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Greater Manchester first, party differences second. That has been one of the reasons why the city-region concept has taken root so quickly there. Manchester Airport and Metrolink are well-known examples, but joining them soon will be the largest waste contract in Europe. The Labour chair of the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, Neil Swannick, and his Tory deputy, Michael Young, have just been re-elected. Both were heavily involved in the £3.8bn, 25-year contract with Viridor Laing to process the 1.3m tonnes of waste produced by Greater Manchester's 973,000 households. But the really interesting figures relate to the way in which the £640m private-finance initiative for the construction phase has been put together. The first thing to say is that it is not a PFI in the true sense of the term. A cocktail of funding from the European Investment Bank, the 10 local councils, and commercial banks, was not enough to make the project fly in the recession. The Treasury had to loan £120m from its new infrastructure finance unit, or the £3.8bn scheme would have joined other Greater Manchester waste in the bin. So, now we are in the new world of the public-private finance initiative. Many transport, school and hospital projects throughout the country will need good old government funding, if it is available. It may be too soon to write off the PFIs if banks regain their nerve, but not everyone would mourn their passing. Many believe they have been a highly-expensive way to pay for our public assets, leaving us with heavy demands on the nation's income for years to come. Meanwhile, the waste authority is committed to achieving the recycling of 50% of its waste within six years. It is to be commended for its initiative, PFI or not. Jim Hancock is a freelance journalist and former political correspondent for the BBC in the North West

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Soap Box - Greater Manchester's City Region

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