MARY BURNS AWARDS 2007

Welcome to the MARYS, the most glittering occasion in Salford’s community calendar. Here we honour the most deserving individuals and organisations in the city for their stupid statements, dodgy dealings and iffy activities over the past 12 months.

Please dress up in a monkey jacket or yer best frock while you read this and grab a glass of warm white wine. We would be grateful if you could applaud to yourself after each award is announced. Now, without further ado, let’s get on with the ceremony…

THE FEED THE RICH AWARD (Part 1)

Goes to…

Urban Splash

Yes, the bookies closed the betting on this, weeks ago. We reckon over £20,000,000 of public money has gone into the Urban Splash upside down terraced housing development at Chimney Pot Park. The price of a house promised at the start was around £50,000. The average price of a terraced house on the development now is over £137,000 – in an area where the lower quartile income is under £14,000. We all know the story - public money/ private profit for developers – while the people who used to live on those streets got a pittance for their old homes.