Dear Millers – for years, people have wondered about the deal between Manchester and Sheikh Mansour, the owner of Manchester City and member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, whose investments have reshaped our city and attracted plenty of critics along the way.
Today, for the first time, we can reveal details of the agreement signed between the council and Mansour's company, the Abu Dhabi United Group, after we were passed the key contract earlier this week. It shows that Mansour has enjoyed "Right of first refusal" for any land the council was planning to sell in a broad area from Ancoats all the way to the edge of Beswick. It comes in the same week that Mansour has been accused by the New York Times of smuggling weapons into the civil war in Sudan.
Amazingly, that's not the only story we're bringing you today. If your interests lie more in the world of food media than secret property deals with Gulf royals, you just need to scroll down a bit further to read our interview with Mark Garner, the controversial food critic whose website Manchester Confidential has just laid off most of its staff. Garner gives us his account of why Confidentials has hit the buffers – and his former staff give theirs.
Thanks for your very thoughtful comments on the members-only piece we published on Wednesday about the growth of Manchester's economy. Our regular economic analyst James Gilmour explained why there's one particular graph that we should all be excited about, and that's set off some excellent responses. "This is the most conscise, accessible and understandable article on the success of Manchester and GM, I think I've ever read (and I've read a lot)," commented Pete Swift.
James Gilmour
If you're not yet a Mill member, today is the day to join. Not only will you abe able to read our scoop about Sheikh Mansour's deal with the council, and our very interesting piece about the troubles at Manchester Confidential, you will also get Ophira's excellent To Do list for this weekend, and a constant stream of brilliant members-only journalism from now until eternity.
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Revealed: How Sheikh Mansour got first dibs on development in east Manchester
By Jack Dulhanty
A long-guarded document obtained by The Mill shows that Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour has been given a privileged role in Manchester's development for the past decade. The legal agreement – which has never been reported before – offers "Right of first refusal" to Mansour's company over any council-owned land across a large swathe of east Manchester, including Ancoats, New Islington, Holt Town and the Lower Medlock Valley.
The "Collaboration Agreement" was signed by the council and Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) in December 2015 and remains in effect until December this year. The council's signatory to the deal was former chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein.
Mansour is the deputy prime minister of the UAE and a senior member of the Abu Dhabi royal family who bought Manchester City Football Club via his company ADUG in 2008. This week, a major New York Times investigation reported that Mansour has been supporting a brutal paramilitary group in the civil war in Sudan. The story says Mansour "has played a central role" in efforts to arm the so-called Rapid Support Forces, thereby "inflaming a devastating conflict that has led to famine and the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis." Emirati officials have denied the claims.
The council has long been criticised by housing campaigners for offering Mansour a "sweetheart deal" in which it transferred public land for much less than its normal market value. The council says the agreement has been beneficial for Manchester, and has defended its decision to redact key passages when releasing the document under Freedom of Information Laws.
Passages from the agreement, showing that the council and ADUJ developed a "Land Acquisition Strategy".
A council spokesperson told us: “The claim that this was not a good deal for the Council and the city is one which we have robustly and repeatedly addressed. It’s a one-sided perspective which completely fails to take into account the positive transformation of Ancoats and New Islington, as well as the wider east Manchester area."
What's in the agreement?
Mansour's investments in Manchester have reshaped the area around Ancoats and New Islington over the past decade. Via its "Manchester Life" joint venture with the council, Mansour has already built around 1,500 homes in the area, meaning that he now collects rent from a large number of Mancunians. His partnership with the council foresees 6,000 homes being built.
The agreement signed in 2015 seems to be the contract that began Mansour's partnership with the city council, and it confirms how closely Manchester has become intertwined with a controversial Gulf sheikh.
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