{"id":541150,"date":"2025-11-01T02:56:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T02:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/541150\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T02:56:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T02:56:38","slug":"andy-burnham-offices-legal-battle-over-140m-loans-to-go-on-for-months-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/541150\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham office’s legal battle over \u00a3140m loans to go on for months more"},"content":{"rendered":"

The case started last year, but an appeal means it won’t conclude until next year<\/p>\n

14:32, 31 Oct 2025Updated 14:50, 31 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

The Trinity Island Towers, pictured as CGIs but now under construction, were subject to one of the loans(Image: Naismiths)<\/p>\n

A long-running legal battle involving Andy Burnham’s office looks set to drag on well into next year in a new twist.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s office, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), was sued by wealthy city centre landowner Aubrey Weis in 2024<\/a> over two loans given by the GMCA to Renaker, one of the city\u2019s biggest developers.<\/p>\n

Mr Weis claimed the GMCA\u2019s decision to loan \u00a3140m to two special-purpose companies owned by Renaker owner Daren Whitaker broke the Subsidy Control Act.<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Millions were loaned via the GMCA\u2019s housing investment loans fund, which Mr Burnham has talked up and helped secure a decade-long extension to.<\/p>\n

The competition appeals tribunal (CAT) ruled in July that the GMCA had not broken the law <\/a>following hearings in May.<\/p>\n

Now the Weis Group has announced it has been granted permission to appeal the result, with new hearings set to take place in July 2026, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful for this decision and look forward to putting our case in court,\u201d a Weis spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court of Appeal has confirmed that each one of the grounds were not fanciful, are important issues relating to the Subsidy Control Act and have a real chance of success. We are particularly pleased that the use of conflicting viability reports will be examined.<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham has promoted the loans fund(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, it is of enormous importance in the context of the current government\u2019s agenda of further devolution of powers and creation of the National Housing Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith some \u00a316bn of public funds up for grabs it is imperative that there are proper processes in place which guarantee the correct and proper administration of public money.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment must ensure that there is no distribution of funding to a small number of parties that creates an uncompetitive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GMCA has always maintained it followed correct processes in granting the loans, and says it will continue to fight the case.<\/p>\n

A GMCA spokesperson said: \u201cThis case was brought to the Competition Appeals Tribunal and we won on every count.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn experienced Tribunal saw all the documents and stood behind our processes. In fact, the Tribunal Chair praised our approach, which helped deliver 11,000 new homes across Greater Manchester, regenerating brownfield sites at no cost to the taxpayer and without losing a single penny.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have full confidence in our processes and the expert team behind them, and we are ready to defend our case in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s thought this is only the second time a Subsidy Control Act case has made it to court, and the Weis appeal is set to become the first time the principles of the argument will be heard by a judge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The case started last year, but an appeal means it won’t conclude until next year 14:32, 31 Oct…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[8916,748,30,393,4884,11564,2465,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-541150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-andy-burnham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-greater-manchester-combined-authority","14":"tag-manchester","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115472196642883698","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}