Manchester Liberal Democrats have criticised the latest Business Plan for the City's failing URBIS centre, which shows that it will continue to swallow £2 million of taxpayers' money every year for the foreseeable future.
Councillor Marc Ramsbottom represents Manchester City Centre for the Liberal Democrats. Although a new media deal with TV Channel M has been announced, Marc is disappointed that the Council haven't taken the opportunity to tackle the ongoing URBIS funding crisis:
"Labour are keeping the details secret but it's clear that signing Channel M to URBIS won't save a single penny for many years. Manchester's hard-pressed taxpayers will still have to fork out over £2million this year, or a staggering £10 million over the next five years!"
Manchester's 38 Liberal Democrat Councillors are asking for the Council to develop plans to reduce the crippling burden URBIS places on the City's budget. The fundamental future of the whole building must be addressed.
City Centre Councillor Ramsbottom continued:
"We would welcome innovative solutions for the URBIS funding crisis, but the Council can't even account properly for the subsidy URBIS gets already - Labour announced today that URBIS overspent its massive subsidy by nearly £500,000 last year, including £282,000 from 2003 which they forgot to account for!"
Marc concluded:
"Last year every single visitor to URBIS cost the Council £10.50, which is totally unacceptable! This media deal won't change that."
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