More scrutiny for Manchester’s taxpayer-backed luxury flats

Dear readers — welcome to today’s briefing. We hope you all had wonderful weekends in the sun (on Saturday, at least). Today we’re supplying you with the usual smorgasbord of news, insight, culture and recommendations for the week. We’re looking at a decision by the GMCA to delay the approval of a big loan to one of the city’s foremost developers, who has benefited from millions of pounds’ worth of tax-payer backed loans. That’s today’s big story. Plus there’s updates on the investigation into the wrongful conviction of Andy Malkinson, a stunning Victorian period home in Harpurhey, and a jam-packed weekly to do list including the second Beyond the Music festival, talks on radio astronomy and mid-week dining deals. Enjoy!

Over the weekend, we published a piece by Jack about the unprecedented renovation of Manchester Town Hall, which has become a “tug-of-war between the current project team and the building’s previous tinkerers”. It got a great response on X — “This is a wonderful account of the renovation. I can’t wait to visit,” said Jennifer Powell — and in the comments: “Love this piece - best kind of local journalism.” Find out why below: 

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🌦️ This week’s weather

A rainy, typical autumn week according to our local weatherman Martin Miles.

Tuesday 🌦️ A day of bright spells & heavy showers, these most widespread during the afternoon. 15°C.

Wednesday 🌦️ Breezy and cool with showery periods of rain. 13°C.

Thursday 🌦️ Chilly with bright spells and the occasional shower. Frosty overnight. 11°C.

Friday 🌦️ Breezy with intermittent sunny spells and scattered showers. Chilly. Max 11°C.

Outlook Largely dry at the weekend, with variable amounts of cloud cover. Mild and changeable next week.

You can find the latest forecast at Manchester Weather on Facebook — daily forecasts are published at 6.15am.

The big story: GMCA puts £140m loan to luxury developer on pause

Top line: The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has held off on approving £140m in loans to the prolific high-rise developer Renaker, reports the Telegraph. It follows the relationship between Renaker and the GMCA becoming the subject of a legal challenge filed by a rival developer, the Weis Group, accusing the authority of “distorting” the property market. 

Context: Renaker, the firm behind Deansgate Square, Colliers Yard and many of the other skyscrapers built in the city in the last decade, has been a big beneficiary of the succinctly-named Greater Manchester Housing Investment Loans Fund (GMHILF). The fund loans out public money to help boost housing in Greater Manchester.

• Renaker has built 8,000 homes so far, with another 8,000 to come.

• But, none of its developments have delivered any affordable housing.

Details: At a scrutiny committee in August, the GMCA’s investment director Laura Blakey said the GMCA has loaned £598m to Renaker since 2016 — that’s out of 1.2bn of loans approved since 2015. Although it has been reported that, overall, Renaker’s business has been supported by £745m of loans from “GMCA and its affiliates”.

And business is booming. Since 2020, Daren Whitaker, Renaker’s founder and chairman, has seen his fortune jump from £140m to £640m, making him one of the wealthiest individuals in the North West, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

At August’s scrutiny committee, Manchester’s Lib Dem leader John Leech raised concerns surrounding the transparency of the GMHILF’s loan process, and suggested the combined authority implement a formal application process that can be referenced to protect it from allegations of wrongdoing (the terms of the loans are currently kept secret). The recommendation did not pass. 

So what now? It’s unclear why the GMCA has decided to delay the approval of Renaker’s latest loan. Whatever the reason, the delay has some insiders asking questions about past millions approved to be lent to Renaker. “If they change this loan,” says one source, “does that mean the previous ones were shonky?”

The authority has denied any wrongdoing or lack of due diligence, and Renaker is yet to default on any of the loans. But that isn’t to say the money couldn’t be better invested elsewhere. “I doubt this would’ve happened,” says Leech of the approval delay, “if we hadn’t been asking serious questions about how appropriate this is.”

Bottom line: That the lending of huge sums of public money is receiving more scrutiny should be welcomed, especially when you look at the comparatively meagre sums the fund has lent to other developments — say, £5.4m for a build-to-rent scheme in Stockport, or £5m for a supported living complex. That’s barely 1% of what has been lent a luxury developer building homes many can’t afford.

Your Mill briefing

🪧 There was a large 'Manchester Stands with Israel' rally on St Peter's Square yesterday, marking a year since the Hamas terror attack on October 7th. Hundreds of attendees waved Israeli flags as Raphi Bloom from the organisers North West Friends of Israel told the crowd: "We are not Jews with trembling knees". Bernie Yaffe, a director of Manchester Maccabi, talked about the anti-Semitic attacks some UK Jews have suffered, and called Manchester "the cradle of Zionism". The event followed a pro-Palestine demo in the city centre on Saturday, ending on Piccadilly Gardens, which featured placards saying "One year of genocide in Gaza" and "Resistance is the deepest form of love."

👮‍♂️ Four ex GMP officers are under investigation as part of the Independent Office of Police Conduct’s (IOPC) review of the wrongful imprisonment of Andy Malkinson. Malkinson was jailed in 2004 for 17 years after being found guilty of rape and attempted murder, even though he hadn’t committed those crimes. The IOPC will be probing whether officers followed proper protocol, incentivised witnesses to give evidence, and take a look at the disposal of evidence. GMP destroyed some items of the victim’s clothing. 

