MMU Birley Fields development

I was recently asked for some comments by The Mule magazine and I rattled off an email, from which they have quoted me.

Here's my email in full:
MMU claimed to have put out 13,000 questionnaires, from which they received 835 replies. They further claim that 80% were "in favour" of the proposals, but the question was set in such a way that other possible uses of the land were not considered. In other words, the whole survey was biased. It was designed to get statistics that suggested support for the plan, such as such-and-such a percent said they'd like to do basket weaving courses, for instance. Sure, a small number of young people will go to MMU, and they would have been able to pop on the bus to Didsbury, no problem, had the campus simply been extended there. But simply by plonking a spanking new campus in the middle of this doesn't necessarily make higher education the slightest bit more accessible for most children in Hulme.

Also, still on the topic of consulation, we note that MMU conducted their questionnaire in Hulme AND Moss Side. In reality, those most affected only live in the area near to Birley Fields, so why bother consulting anyone in Moss Side? Why not ask the people of Whalley Range, while you're at it? Clearly they included the 18,000 residents of Moss Side purely to bolster the numbers, which still remain pathetically low. Who's going to say no to a campus on someone else's doorstep?

So our priority right now is to push up our numbers on a consultation that offers proper choices - for instance people are asked directly how much green space they'd like to remain. Some people I've surveyed have actually ticked the "very little" option, saying that they don't really like trees and that! No kidding. But that's fair enough. So far, 75% of respondents have stated a preference for more than half or all of Birley Fields to remain as green space.

Once we've finished the consulation then we need to try to mobilise the local community, which will be difficult as a widespread view is that it's a done deal. People realise that the Council and MMU have their plans, a lot of money is going to be made by various groups of "stakeholders" (a Thatcherite construction that appears to entirely exclude local residents), not least the developers who will get hold of the Grade II listed building that they'll be leaving behind in Didsbury. Where there are developers making money there are councillors nearby, you can be sure of that.

I don't know if the recent job losses are linked to this project. That's quite a lot of admin jobs to be axed in one go. Managers of large corporations like MMU tend to be pretty ruthless, concentrating rewards higher and higher up their food chain and always looking to make those at the bottom, whether it's admin or lecturers, to worker harder for less, one way or another. This project is going to cost £120 million, so of course they'll scrimp a squeeze wherever they can.

Meanwhile, it's important for the local community to get their act together. This development will be great for MMU but it'll be a disaster for Hulme, taking it way past tipping point in terms of student numbers. On the site of the Arch Bar a big new student block is being built. It would be too simplistic to go into an anti-student rant, and indeed I'm an ex-student myself. In fact I did my degree at MMU (or the "Poly" as it was then) so I'm by no means anti-MMU per se. But I know first-hand that once an area has a student majority it loses its heart and soul.

Birley Fields is the last bit of green space in this area and it's worth saving. I just hope enough people have enough fight in them.

This is the MMU PR spinfest.

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