Report of the Director of City Centre Growth and Infrastructure

This report provides an update on monitoring the progress of Strategic Regeneration Frameworks (SRFs) and Neighbourhood Development Frameworks (NDFs) for different areas of the city. It also provides information on governance, engagement and social infrastructure, in response to questions previously raised by Members.

The Committee received a report of the Director of City Centre Growth and Infrastructure which provided an update on monitoring the progress of Strategic Regeneration Frameworks (SRFs) and Neighbourhood Development Frameworks (NDFs) for different areas of the city. It also provided information on governance, engagement and social infrastructure, in response to questions previously raised by Members.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Early oversight and governance;
• Civic infrastructure and social infrastructure;
• Consultation and engagement;
• Monitoring and evaluation of SRFs and NDFs; and
• Progress of SRFs and NDFs.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• The climate crisis and using SRFs to ensure there were enough green spaces, particularly in and around the city centre;
• Capacity within the Council to develop SRFs;
• Early governance and oversight, including Member involvement;
• To welcome the progress in relation to Withington Village and the forthcoming NDF for Fallowfield District Centre;
• Encouraging the development of social infrastructure;
• Communicating the SRF process, including its limitations, to residents; and
• Criticism of the previous Government’s Levelling Up strategy and welcoming the ending of competitive funding models.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development highlighted the biodiversity net gain requirements for development in England which had been introduced this year and Manchester’s ambition to be a zero carbon city by 2038, which SRFs and NRFs needed to align with.  He supported a Member’s comments about the importance of Manchester being a Child Friendly City and ensuring children had spaces to play.  He reported that nearly all residents were within a 15-minute walk of a park or other green space, advising that access to parks and green spaces was something which was being considered as part of the plans for the growth of the city.  He acknowledged that capacity was always a challenge in local government, while reporting that the team did an excellent job and that SRFs were delivered in collaboration with a range of partners.

The Strategic Director (Growth and Development) reported that sustainability was increasingly being designed into SRFs and highlighted examples of the inclusion of green spaces, including the creation of Mayfield Park.  She reported that her service sought to involve Ward Councillors at an early stage in the process, while advising that an assessment of opportunities, challenges and constraints within an area would usually be carried out first to develop some initial guiding principles.  She reported that all Frameworks were subject to consultation with both Members and local communities before being submitted to the Executive for endorsement and that planning applications were also subject to significant consultation.  In response to a question about what the triggers were for creating or refreshing an SRF, she advised that SRFs were created due to either need or opportunity for development in particular areas and, that for large Frameworks, the phasing was based on viability considerations and where the Council had land assets.  She informed Members that the refresh of SRFs could be undertaken because of significant market changes, nationally or locally.  A Member  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

This report provides an update on the development of a new Our Manchester Strategy 2025-2035. A project team and steering group was formed in late 2023 ahead of the phase 1 engagement being launched in early 2024. This report provides a summary of the approach to engagement, the overall phase 1 engagement reach and a summary of the findings that are most relevant to the work of the Committee.

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive which provided an update on the development of a new Our Manchester Strategy 2025-2035. A project team and steering group was formed in late 2023 ahead of the phase 1 engagement being launched in early 2024. This report provided a summary of the approach to engagement, the overall phase 1 engagement reach and a summary of the findings that were most relevant to the work of the Committee.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• Providing an introduction and background, describing that the Our Manchester Strategy 2025 was the ten-year strategy for the city and the current Our Manchester Strategy was due to expire in 2025;
• That officers had completed the first phase of development for the next Our Manchester Strategy for 2025 to 2035; and
• Providing an update on the activity undertaken to date, a summary of the outputs from the first phase of the development for the new strategy, and a summary of the next steps.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To welcome the approach to the consultation, including the involvement of Ward Councillors at an early stage, and the hard work undertaken to engage with residents and the diverse communities across the city;
• How the questions in the consultation were chosen;
• Noting that there were some differences between the responses from residents, individuals living outside of Manchester and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector organisations, in terms of which issues they viewed as the highest priority;
• That the key findings from the consultation tallied with what Ward Councillors were hearing from their residents;
• Responder profile, including differences in demographics between the older and young population in the city and the higher level of responses from more affluent wards;
• Learning on how best to engage with residents;
• Making people aware of the financial constraints on what could be done;
• That the themes from the existing Strategy continued to be important;
• The importance of redoubling efforts to address inequality in the city; and
• To request that some of the people who had been engaged with and with whom the Council had maintained a relationship be invited when the Committee next consider the Our Manchester Strategy.