🛫 A man was arrested after managing to board the wrong flight at Manchester Airport. The man, who was meant to be flying to Milan with EasyJet, boarded a different EasyJet flight. GMP said he did this “without correct documentation” which has raised questions about the airport’s security protocols. A GMP spokesman said the man was arrested on suspicion of hiding himself with the purpose of "being carried in an aircraft without consent and intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance".

🛬 Speaking of Manchester Airport, a controversial take on the now-infamous incident from earlier this summer — in which footage of a GMP officer kicking a young Asian man in the head at the airport sparked outrage — was published in the Telegraph. After the original footage was shared on social media, further footage of what came before was leaked. It showed the young man and his brother assaulting officers, but charges are yet to be brought. Isabel Oakeshott writes: "Given the CCTV evidence, what explanation could there be for the reluctance of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to bring charges, other than the sensitivities thrown up by the assailants’ religion and ethnicity, and outcry over the way they were restrained? If there is another explanation, we have yet to hear it."

🎄 Finally, there’s one month until the Christmas Markets return to Manchester. It will last slightly longer than usual — to either your joy or deep chagrin — covering seven weekends. The two hundred wooden ski chalet market stalls will open across nine locations including Piccadilly Gardens, Market Street and St Ann’s Square, right outside the Mill office. This, on behalf of the office, is to our chagrin.

Home of the week 

This five-bedroom Victorian period home in Harpurhey was originally built in the 1820s and retains a striking marble fireplace and original window shutters. £420,000.

Our favourite reads

Try putting a 58-year-old woman in a film. That’s a problem — The Times

We enjoyed revisiting this 2019 profile of Carol Morley, the highly-acclaimed film noir director known for Out of the Blue and The Falling. She discusses her “riotous and self-destructive young life in Manchester” after her dad died by suicide, how her brother Paul Morley’s success as a music critic inspired her to pursue a creative career, and why it’s hard to finance films starring older women. “If you put a 58-year-old woman like Patricia Clarkson in your film, that becomes a problem,” she says. “It’s a problem for pre-sales. It’s a problem for magazine covers. It’s an economic thing.”

The man without a name — Vox

Robert Ivan Nichols, a former World War II soldier and bass player in a “hillbilly band”, did “everything he could to erase himself” from his life in a quiet midwestern suburb. He disappeared in 1965, reappearing in an apartment in Cleveland, Ohio, under the name Joseph Newton Chandler, where he worked as a draftsman and electrical engineer. His colleagues would describe him as “highly intelligent” and a “loner” who would occasionally disappear, “only to return to work months later”. Should those running away be allowed to disappear? Jerome de Groot, a historian at the University of Manchester, has analysed the ethical complications of researching family history via DNA and says “suddenly there’s this enormous ability for amateurs to get involved” with investigating missing persons cases and genealogy, “and that opens up all kinds of ethical issues”.

Army of Shadows — Harper’s Magazine

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, writer Seth Harp took a flight from Munich to Warsaw and found “disorganised groups of fighters” from elsewhere in Europe, smelling of “dirty laundry and stale cigarette smoke” and dressed in “a motley-assortment of store-bought paramilitary gear”, on their way to fight for Ukraine as part of the International Legion. Among those who had tried and failed to join was a 47-year-old helicopter mechanic from Manchester, who said he wanted to “stop that dickhead Putin” but was rejected on account of not having combat experience. “Eager as Westerners were to fight in Ukraine, it was plain that they were not needed.”

Our to do list

Tuesday

🎭 The White Hotel presents A Quiet Room, an experimental play about what happens to four people, tasked with sitting in a room, observing and reporting findings to their organisation, when a fatality occurs. Tickets here.

🔭 There’s a talk at the Anthony Burgess Centre about the world-famous Lovell Telescope in Cheshire and Manchester’s role in developing radio astronomy to observe the universe. £15.

Wednesday

🍸 The Firehouse Kitchen at Ramona has a new Wednesday dining deal where you can enjoy a mezze platter of Chermoula squash and pomegranate and Picanha steak cooked over charcoal for just £14, plus £6 margaritas all night long. Book a table here.

🎶 Beyond The Music was founded last year and takes place in Aviva Studios, with talks from some of the most influential voices in music, before moving on to multiple venues across the Northern Quarter over the weekend. On Wednesday evening, rapper Aitch will sit down with Dotty, the lead cultural curator at Apple Music, to discuss how to decentralise London as the home of UK rap. Tickets here.

Thursday

🎻 Manchester Collective presents Fever Dreams, a collection of old classics and experimental, futuristic sounds performed by the string orchestra at the RNCM’s beautiful concert hall. Tickets here.

🎸 The Carlton Club in Whalley Range presents a Kurdish folk music concert, featuring acclaimed artists Suna Alan and Yiannis Panagoulias, who will be performing songs from the Ottoman era to modern day and touching on their personal histories. £15.

Thanks to the FT for sponsoring today’s edition — get your discounted subscription now.