To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2022

Decision

The Executive approved as a correct record the minutes of the meeting on 14 September 2022.

Report of the Chief Executive attached

The Executive considered a report of the Chief Executive which provided an update on key areas of progress against the Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 which reset Manchester’s priorities for the next five years to ensure the Council could still achieve the city’s ambition set out in the Our Manchester Strategy 2016 – 2025.

The Leader and Deputy Leader both reported on the unveiling of an £8m package of support in response to the cost of living crisis which could adversely affect up to 100,000 Manchester households this winter.  The money was being made available to support residents across the city through the expansion of welfare schemes, as well as helping to provide access to food.  The response had been inspired by the Council’s work during the Covid-19 pandemic when emergency hubs were set up to help provide people with essentials.  To ensure the widest safety net possible would be created, the Council would also take the lead in organising a cost-of-living summit that will bring together partner organisations in Manchester, marshalling their resources and providing a united front to help residents at risk.

In addition the Council would also continue to lobby central government on the urgent need to provide a Covid-like package of support to residents and businesses.  Calls would also be made urging the government to increase the National Minimum Wage to match the Real Living Wage, and to increase Universal Credit and other benefits in line with inflation.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development provided an update on the progress that had been made with the commencement of construction for 274 low carbon homes (130 of them for social rent) in Collyhurst as part of the transformative Victoria North project.  This phase of development included more than £35m of public investment and formed part of the wider Victoria North project to deliver 15,000 homes to the north of the city centre over the next decade, with at least 20% of them designated as affordable housing.

The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure reported on the opening of Wythenshawe Cycle Hub, a state-of-the-art cycle hub located around the park’s existing athletics track area which included a pump track, a learn to ride area, mountain bike skills zone, woodland trails and a family trail.  The new hub was designed to encourage Manchester residents to get on their bikes and enable them to practice cycling in a safe, traffic-free environment.

The Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods reported on the opening of Mayfield Park, Manchester’s first new city centre park in more than a century, consisting of a new 6.5 acre green oasis in the heart of the city.  The new park – the first phase in the £1.5bn Mayfield masterplan which was creating a new sustainable, mixed-use neighbourhood close to Piccadilly train station – created a family-friendly and inclusive green space with significant ecological benefits.

The Deputy Executive Member for Environment reported on the latest quarterly update report on the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which informed Members of requests to increase the capital programme, sought approval for those schemes that could be approved under authority delegated to the Executive and asked the Executive to recommend to Council proposals that required specific Council approval.

The proposals which did not require Council approval and only required Executive approval were those which were funded by the use of external resources, use of capital receipts, use of reserves below £10.0m, where the proposal could be funded from existing revenue budgets or where the use of borrowing on a spend to save basis is required.  The following proposals required Executive approval for changes to the City Council’s capital programme:-

·                Private Sector Housing – West Gorton Balconies. A capital budget increase of £0.350m in 2022/23 is requested, funded by HRA Reserve for essential work of making 40 balconies safe following the failure of a balcony ceiling which presented an immediate Health and Safety Issue.

·                Growth and Development – Our Town Hall (OTH) Visitors Centre. A capital budget increase of £0.077m in 2024/25 was requested, funded by OTH reserve to account for significant changes in market conditions, including increases in preliminaries, to fully cost and deliver the full visitor experience.

·                Highways Services – Auto Bollards Additional Funding. A capital budget increase of £0.123m in 2022/23 was requested, funded by Parking Reserve to account for several contract variations that had been submitted by the contractor due to change requests that had been reviewed by the project team. These included, but were not limited to, civil engineering work to establish power connections not included in original tender price and a redesign of static bollards due to improved design to ensure disabled access

·                Highways Services – Chorlton Area 2 Cycle Scheme Additional Funding.  A capital budget increase of £1m in      2023/24 was requested, funded by External Contribution to cover additional costs identified due to delays and contract termination.  The delays were attributable to the contractor being unable to access the whole site in the first instance and following several issues with delivery, there was a protracted but sensible contract termination.

The report highlighted that there had been increases to the programme totalling £1.794m as a result of delegated approvals since the previous report to the Executive on 14 September 2022.

Approval had also been given for the following capital budget virements:-

·                £3.0m to be allocated for Pioneer House High School from the Unallocated Education Basic Need budget. This project would increase the pupil capacity at the school from 128 to 168 places for SEND pupils aged 11-19 with an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP).

