To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2024.

Decision

The Executive approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting on 15 March 2024.

Report of the City Solicitor attached

The Executive Leader advised that in accordance with Articles of the Constitution 7.4(c) and 7.5(a), she had given notice to the Monitoring Officer and Members in question of her appointment of Deputy Leader and Executive Members (and associated portfolios).

Decision

The Executive note the appointments of Deputy Leader and Executive Members

Report of the City Solicitor attached

The Executive considered  a report of the City Solicitor, which sought Executive to note the decision of the Leader of the Council to delegate all of the Council’s executive functions to the Executive and endorse the decision of the Leader of the Council to arrange for the discharge of all of the Council’s executive functions recorded at Part 3, Sections A and F of the Council’s May 2024 Constitution.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Notes the decision of the Leader of the Council to exercise the power under Section 9E(2) of the Local Government Act 2000 to delegate the discharge of all of the Council’s executive functions to the Executive;

(2)      Notes and endorses the decision of the Leader of the Council to delegate to officers the discharge of all of the Council’s executive functions recorded at Part 3, Sections A and F of the Council’s May 2024 Constitution as set out in the revised versions of those sections presented to Council at its meeting on 15 May 2024; and

(3)      In relation to the Scheme of Delegation to Officers set out in Part 3, Section F of the Council’s May 2024 Constitution, note that such delegations of executive functions include those functions that are designated as “Executive Functions” and those functions that are designated as “General Functions” insofar as these are executive functions.

Report of the Leader of the Council attached

The Executive considered a report of the Leader of the Council, which set out the Council’s Corporate Plan priorities for 2024/25, how these aligned with the Our Manchester Strategy and in particular the commitments made in “A Fairer, Greener Future: People at the heart of everything we do’”, Manchester Labour’s 2024 election manifesto.

The report explained that “A Fairer, Greener Future: People at the heart of everything we do” contained five core pledges, which alongside the Councils Corporate Plan priorities and approved budget for 2024/25, would determine the priorities for the Executive as a whole and for each individual Executive Member.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Note the key elements that will inform its priorities for the current municipal year.

(2)      Adopt the commitments made in the Manchester Labour 2024 manifesto as priorities for the Executive.

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 Executive Member for Growth and Housing reported that consultation was underway on a new masterplan for Grey Mare Lane estate to continue the regeneration of East Manchester.  The aim was to develop a future-proofed, highly sustainable neighbourhood for existing and new residents, with community as a key focus of the plan.  The masterplan presented a high-level overview of the regeneration opportunities within the estate and outlines potential approaches to its delivery.  Housing association Great Places would also begin targeted engagement around their development at the site on the corner of Grey Mare Lane and Ashton New Road from 5 June 2024. The proposed scheme would deliver a block of 66 apartments for social rent providing a landmark gateway development into the masterplan area.  A planning application would be submitted alongside the masterplan for the estate and Great Places had been working closely with the Council and the masterplan architect to ensure the proposals were aligned. 

The Executive Member for Growth and Housing also reported that the Council’s housing company This City had celebrated a major milestone in the  construction of one of its schemes.  A topping out ceremony was held earlier this month marking the highest point of the build for Number One Ancoats Green being reached. The development would deliver 129 new homes – 119 apartments and 10 town houses - on a former brownfield city centre fringe site.  Some 30% of these new homes would be affordable, capped at the Manchester Living Rent making the homes accessible to as many Manchester people as possible.  A range of one bed to four bed homes were being built to meet a wide range of needs, including families who wanted to live close to the city centre.  Six further Manchester sites were currently being considered for development by This City and the ambition was to scale up building to 500 homes a year.

Councillor Leech sought clarification on the ability of the new masterplan for Grey Mare Lane to deliver truly affordable housing for Manchester residents and what the proportion of retained green space would be from the One Ancoats Green development.

The Deputy Leader (Statutory) reported that Manchester played host on 13 May 2024 to a national best practice event to share lessons from Operation Green Jacket which was launched in 2019 in response to historical offending against children in the early 2000s, and the city’s collective approach tackling child sexual exploitation (CSE) and reaffirm the commitment to continued improvement.  The event, hosted jointly by the Council and Greater Manchester Police (GMP), brought together agencies and subject matter experts to share valuable learning, insights and approaches into how CSE was being tackled.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Report of the City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the City Treasurer, which set out the final outturn position for the Council’s revenue budget in 2023/24.  It also highlighted the movements from the previous forecast for the year, which was reported to the Executive in February 2024.

The Executive Member for Finance and resources reported that reported that the final outturn position was an overspend of £5.35m for the year. This was in the context of significant financial stresses being faced across the Local Government sector. The Council’s position reflected the national pressures in the health and social care sector and trends being experienced across most Social Care providing local authorities.

I was noted that the increase was largely made up of emerging pressures in both Adults and Children’s services which were set out in the report, offset by improvements in other Directorates.  The budget process for 2023/24 identified £25.2m of savings. Of these £18.1m (72%) had been achieved or mitigated and £7.1m (28%) had not been achieved, mainly due to the increased costs and demand pressures of £3.0m on Children Service placements and £4.1m in Adults from demand management. As part of the 2024/25 budget-setting process officers had identified alternative savings where original plans might not be achieved, and an additional £10m had been allocated to support Adults and Children’s.

