The mercifully abolished Environmental Strategy Team awarded over 50 thousand pounds worth of contracts in 2014, for work that many will wonder “why isn’t this being done in-house?” Manchester Climate Monthly used the Freedom of Information Act to extract the following information about contracts; To the Manchester Metropolitan University for Delivery of the Carbon Literacy training to MCC staff Phase 1b and Councillor training. The value of the contract is £12,960.00 [The Councillor training – that’s the one where it was overwhelmingly chaotic, and the Council STILL hasn’t released the numbers of councillors trained, breaching their legal obligations to do so.]  b. To BDP who are lead partner in a consortium with Eftec and  Countryscape for the contract for work on the Green Infrastructure Strategy. The value of the contract is £30,000. [That’s the one where, when asked what “consultation” had been done, bureaucrats referred to a “Green and Blue Infrastructure Committee”, without mentioning that the BDP man sat between them, headed that committee. See this extraordinary video.] c. To Groundwork as part of Eco Neighbourhoods activity to undertake    detailed environmental audits of 7 wards, design and deliver community    environmental workshops in 5 wards including arranging invitees,    presenters, and facilitation, produce environmental action plans, and    undertake follow-up surveys of the workshops. The value of the contract    is £9,500. [Which wards? Which workshops? When? Where are these plans?  Isn’t this PRECISELY what ward co-ordinators are supposed to do?  More info requests will be going in…]