·                £2.6m allocated from Education Basic Need funding for William Hulme’s Grammar School. This project would create an additional 18 places of resource provision and rebuild 12 which are currently located in temporary classrooms. The places would be available exclusively for pupils with an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP).

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Approve the following  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer and Strategic Director (Growth and Development), which provided an update on progress with the delivery of The Factory Arts Centre, progress with the redevelopment of St John’s and the preparations for the opening of the building.

The Deputy Leader (Statutory) reported on the delivery of Factory International to date, the wider economic, cultural and social benefits to Manchester that the project would bring to Manchester and the significant programme of social value commitments that had been delivered so far.

It was noted that the external environment had remained and continued to be extremely challenging, particularly with the conflict in Ukraine which had disrupted the supply chain and contributed to unprecedented levels of inflation. The shortages in the labour market have also had an impact as well and Covid-19 restrictions had also remained for the construction industry throughout the whole period, which had continued to impact on productivity.

Consequently, in order to ensure that the project could complete to programme and to mitigate any other unforeseen discovery issues, a programme of acceleration works would be required which necessitated an additional budget requirement to £25.2m, funded by £10m from the Council’s capital scheme inflation provision which was already included in the Capital Budget and £15.2m to be underwritten from borrowing.

In addition the Council was requested to underwrite the £7.8m increased costs of the fit out of Factory International from capital receipts to provide the vital equipment required for the venue to successfully open and operate. This revised of Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FFE) budget included an appropriate level of contingency and would be paid to Manchester International Festival (MIF) as a grant that would be drawn down at appropriate intervals, as costs were incurred. 

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer assured Members that the above could be contained within the existing revenue budget for capital financing and was within the planned and authorised borrowing limit for the Council.  It was also highlighted that the value engineering and strive targets had been exceeded, contributing £2.1m back to the Factory International budget.  The project team can also demonstrate a further £5m of cost mitigation or avoidance.

The Chief Executive assured the Executive that the project had been very tightly managed, and going forward from this point, there would be the most senior officer oversight from herself and partners to absolutely ensure the project remained within the financial envelope set out.

Councillor Leech, whilst acknowledging that the impact of COVID and the increase in inflation could not have been foreseen, expressed concern that the project had suffered from financial mismanagement, noting that the Council’s contribution to the project had increased from an original budget of £114m to over £200m and felt that the project had not been managed as tightly as it could have been.  He proposed that the Executive should not agree to recommendations relating to the underwriting of the fit out of Factory International until a clear breakdown  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

Report of the Director of Education attached

The Executive considered a report of the Director of Education, that sought approval to commence consultation on revised admissions arrangements for community and voluntary controlled primary schools and community high schools.

The Executive member for Children and families reported that formal consultation on changing the admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled primary schools and community high schools would commence on the 31 October 2022 and would cover the following key proposal:

·                To change the reapplication process for parents applying for a school place in year from three times per year to one.

Currently, waiting lists for schools were cleared at the end of each term and parents wishing to be replaced on a waiting list need to reapply each time.  This change would mean that when an application was made, and a lower preference or alternative school place is offered, applicant details would remain on the waiting lists for the higher preference school for the whole or remainder of that academic year only.  

It was noted that each individual governing body was the admission authority for primary and secondary schools with voluntary aided, foundation or academy status. The same requirements for consultation applied to these schools/academies, when governors wished to change their admission arrangements (policy).

For those schools who wished to continue to mirror the new arrangements proposed by the Council, a joint consultation process would be undertaken where this was preferred by the governing body.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Agree in principle the proposed revised admissions arrangements.

(2)      Authorise the Director of Education to consult on the proposed implementation proposed revised admissions arrangements

(3)      Authorise the Director of Education to consider any responses received to the consultation and to agree to the implementation of the proposed arrangements

(4)      Agree to adopt the proposed arrangements under delegated powers after consultation:

Report of the Director of Education and the Head of Access and Sufficiency attached

The Executive considered a report of the Director of Education, which        provided an overview of Manchester’s current school age population and the numbers forecast for future academic years. It also detailed work previously undertaken and that which was planned to achieve a sufficiency of school places.

The Executive Member for Children and Families reported that in response to the increasing demand for school places the Council continued to work with its partners to develop additional places in targeted areas, utilising capital funding provided by the Government to the Council for this purpose (known as Basic Need capital funding), as well as through access to some additional sources of funding where possible and the development of free schools through the Government’s free school scheme.

