Manchester City Council loves to sell the city as a Global Destination for Sport and Culture.  It’s part of the “offer”, to attract inward investment.(1)  That’s great, so long as it doesn’t conflict with the imperative to become a genuinely low-carbon city with a genuinely low-carbon culture.

Some of you have doubtless seen the Council’s logo on the posters  for the Manchester Jazz Festival.  So I thought, in the context of the Council being oh-so-very open about all things climate, I’d ask some basic questions.  And to do this, I’m using the Freedom of Information Act, since nothing else seems to work…. (2)

I’ve emailed informationcompliance@manchester.gov.uk

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am requesting the following information

a) Details of any financial support given to Manchester Jazz Festival 2014 by Manchester City Council  (http://www.manchesterjazz.com/)

b) Details of other forms of support given by the Council to Manchester Jazz Festival 2014 (for example – free or below-commercial rate use of venues or other non-financial support)

c) A copy of any agreements between the City Council and the Manchester Jazz Festival 2014 organisers that pertain to environmental impacts of the festival, including recycling and reduction of carbon emissions.

d) A copy of any assessments/requests by Manchester City Council especially with regards to the measures undertaken to minimise the “carbon footprint” of the Manchester Jazz Festival 2014 event. Including not only the direct carbon emissions from heating and lighting,  but also the air and road travel of performers at the festival.

Please consider this a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Marc Hudson

[address]

Footnotes

(1) If you’re interested in the political theory behind all this, of the “Sustainability Fix” and so on – here’s a video of some fat hairy guy.

(2) And your opportunities to get good at FoIAs will come soon. Watch this space!

UPDATE: Got this back today.

Request for Information – Reference No: CEX/9MBEDH

Thank you for your request for information received by Manchester City
Council on 24th July 2014.

Please note that it may take up to 20 working days (approximately 4 weeks)
for the Council to consider your request and to provide a formal response.

20 working days will take us up to Thursday 21st August or thereabouts…  Whenever you do a FoIA and get one of these emails, it helps to put a reminder to yourself in your diary (or online calendar…)