Questions to The Executive for 2025
Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, Executive Member for Finance and Resources was asked a question by a resident:
As of April 2025, Manchester City Council taxpayers have had their Council tax bill increase by 4.99 percent. Cuts to services include dimming of streetlights which has directly made it much more unsafe for residents walking in their area especially women whom the Council should be prioritising. The increased burden and cuts such as the streetlights are making Mancunians lives worse not better. One of the cuts/cost savings implemented was "substantial cuts to Committee printing costs" as stated in Appendix 5.8 of the Budget Reports Pack submitted at full council on 28th February 2025. However, from analysis, this has still not been implemented. An example is Planning and Highways Committee, Thursday 10th April 2025. The reports pack amounted to 436 pages and 8 Councillors had printed reports. On visual inspection they had the whole reports pack printed which conservatively amounts to £87.20 at 20p a sheet, amounting to a cost of £697.60 on 1 meeting! Councillors and Officers are routinely printing reams of paper costing money and carbon. Whilst clearly for accessibility, a minority will need printed materials, the vast majority have viable alternatives. Further refreshments have still not been phased out at meetings which is another cost saving. The question is, when will Councillors implement their own "cost savings" when residents are bearing their share of the burden?
Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar replied:
The saving was to reduce printing costs and printing reports where possible. Whilst this is something we are still undertaking further work on, we have achieved our current savings needed across the Council.
20 October 2025
Councillor Garry Bridges, Deputy Leader, was asked a question
Why has a decision to leave flags across the City to remain in place been made at a senior level and why are complaints about this not being accepted?
Councillor Garry Bridges replied:
Manchester is proudly diverse, tolerant and welcoming. We are a city where over generations people from different backgrounds unite, and whether you're born here or drawn here we celebrate the city's success.
Manchester City Council has always proudly flown the flag of St George and the Union Jack in celebration of important civic and national events – and we proudly celebrate St George’s Day. We believe that our national flags belong to everyone and should be used to unite not divide.
We want our communities to feel proud of where they live. So, where flags are displayed, provided they pose no safety concerns or are displayed inappropriately, we will take a commonsense approach. Across the city, speaking to communities many flags have remained up. We will continue to listen to what local residents want to see, and we are looking at a flag flying policy for our neighbourhoods too.
At the same time, we are responsible for public safety. Any road markings, such as zebra crossings or roundabouts, that have been painted over will be scheduled for cleaning and repair. Road markings must meet legal standards to make sure they are safe and accessible for all road users.
Where we see division, hatred or intolerance we will call it out because there is no room for racism in our city. We have sadly seen a small number if examples of property being defaced and individuals being targeted- where this occurs we move swiftly with the Police. Everyone should feel safe in our city.
We want all Mancunians to celebrate our national symbols as part of our pride in the British values of tolerance, respect and freedom. And in the coming weeks we’ll be beginning a conversation with our communities about how we can celebrate our city in an inclusive and celebratory way that everyone can feel part of.
14 October 2025
Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Clean Air, Environment and Transport, was asked a question by Stephen Parish:
What measures of traffic regulation will the Council employ to prevent the regular traffic chaos, and particularly disruption of tram services, at events at the Etihad stadium and Co-op Arena? After matches, the road junctions at Holt Town, and at Pollard Street / Carruthers Street are frequently blocked by taxis and private hire vehicles either meeting pre-booked passengers or plying for hire. Trams are often stuck, including trams going to the Etihad Campus station, delaying clearing crowds after matches or events. The inclusion of industrial areas in the residential parking zones may be another factor in increasing demand for taxis, so we have a situation in which the awful service offered by Metrolink means people seek to use taxis, which block tram lines, and make the tram service worse. An experiment in closing off Merrill Street after games to eastbound traffic, which seemed effective, does not seem to have been repeated, and likewise attempts to keep the Holt Town junction clear for trams have been haphazard.
Councillor Tracey Rawlins replied:
Transport for Greater Manchester and Manchester City Council encourage visitors attending events to travel via sustainable means, either through active travel or to use public transport. Transport for Greater Manchester run an enhanced service on Metrolink and dedicated match day shuttle buses to get fans safely to and from the game, and a resident’s parking zone is in operation around the Manchester City Stadium and Co-op Live.
After Manchester City games, there are high levels of footfall around the stadium, with up to 55,000 people leaving the stadium. To ensure the safe egress of people around the stadium surrounding roads are closed by a professional traffic management company. These measures are implemented under authority from Manchester City Council with the support of Greater Manchester Police, Transport for Greater Manchester and the event venues. No vehicles are permitted to enter the closed area until the number of people near the stadium has returned to a safe level, and enforcement takes place around the stadium by Manchester City Council parking enforcement services who can issue penalty charge notices. Any vehicles causing an obstruction or any significant delays to trams are dealt with by Greater Manchester Police.
We are aware of some congestion created by an over-saturation of private hire vehicles and are working with the Department for Transport to address wider issues with legislative reform by giving local authorities control of private hire licensing and the ability to cap the number of private hire vehicles that can be licensed. Our Licensing department make regular visits to the stadium and the arena, and we have contacted all our licence holders and reminded them about the importance of abiding by traffic regulations and picking up passengers where it is safe to do so.
We included the industrial areas as a trial, but there are no current plans to continue this moving forward. To assist with access and egress on event days, Merrill St will be made one-way from Frost Street towards Chesshyre Avenue.
16 January 2025