The continued attractiveness of the city centre as a place to live and work and ongoing residential growth was expected to result in additional demand for primary school places as more residents choose to remain in the area when starting a family.  In response to this forecast demand the Council was working with Renaker Build to establish a new primary school as part of the Crown Street phase 2 development. The school would provide 210 places for primary age children along with a 26-place nursery. It would be funded by S106 and basic need capital and is expected to open in 2024.

Historical growth of primary cohorts was continuing to drive increased demand for places at secondary schools along with new arrivals to the city. In response to this demand the Council had commissioned a significant programme of expansions and new schools funded from Basic Need capital and worked with the DfE to secure the delivery of centrally funded free schools.  A further two pipeline secondary schools were planned to open and would be delivered by the DfE as part of the central free school programme. Dixons Newall Green Academy would open in 2023 and was set to provide a total of 700 places at the former site of Newall Green Academy in Baguley. The Dean Trust would open a new school in 2027 providing 1050 places at a site in Newton Heath.

It was also proposed that due to the ongoing high levels of demand for specialist provision across the City, a new secondary special school would be brought forward at a site located in Miles Platting. The school is expected to provide 150 places for pupils with an EHCP and would open in 2025. This new investment would be resourced from the High Needs Capital and Basic Need grants.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)       Support the principle that High Needs Capital and Basic Need funding is used to fund the new special high school;

(2)       Agree that the Council undertakes consultation to gather views on the plans to develop a new special high school as a first step towards identifying a provider for the new school;

(3)       Delegate responsibility to the Director of Education in consultation with      the Executive Member for Children’s Services to:

a)         progress  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

Report of the City Solicitor and Head of People, Place and Regulation (Legal Services) attached

The Executive considered a report of the City Solicitor and Head of People, Place and Regulation (Legal Services), which sought agreement to the establishment of the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership (GM ICP) as a joint committee and to agree the terms of reference for the GM ICP.

An ICP was one of two statutory components of an Integrated Care System, alongside the Integrated Care Board (ICB).  The minimum core membership of the ICP would consist of 10 representatives from the 10 districts and a member of ICB.

ICPs had a statutory duty to create an integrated care strategy to address the assessed needs, such as health and care needs of the population within the ICB’s area, including determinants of health and wellbeing such as employment, environment, and housing.

It was clarified that the Council’s representative on the ICP would be the Executive Leader with the Executive Member for Healthy Manchester and Adult Social Care acting as deputy.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)       Agree to the establishment the GM Integrated Care Partnership as a joint committee of the ICB and 10 local authorities.

(2)       Agree that Council will appoint the Executive Leader  as the Council’s representative on the ICP and the Executive Member for Healthy Manchester as substitute member

(3)       Note the proposed Terms of Reference of the GM ICP.

Report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing attached

The Executive considered a report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing, which provided an overview of the draft Manchester Biodiversity Strategy for approval.

The Leader explained that the new Manchester Biodiversity Strategy focused on the need to conserve, protect and enhance biodiversity in the City for current and future generations.  It was the third Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan to be developed in the City, and provided a comprehensive, multi- agency 10-year Action Plan of activity and commitments which would support positive citywide biodiversity impact.

The Council was committed to support the new biodiversity strategy  It was recognised that this was a key strategy for the City, which would play an important role in developing future plans and policies. It was also recognised that there were significant cross overs, linkages and opportunities, to embed and integrate biodiversity into wider City priorities and challenges, to inform our strategic thinking and decision making.

Key thematic links for biodiversity would include influencing post COVID recovery, improving the health and wellbeing of communities, supporting climate resilience, improved place making, better sustainable transport connectivity, reducing flood risk and improving air quality.

The strategy would help to provide a platform for guidance on the conservation of biodiversity and the safeguarding of species. It would help identify the potential ecological impacts of development and highlight possible mitigation opportunities.

Decision

The Executive approve and endorse the Manchester Biodiversity Strategy.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which set out all the relevant information in relation to a full Hackney Carriage Fare Review.

The Hackney Fare Tariff was last fully reviewed in June 2017 when a 6.42% increase was applied to the distance element of the fare tariff only (waiting time tariff was not adjusted). Minor amendments were made in 2018 and 2020 to reflect charges introduced at Manchester Airport. It is acknowledged that the fare tariff has not been fully reviewed since 2017.

