By Suzanne Cumberbatch The late cancellation of the former ODPM’s sustainable communities conference in Manchester could be a huge blow for the council’s finances, according to a leading city politician. Lib Dem group leader, Cllr Simon Ashley, told The MJ it was ‘obviously bad news’ the major event – which was due to be held at the council-owned G-MEX centre next year – had been cancelled. ‘The council made a great deal of this conference happening again, so this has got to be a disappointment,’ he said. ‘The council will have been involved in the procurement process but the deal was probably done through Marketing Manchester. So it will be some time before we have any idea how much money has been lost.’ The newly-formed Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said the sustainable communities conference was ‘very much an ODPM thing’, and the DCLG was a new department with a new remit. ‘There is no change of direction with regards our aims of creating sustainable communities,’ a spokeswoman said. ‘But we have a new secretary of state and it’s not a massive surprise that the department wants to do things differently.’ She added the conference would be offered to the private sector to take on and market. Manchester City Council’s deputy chief executive, Eamonn Boylan, remained philosophical. He said: ‘We understand the Government is keen to explore different ways of engaging with communities and continue to work closely with them to promote sustainable regeneration.’ But Cllr Ashley added: ‘Conferences do get cancelled but this won’t help the local economy. This is bad news, and to try and pretend it’s not is wrong.’ A spokesman for the G-MEX centre said it had still not received official cancellation of the conference but added no actual contract details could be disclosed. s.cumberbatch@hgluk.com
