The Manchester A Certain Future “Steering Group”, (the one that gets loads of council money, holds meetings in secret, breaks promises to produce newsletters, and held a meeting with 2 present and 8 apologies) has finally taken some concrete action!

Is it to hold the elections that were supposed to happen in 2010? No, don’t be silly.
Is it to bring back the stakeholder conference that was unilaterally cancelled in 2013? No, be sensible.
It’s to… redefine the English language, so that failing to reply to four emails in two weeks, all requesting basic information about the Group, does not constitute ‘ignoring’ the sender.

On April 12th, after publishing an article about the Group’s rescinded (that’s a posh word for broken) promise to produce newsletters, Manchester Climate Monthly sent an email asking about another statement in the 2015 Annual report

“fast-paced format has been well-received by those attending to date and provides a blueprint for future events over the coming year, including events to the target audiences identified“

According to the website, there haven’t been any events.

So, is the website wrong? If not, why no events?

An email in reply stated that “There have been a number of events, and there are more in train.”

MCFly replied on the same day (12th April)

your answer implies that there have been a number of events that MACF have run AND that there are others that you’ve been ‘partnering’ on.

So, I propose that some of the £20k that the council gives you for secretariat function goes towards

a) updating the website to reflect these wonderful facts  (it’s odd that I am having to type that, in mid-April 2016, 10 months after the last AGM)

and

b) sending me a list of dates when and where these events took place (especially the MACF-solo ones, but also the partnered ones) and numbers and types of people who attended (since the annual report talks about “target audiences identified”.

Back to my day job too now.

There was no reply on the day, or since then.

On the 14th we asked about

Hello Gavin,

while Stephanie or A.N. Other is compiling the list of MACF events to send to me (and presumably to add to the website), I have another question.

On page 10 of the 2015 annual report there are paragraphs about the MACF plan.

“The process for its publication will be published by early 2016, including opportunities for stakeholders to get involved.”

I have not seen this at all.

There seem to be three possibilities

a) it is on schedule and I just haven’t seen it – link please

b) it is behind schedule – statement for publication please as to why it is behind schedule and when it will finally be released.

c) it is, as with the newsletter, not happening – statement for publication please

There was no reply.

On April 19th that email was sent again, with a cover note-

Hello Gavin,

in case this one slipped through your net.
Thanks

There was no reply.

On the 25th April,

Dear Gavin,

as you can see, I emailed you on the 14th of April and again on the 19th of April, with no response.

My questions remain the exactly the same, with two additional ones.

a) Where on the website can I find the CIC’s articles of association?  If they are not on the website, why not?  Please supply me with a copy if they are not.

b)  According to the 18th February meeting (the one where 8 apologies were sent), there have now been two further meetings

17^th March – Steering Group

21^st April – Directors

When will the minutes of the 17th March, which were presumably ‘approved’ at the 21st April  meeting, be available?

If the minutes will not be available until the next Steering Group meeting on 19th May, then I have one very simple question – who attended the meeting on the 17th, who sent their apologies, and who was AWOL?

Looking forward to all of these replies.

There was no reply.

Finally, yesterday (26th April), having checked relevant twitter feeds, we sent this.

Dear Gavin,

it occurred to me that me perhaps I was receiving no reply from you because that you were incapacitated with illness or family business.

However, I’ve checked out your twitter feed and it is regularly updated and nothing is amiss.

Could you please supply email addresses for

a) Stephanie Lynch in her official MACF capacity

b) at least one other member of the CIC Executive Board

Why? Well given the lack of replies from you of late, in future I will be ccing my questions about the performance of MACF- which has received over 75 thousand pounds of council money (and that’s not including seconded staff) – to them as well.

Very best wishes

On this occasion though, MCFly also cced in two Manchester City Councillors.

And – “as if by magic” – a reply. This.

Hey Marc

We will be replying to your e-mails – however it’s not presently / hasn’t been at the top of the collective ‘to do list’.

But rest assured I’ve not forgotten that you’ve contacted me / us nor am I ignoring you.. (emphasis added)

We will be replying to your various requests shortly.

Gavin

Well, that’s alright then.