Saturday 19 February 2011

Hulme Green Party Alternate Budget

Hulme Green Party believes the budget proposals suggested by Manchester City Council starts in the wrong place. Cutting frontline services and creating unemployment only adds to the problems created by this Coalition Government. This Council should not be scaring their staff into unemployment by forcing unfair redundancy packages on them.

Below is an idea about how the budget could be approached.

* The figures are units of millions.

Years

2011/12

2012/13

2014/15

Details

Total

CUTS

Staffing and efficiency (1)

10*

10

10

30

First Street Cultural Facility (2)

9

10

19

Football Museum (3)

7

7

Subtotal

26

20

10

56

INCOME

Mcr Airport (4)

27

27

27

81

Birley Fields (5)

7

7

Mcr City Stadium (6)

15

15

30

Subtotal

49

42

27

118

Total

75

62

37

174

We believe that by looking at cuts AND assets, jobs and services can be safeguarded in Manchester.

The CUTS section of the table shows areas where spending can be reduced. The INCOME section shows where money can be raised from council assets.

1) We in the Hulme Green Party believe that if cuts are to be made, jobs should go by a recruitment freeze along with voluntary redundancies. The Council is already planning to reduce costs through efficiency savings.

2) The planned ‘Cultural Facility’ (page 18) should be a lower priority than jobs and services.

3) The planned spend of nearly £7 million by the Council when the 2 richest football clubs in the country are in the city does not seem a good use of money.

4) Manchester Airport repayment of the debt to the Council it owes over 3 years. The amount owed is £83 million

5) A repayment in cash from MMU for the land acquired from the Council for its planned campus development. The land is estimated to be worth £10 million. The council gave the land away for free.

6) The Council owns the City of Manchester stadium at Eastlands, where Manchester City Football Club play. Selling a portion to fans of the club will raise a significant amount of money. If the council were to sell the stadium to Manchester City, who have offered to buy it from them, it would raise between £200 – 300 million pounds, possibly more. It would solve the budget crisis in one sale.

By doing this, the Council will be able to maintain employment while the predicted growth in Greater Manchester creates the hoped for 74000 jobs (slide 26).

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