In response to a Member who stated that he had additional suggestions for groups and venues in his ward which could be involved in the next stage of the consultation, the Head of City Policy asked that he send him a list.  The Head of City Policy reported that the 2015 consultation had included a lot of open-ended questions and that this time it had been slightly more structured.  He advised Members that a mixed-methods approach had been taken, noting the need to reflect what residents were saying while also gathering data and applying knowledge and expertise to identify the emerging themes.  He informed Members about work to engage communities which were under-represented and advised that the learning from this was of the benefit of approaching  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

Report of the Director of Development and the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)

The Manchester Housing Strategy (2022-2032) was published in 2022 and set out the long-term vision on how best to deliver the city’s housing priorities and objectives based around the following four priorities:

·       Increase affordable housing supply & build more new homes for all residents

·       Work to end homelessness and ensure housing is affordable & accessible to all

·       Address inequalities and create neighbourhoods & homes where people want to live

·       Address the sustainability & zero carbon challenges in new and existing housing stock

Sitting underneath each priority are a series of measurable objectives including the headline target of delivering 36,000 new homes including 10,000 new affordable homes by 2032. This report provides an update on the progress made towards each of these objectives during 2023-24.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Development and the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided an update on the progress made towards each of the Housing Strategy’s objectives during 2023-24.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Background and contextual information; and
• Progress updates on work to:
  • Increase affordable housing supply and build more new homes for all residents
  • Work to end homelessness and ensure housing is affordable and accessible to all
  • Address inequalities and create neighbourhoods and homes where people want to live
  • Address the sustainability & zero carbon challenges in new and existing housing stock

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To welcome the progress being made on the Housing Strategy, while recognising the challenges in this area;
• To welcome the success of the new Housing Allocations Policy in reducing the number of families in bed-and-breakfast accommodation;
• Concern about the increasing number of households in Priority Bands 1 to 3 and the length of time they were waiting and what was being done to address this;
• Concern about delays in building work starting after planning approval had been granted;
• Increasing the number of Registered Providers;
• Zero carbon new homes and retrofitting of existing housing, including the Home Upgrade Grant Phase 2 (HUG2) programme;
• Limits on the proportion of privately rented housing that could be covered by Selective Licensing;
• How would mandatory housing targets impact on Manchester;
• Impact of the building safety scandal;
• Definition and types of affordable housing, including support for social housing being a larger proportion of this; 
• To ask that a footnote be included each time affordable housing was mentioned in a report, clarifying which definition this referred to and assigning it a monetary value at that point in time; and
• Tracking demand for housing against what was considered deliverable, noting housing as a constraint on growth.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development acknowledged that the number of households in bands 1 to 3 presented a significant challenge and advised that this reflected the housing crisis, the supply of Council and affordable housing and the ongoing impact of right to buy.  He reported that 10,000 more affordable homes were needed over the next 10 years and that work was also taking place to promote right-sizing, as about 30% of social housing was under-occupied.  He informed Members that conversations were taking place with the new Government to be even more ambitious with the city’s housing plans.  He reported that the Council used the levers it had, for example, where it owned the land or through its relationship with the developer, to try to ensure that, once planning permission was granted, work started as soon as possible, noting that there was a requirement to start within 3 years.  In response to a Member’s question on whether the 3-year time limit could be reduced for smaller developments, he advised that representations could be made to the Government on this.  He informed Members that the new Secretary of State had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report also includes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree.

A report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit was submitted. The overview report contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit, responses to previous recommendations and the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee was asked to approve.

The Chair informed the Committee that the item on September’s agenda on the Council’s role as a Good Landlord, including land ownership and the Council’s role as a freeholder, would be split into two separate reports.

Decision:

That the Committee note the report and agree the work programme, subject to the above comments.