are described as 'intentionally homeless'; Protection of our human rights and Stop the cuts...'
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"We have gathered together to express our disappointment that Manchester City
Council is taking up disciplinary actions against the protesters" it states "We urge the Councillors to cease from pursuing further legal challenges and to engage in a constructive dialogue with the protesters in an effort to meet their demands.

"While we disagree with the decision made to evict the camp, we echo the statement made by His Honourable Judge Allan Gore, QC; that it is an affront to our society that people are being forced to sleep on the streets" it adds "Manchester City Council is at risk of traversing a dangerous road, using taxpayers' money and precious court time to chase a group with legitimate concerns around the city."

The letter will be sent directly to Manchester City Council shortly. In the meantime, everyone is urged to add their name and support to the letter – click here to sign it

* See also previous Salford Star article - Support for Homeless Camp in St Ann's Square grows - click here