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City Centre Management Company
“Have you ever felt that you are a small cog in this big wheel of Manchester? That you have an important opinion but that you never have the opportunity to voice it, or more importantly that your voice is never heard?”
Manchester City Centre Management Company website
“When they give out the soup they leave mess all over the place”.
Cllr Pat Karney comments on soup kitchens for the homeless, Manchester Evening News, 7 October 2004
Neoliberal policies are redefining the nature of public space in Manchester. The city centre, once ‘civic’ space run for the benefit of all, is now run by a private company. The Manchester City Centre Management Company (MCCMC) manages and markets the city centre, promoting the interests of retailers and developers. This public-private partnership effectively uses public money to subsidise the interests of city centre businesses. Users of the city are defined as consumers of leisure or retail facilities; others, who might endanger those objectives, are ruthlessly marginalised and excluded.
The council has a close relationship to the City Centre Management Company and its private interests. So much so that, in 2005, council leader Richard Leese abseiled 320 feet off Bruntwood’s City Tower with Chris Oglesby, chief executive of both Bruntwood and the MCCMC. The Company is funded by council taxpayers' money and businesses who pay annual fees to become members. But power and influence are crudely distributed - the bigger the business, the louder the voice. In their own words, the “MCCMC gives the largest profit making businesses in the city power to make decisions about the management and development of the city centre.” The general public interest and any notion of democratic control or accountability is effectively lost.
MCCMC views technologies of social control as essential to the commercial success of the city. It believes that people or behaviours that suggest poverty or challenge consumption might dissuade the wealthy from shopping or investing. Over the last ten years investment in social control measures has rapidly increased. MCCMC runs a £3 million CCTV unit monitoring the city centre via 84 cameras, while Greater Manchester Police invested £3 million in a plane, bought for the Commonwealth Games and used since to combat ‘crime and terrorism’.
There has been an increasing number of actions from the council and City Centre Management Company that challenge basic civil liberties. In 2004, pro-Palestinian protesters handing out leaflets outside Marks and Spencer’s Manchester branch were found guilty of obstructing the highway. Marks and Spencer had made its displeasure with the protesters clear, stating its intention to apply for an ASBO against them. Gordon McKinnon, head of the MCCMC at the time, previously worked for Marks and Spencer. Beggars are being aggressively targeted to remove them from the city centre. In October 2004, the MCCMC announced plans to force soup kitchens from the streets of the City Centre. They claimed the kitchens attracted the homeless and that they were unclean.
Anti-social behaviour legislation has also been used against individual beggars. In 2003, Leonard Hockey was arrested 97 times for begging and eventually Manchester City Council took action to ban him from the city centre. The Manchester Evening News claimed he begged to fund a £22,000 a year drug habit and nicknamed him the Buckingham Place Beggar after he petitioned the Queen against his ban. But as human rights group Liberty commented at the time, “Leonard Hockey is a beggar whose only crime has been to ask people for money. He is not violent, nor is he abusive and poses a risk to absolutely no one.” In the end Leonard died in prison custody two months after being jailed; he was malnourished, with a heart condition and pneumonia..jpg)
Read OpenCity's interview with MCCMC Chief Executive Paul Rice.
Manchester City Centre Management Company website
“When they give out the soup they leave mess all over the place”.
Cllr Pat Karney comments on soup kitchens for the homeless, Manchester Evening News, 7 October 2004
.jpg)
Neoliberal policies are redefining the nature of public space in Manchester. The city centre, once ‘civic’ space run for the benefit of all, is now run by a private company. The Manchester City Centre Management Company (MCCMC) manages and markets the city centre, promoting the interests of retailers and developers. This public-private partnership effectively uses public money to subsidise the interests of city centre businesses. Users of the city are defined as consumers of leisure or retail facilities; others, who might endanger those objectives, are ruthlessly marginalised and excluded.
The council has a close relationship to the City Centre Management Company and its private interests. So much so that, in 2005, council leader Richard Leese abseiled 320 feet off Bruntwood’s City Tower with Chris Oglesby, chief executive of both Bruntwood and the MCCMC. The Company is funded by council taxpayers' money and businesses who pay annual fees to become members. But power and influence are crudely distributed - the bigger the business, the louder the voice. In their own words, the “MCCMC gives the largest profit making businesses in the city power to make decisions about the management and development of the city centre.” The general public interest and any notion of democratic control or accountability is effectively lost.
MCCMC views technologies of social control as essential to the commercial success of the city. It believes that people or behaviours that suggest poverty or challenge consumption might dissuade the wealthy from shopping or investing. Over the last ten years investment in social control measures has rapidly increased. MCCMC runs a £3 million CCTV unit monitoring the city centre via 84 cameras, while Greater Manchester Police invested £3 million in a plane, bought for the Commonwealth Games and used since to combat ‘crime and terrorism’.
There has been an increasing number of actions from the council and City Centre Management Company that challenge basic civil liberties. In 2004, pro-Palestinian protesters handing out leaflets outside Marks and Spencer’s Manchester branch were found guilty of obstructing the highway. Marks and Spencer had made its displeasure with the protesters clear, stating its intention to apply for an ASBO against them. Gordon McKinnon, head of the MCCMC at the time, previously worked for Marks and Spencer. Beggars are being aggressively targeted to remove them from the city centre. In October 2004, the MCCMC announced plans to force soup kitchens from the streets of the City Centre. They claimed the kitchens attracted the homeless and that they were unclean.
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"Crime, and the perception of the city as a consequence of it, acts as a disincentive to investors and visitors, and diminishes the attractiveness of the city as a place to live. Addressing crime is vital to the creation of a strong economy and the ability of the city to attract and retain skilled, well paid residents who can, in themselves help support the local economy with their own spending power." Manchester City Council, Regeneration Statement |
Anti-social behaviour legislation has also been used against individual beggars. In 2003, Leonard Hockey was arrested 97 times for begging and eventually Manchester City Council took action to ban him from the city centre. The Manchester Evening News claimed he begged to fund a £22,000 a year drug habit and nicknamed him the Buckingham Place Beggar after he petitioned the Queen against his ban. But as human rights group Liberty commented at the time, “Leonard Hockey is a beggar whose only crime has been to ask people for money. He is not violent, nor is he abusive and poses a risk to absolutely no one.” In the end Leonard died in prison custody two months after being jailed; he was malnourished, with a heart condition and pneumonia.
Read OpenCity's interview with MCCMC Chief Executive Paul Rice.