It was noted that since the last review, running costs had increased by 23%, and that if this increase were to be applied to the fares, this wouldn’t be an increase in profit but a recovery of the costs incurred by trade operators

Prior to consideration by the Executive, the proposals had been considered by the Council’s Licensing and Appeals Committee, who had been conscious that a balance needed to be met between the need to ensure that the hackney carriage trade remained viable against the needs of the travelling public, particularly those disabled passengers who relied on wheelchair accessible vehicles as well as other residents and visitors to the city. The Committee had not been unanimous in its decision to recommend a 23% increase in distance to the night-time tariff and there had been concerns about the effect this would have on trade in what they considered a competitive night-time market.

When deciding on the recommendations the Committee took into account the volatile state of the economy and the fact that the Trade was still in a financially difficult position due to the effects of the pandemic. However, the Committee was also mindful that passengers were facing a cost of living crisis.  Taking these factors into account as well as the fact that they would recommend a further review of Hackney carriage fares in 12 months’ time the Committee did not consider it appropriate to recommend an increase in the waiting time tariff at this stage.

The Executive were asked to consider and if in agreement adopt the recommendations put forward by the Licensing and Appeals Committee.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)       Agrees to increase the Day flag tariff to £2.60.

(2)       Agrees to Increase the Night flag tariff to £3.00.

(3)       Agrees to apply the 23% increase to the rest of the fare on distance on Tariff 1.

(4)       Agrees to apply the 23% increase on the fare on distance on Tariffs 2 & 3 (Night and Bank Holiday Tariffs).

(5)       Agrees not to apply an increase to the waiting time on this occasion and review in 12 months.

(6)       Agrees to retain the current 20p charge for additional passengers but review this in 12 months.

(7)       Agrees to not re-introduce the 20p luggage surcharge at this time.

(8)       Agrees to permit the £1.80 airport pick-up charge to be applied as an extra on the fare card.

(9)       Agrees that the Fare is reviewed again in 12 months’ time.

(10)     Agrees  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Director of ICT, which provided an update on the development of the ICT and Digital Strategy. 

The Deputy Executive member for Finance and Resources reported that the strategy and technology road map were important for the delivery of council priorities to make sure that investment was prioritised in line with the Councils priorities, and that it sat upon robust and secure infrastructure.

The strategy would also underpin the delivery of the next phase of the Future Shape of the Council programme particularly:-

·                Delivering an improved service to residents and businesses through an implementation of a new Customer relationship Management (CRM) system and website through the Resident and Business Digital Experience Programme;

·                The replacement of the council’s main Finance, Procurement and Human Resources system (SAP) which would be at end of life in 2027;

·                Moving away from the current data centres to a hybrid cloud approach which would see over 50% of Council servers move to the cloud, thereby reducing costs and improving resilience; and

·                Further embedding the systems and processes from the old Northwards Housing organisation into Housing Operations.

Work was ongoing to develop a four-year delivery and investment plan, which once the strategy was agreed, would go via the appropriate Council approval and budget setting routes.

Decision

The Executive approve the ICT and Digital Strategy

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) and Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) and Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which outlined proposals for the new Heart of Manchester Business Improvement District and the arrangements that were needed for the Chief Executive (as Ballot Holder) to hold the Heart of Manchester Business Improvement District ballot.

The Leader reported that in recent years the city centre, as the region’s economic hub, had undergone transformational regeneration and benefitted from significant inward investment. This had underpinned Manchester’s development as a leading international city to live, work, study and visit.  This proposal related to the third City Centre BID, to run from April 2023 for five years and was focused on both the retail and office sectors (whereas its predecessor BIDs focused solely on retail). 

Legislation allowed for a BID to be set up once a vote (a “BID ballot”), with a majority in favour (both in terms of number and collective rateable value), had taken place. If approved in the BID ballot, the proposed HoM BID would be managed by an independent BID body, Heart of Manchester BID Ltd (a company limited by guarantee).

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Note the receipt of the new Heart of Manchester Business Improvement District 2023 – 2028 proposal from the BID proposer, the Heart of Manchester BID Company Limited (Company Number 08422906)

(2)      Confirm that the proposals do not conflict with any policy formally adopted by, and contained in a document published by the Council.

(3)      Delegate to the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer the authority to instruct the Ballot Holder to hold the HoM BID ballot. 

(4)      Note that if the BID is approved, The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer will be responsible for collecting the HoM BID levy in accordance with the BID arrangements.