Manchester congestion charge press release MAYHEM (kind of)
Thursday, 7 August 2008
The proposed Manchester congestion charge and the £3bn Transport Innovation Fund that the city is bidding for has created a turf war between two rival business lobbying groups in which few people - other than the odd business hack - seem to be interested.
For those who may have missed it, one group, called United City (geddit?), is in favour of the TIF funding package and subsequent c-charge. The other, calling itself Greater Manchester Momentum Group, is against. You knew this though, didn’t you?
I use the phrase turf war but in fact the two sides’ chosen method of attack is a strategy known Press Release Saturation. Several times a week for the last couple of months I’ve been getting “statements” from those involved, each reacting to what the other side has said at public meetings or in the press.
No sooner has one side voiced an opinion then the other has bombarded the inboxes of the region’s journalists with the opposing view. Sometimes, as happened yesteday, I get a “response” from United City’s PR company about some utterance by GMMG, having not actually been aware of GMMG’s position in the first place.
Can anybody win this war of attrition? We may never know. What I will say, however, is that United City clearly has a nicer logo.
No. 1 — August 8th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I honestly prefer the other logo.
No. 2 — August 9th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I’m interested in what Peel Holdings, sorry, what GMMG have to say about their business rates proposal. You wouldn’t have a link or something you could email me would you?
No. 3 — August 9th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
There are links to each site within my post. However, I can’t find any reference to the business rates proposal on the GMMG website. I have heard about it though - the United City lot sent out a response via press release the other day. If any of the PR companies involved happen to read this, perhaps you could help Alec with the info he requires.