City Centre to be privatised

January 15, 2000

[Mercury House - home of City Centre Management]

Bradford City Centre is to be privatised. A council report proposing the move looks certain to be approved at the next meeting of the Councils Cabinet on Wednesday.

The Council plans to set up a private City Centre Management Company which will take over total control of Bradford Centre, including the CCTV system. The move coincides with the announcement that Bradford has been given a government grant of £1 million to upgrade and centralise its CCTV network.

The board of the company will be selected from the usual players and will mainly comprise business and retail interests. It will be answerable to Bradford Congress - the most powerful and secretive organisation in the city. Although there will be little public accountability, the company's liabilities will, however, remain with the public.

It will be given the role of regenerating the city, including planning and design issues, transportation and communication, worth hundreds of millions of pounds. This is certain to give rise to public concerns about the potential for corruption.

The concept was developed by the Association of Town Centre Management (ACTM), based in London. This body was set up by retail companies Marks & Spencer and Boots, to shape town and city centres along the lines of private shopping malls. Concerned at the growth of out-of-town shopping centres, which threatened their own profits, they set about to capture town and city centres for themselves.

The Association has played a major part in the exponential growth of CCTV coverage of our public spaces. It is also responsible for the widespread standardisation of the "look" of town and city centres. The ATCM is a powerful, organised influence. The spokesman for one of the giant retailers told researcher Alan Reeve: "in essence we can almost compel local authorities to do what we want."

Most towns and cities now have a "Centre manager" subscribing to the ACTM. Some have already set up as private companies. This new push by the Association is likely to see many more follow suit. This will create a network of private companies, all linked to the ACTM (and M&S, and Boots), running our town and city centres in their own interests.

Pete Chapman of the 1 in 12 Club, which has led a campaign with Bradford Trades Council against the councils CCTV system, was dismayed at the news:

"It is part of a carefully orchestrated strategy throughout the country, to turn our town and city centres into giant private shopping malls. This strategy has been directed by companies like Marks & Spencer and Boots for a number of years."

He also saw a direct link with the extension of CCTV:

"This massive increase in surveillance will have little impact on crime, but is a vital part of a process of social control. It is only a matter of time until we see city-wide "exclusion" orders served on anyone deemed unacceptable to the new city managers, and cameras installed in the poorer estates to contain people there.

"It represents a bleak future for our city."

See the Report to the Council Executive - A NEW MANAGEMENT MODEL FOR BRADFORD CITY CENTRE