SOMETHING had to be done, but it does make you wonder why now and why not throughout the month of December.

Manchester's infrastructure is being sacrificed upon doctrinaire principles designed to push public transport way beyond it can go

Still Manchester City Council have offered us a sprout with the news they sent out this morning.

Here's the press release:

'Shoppers and visitors will be able to celebrate the start of the new year with a weekend of free on-street parking in Manchester city centre. Anyone coming into the city centre will be able to take advantage of the January sales by parking for free this weekend. The parking will be free in all on-street metered bays in the city centre from midday onwards on Saturday January 2 and Sunday January 3. The offer is part of a package of measures being introduced by Manchester City Council and its partners thanking motorists for bearing with them while major infrastructure works are carried out which will improve transport across the city.'New Year's Day, January 1, is a bank holiday and so on-street parking will already be free all day.

'Cllr Kate Chappell, Manchester City Council’s executive member for the environment, said: “Manchester is benefiting from some of the greatest infrastructure investment the city has ever seen, and the work currently being undertaken will deliver transport improvements which will meet the needs of a rapidly growing city and keep us moving for decades to come. However, we acknowledge these are major projects which will inevitably create some disruption in the short term, and that’s why ourselves and our partners will be announcing measures over the next few weeks to thank Manchester residents for bearing with us. We’re also keen to support our retailers, so we’re starting these new measures by saying a very happy new year to shoppers by offering a weekend of free January sales parking.”'

How sweet of the council and maybe we should be grateful for scraps from the table.

But as outlined in our story in November (click here) Cllr Chappell's repetition of there being 'some disruption in the short term' is very wide of the mark. In truth Manchester's infrastructure is being sacrificed upon doctrinaire principles designed to push public transport way beyond it can go.

There is simply no evidence the infrastructure changes (due to be completed in 2017) will result in car drivers abandoning their cars for buses, trams and trains. Instead people who own cars are increasingly abandoning the city centre for the arid cultureless wastelands of the Trafford Centre and its free car parking 365 days a year.

Confidential knows of one women's fashion retailer at the Trafford Centre which outstripped its city centre sister in turnover this December by a far larger amount than anticipated. The reason given was straightforward: the city centre's transport chaos and crisis has put car owners off. 

So thanks Manchester City Council for the gesture but the problems you are creating in the city centre will be exacerbated by the on-going wholesale infrastructure changes.

Here's an idea to help sweeten the pill; why not allow free on-street parking on say the third weekend of the month, at least until 2017 and the supposed completion date of the city centre transport works.