The Reality of Manchesterism

His purported Manchester miracle made Andy Burnham Prime Minister. But adherence to Manchester City Council’s own guidance would have seen Abu Dhabi’s Manchester Life build 294 affordable housing units, 20 per cent of the total, in its redevelopment of East Manchester. It built none. Nought. Zero. And Steve Robson writes:

Andy Burnham’s flagship ‘Number 10 North’ is set to be built on land where Manchester City’s owners had a controversial “sweetheart” property deal, The i Paper can reveal. The findings are likely to put more scrutiny on Burnham’s ties to the club’s Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) owners following the football cheating scandal fall-out.

Burnham was forced to backtrack last week over accusations of political interference in the independent investigation process. He originally said he would be “concerned” if ADUG stopped investing in the UK after City were found guilty of more than 100 charges of financial manipulation from 2009 to 2018, but later said nobody is “above the rules”. City deny all charges and have appealed.

However with reports of United Arab Emirates diplomats exerting pressure over what happens to City, the row has put a renewed spotlight on the extent of their influence in Britain. And nowhere is the web of connections between Abu Dhabi and political leaders more tangled than Manchester, where Burnham was mayor for almost a decade between 2017 and 2026.

City owners’ ‘first refusal’ on prime plots

ADUG, the company set up Sheikh Mansour to buy the football club in 2008, has poured hundreds of millions of pounds into the wider city. This includes the £300m expansion of City’s stadium and its training complex, the £450m Co-Op Live arena and a £60m graphene research facility for the University of Manchester.

More controversial is the joint property venture the group set up with Manchester Council in 2014. Thousands of high-end flats have been built in the city centre under the ‘Manchester Life’ scheme. But rival developers have long complained about what they believe was preferential treatment for the scheme from Manchester council, because of its connections to City’s owners.

ADUG was given “first refusal” on buying development sites across a huge swathe of land in a ‘sweetheart’ deal with the council, documents first reported by The Mill and shared with The i Paper show. The deal covered around two square miles of land between Etihad stadium and Manchester city centre for ten years between 2015 and 2025. But the The i Paper can reveal this includes the former Central Retail Park which has now been earmarked as the long-term home of ‘Number 10 North’.

‘Most controversial site in Manchester’

One property source said they were amazed at the decision to pick what they described as ‘the most controversial site in Manchester’ for Burnham’s flagship project. The Prime Minister has promised to shift power out of Whitehall and towards local leaders in a bid to boost economic development.

The 10.5-acre site was first purchased by Manchester council in 2017 for £42.35m. It is still believed to be the most expensive land purchase in the city’s history. Council leaders said at the time the site was perfect for developing into flats by Manchester Life due to its prime location in the city’s burgeoning Ancoats neighbourhood. ADUG and the council both invested £750,000 each towards the plan, documents shared with The i Paper show, but it never materialised.

However, under the terms of the ‘sweetheart’ development deal with City’s owners, the council was unable to offer the land to any other potential partners – leaving the site undeveloped for around a decade. One property developer in the Northwest of England told the Sunday Times: “This is a sweetheart deal between Abu Dhabi and Manchester City Council.”

A spokesperson for the Weiss Group, a rival developer which has complained about a number of allegedly ‘preferential’ property deals in Manchester, said: “This is a familiar pattern of behaviour. Manchester City Council keeps striking confidential deals with preferred partners that the public only finds out about years later. That is the reality of Manchesterism and it isn’t serving Manchester residents well.”

The developer has also obtained documents via Freedom of Information requests which they say shows the Central Retail Park site purchase by the council in 2017 was “unlawful”. Having assessed the original deal, Christopher Knight KC, a public law barrister instructed by Weiss Group, said this was because of the lack of a sufficient valuation report and the fact councillors weren’t told of any alternative offers.

A review carried out last year by external auditors found “weaknesses” in its joint venture deals – including Manchester Life – particularly around “overage”, extra payments which should have been made to the council when selling its land.

The council’s named contact on the 2015 contract with ADUG was Sir Howard Bernstein, the then chief executive./ Sir Howard, who died in 2024, became a ‘strategic advisor’ at City Football Group shortly after leaving the council in 2017.

The council is now reviewing the terms of its lease with ADUG for the Etihad stadium with a source telling the Local Democracy Reporting Service the relationship between the town hall and club “has changed”.

Site vacant for 10 years

The saga finally began ending under the leadership of Bev Craig, who served as Labour’s council leader from 2021 until replacing Burnham as Mayor of Greater Manchester in August this year. The council agreed a deal in 2024 to sell off half the retail park site to the government which plans to use it for a huge new ‘digital campus’ for almost 9,000 civil servants.

But The i Paper understands even at this point, ADUG were entitled to be consulted and give ‘sign off’ due to the continuing ‘sweetheart’ deal. It was only last year that the deal expired entirely and ADUG’s preferential interest in the land came to an end.

Following his rapid ascent to Prime Minister this summer, Burnham’s team have been looking for a long-term site for Number 10 North. Labour’s deputy Leader Lucy Powell confirmed the Ancoats site had been chosen in July. ADUG has been contacted for comment. A Manchester City Council spokesperson said: “The acquisition of the former Central Retail Park site in 2018 has ensured that the site can complement the wider regeneration of the area.”

On the claims about the purchase being unlawful, they added: “We disagree with the opinion presented about the acquisition. The decision to acquire the site has not been formally challenged and the price reflects the value of a large retail site and key city centre regeneration opportunity. The cost to the Council was agreed on the basis that it would be recovered through the long-term development of the site.”

A No 10 spokesperson said it is “essential” the independent investigation into City “is allowed to run its course and the outcome respected. Wherever wrongdoing is established, those responsible should face the appropriate consequences.”