In terms of virement approval requests, a budget virement of £0.6m from centrally held contingency to Election Services to fund pressures from the electoral reforms required under the new Elections Act was recommended for approval.

Since the last monitoring report to the Executive there hade been additional grant notifications which wre now reflected in the revised budget as follows:

·            Children’s Services – £28k grant for the Early Years Experts and Mentor Programme from the Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP) to support delivery of the programme.

·            Corporate Services – £141k New Burdens Grant from Dept of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for electoral integrity programme to support additional legal requirements of facilitating elections as set out in the Elections Act 2022.

·            Growth and Development – £84k from Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to fund specialist commercial and legal advice for project delivery in Holt Town, along with a further £150k from Homes England and £132k from GMCA’s Growth Locations Funding for neighbourhood development and regeneration.

·            Corporate Services – £0.514m in 2024/25 and £0.514m in 2025/26 from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for the Net Zero Accelerator Programme to be used to build on the feasibility study work carried out in 2023 to facilitate the council-wide ambition to understand how to develop pipeline projects and associated finances for net-zero transition.

·            Corporate Services – £6.5m Household Support Fund (HSF) in 2024/25.  Announced in the 2024 Spring Budget statement.  This extension of funding would allow the Council to continue to support vulnerable residents.

The following requests relate to drawdowns from reserves, above that approved in budget:-

·            Neighbourhoods –  £124k from the New Smithfield Market Reserve to contribute to asbestos remediation works at the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

Report of the City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the City Treasurer, which outlined the capital outturn position for 2023/24 including total expenditure and funding, confirmed that funding sources had been managed to best utilise resources available to fund the capital programme; and presented a revised capital programme for the 2024/25 financial year after taking into account the final outturn position as reported.

The outturn for the Council’s Capital Programme in 2022/23 was £353.36m compared to the current approved budget of £510.5m.  This represented one of the largest deliveries of capital spend in the Council’s history and was much higher than in previous years. It represented the continued significant investment in Manchester with over 300 live projects progressing during the year.

The Executive Member for Fnance and Resources reported that the main variances related to Our Town Hall Refurbishment, This City Housing Delivery Vehicle, Public Sector Housing Programme, Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Asset Management Programme, Back of Ancoats Mobility Hub and Public Realm and Varley Street SEND Secondary School. Details of these variances were contained in the report.

In regard to any unused grant, it was reported that, subject to conditions, these had been carried forward into 2024/25 and would be matched against future spend. The programme was managed to ensure that any grant with a risk of claw back due to time constraints or other factors was fully utilised in 2023/24. Similarly, any external contributions that have not been used will be carried forward into 2024/25. 

The balance of available capital receipts carried forward from 2022/23 was £154.0m. A further £23.3m receipts were received in 2023/24 including pooled receipts from the sale of Council housing. Drawdown from capital receipts was £49.3m with the balance of £128m committed to the current approved programme of which £89.6m relate to Housing. Any new receipts generated in 2024/25 would be available for use in future programmes and added to the amount available. The Housing receipts were expected to support the achievement of the Council’s housing strategy and plans for their use will come forward in due course.

Insofar as revenue contributions to capital expenditure, a £1.5m revenue contribution to capital expenditure was made. In addition, £21.4m from the Major Repairs Reserve part funded expenditure on the HRA capital programme. The use of this reserve included self-financing revenue from the HRA revenue budget. 

In relation to the HRA Capital programme, long-term borrowing of £166.8m had been used to fund the programme this year. This borrowing figure represented the amount to be funded by borrowing in the long term and was not necessarily borrowed in year. The Council’s approach to actual borrowing drawn down in year was governed by its Treasury Management strategy. This reflected an approach to debt which considered volatility of interest rates during the year and the forecast changes to the Bank of England base rate. The Council had funded a large amount of its long-term borrowing from internal cash balances and was in an under borrowed position. A total of £295m of long-term external  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Families), which informed Members of the changes and developments to the Council’s Corporate Parenting Strategy.

The Deputy Leader reported that Council was underpinned by a children’s rights approach in how it shaped and delivered services for the children and families it served.  This was personified in the Council’s drive to achieve UNICEF Child Friendly City status.  An example of how this

had been reflected in practice is the move from a traditional Corporate Parenting Committee to a more radical child led Corporate Family Cooperative, named as such by Our Children and Care leavers to reflect their expectations and desires.

The strategy encompassed this approach, namely that the voices, needs, priorities and rights of children were an integral part of our public policies, programmes and decisions.  The strategy had been co-produced with Care Consultants (children who were in care or care leavers whom the Council employed to provide expert advice, collaborate with the Council on ensuring it was seeking the views and experience of its cared for children and care leavers), which had led to the adoption of the twelve expectations all children in care and care leavers had from anyone involved with them.

Strategic advances over the next three years would focus on the following:

·            Coproducing a website where information would be available for children and young people about MCFC, promoting involvement, influence and transparency.

·            Member training, on Corporate Parenting co-produced and co-delivered would take place, including refresher training.

·            The link between the work of Manchester’s Cooperate Family Cooperative (MCFC) and front-line practitioners and managers would be strengthened to ensure greater reach and impact.

·            A recruitment campaign for new care consultants would take place on an annual basis, and an induction programme would build their knowledge and confidence of the Council.

·            Consideration would be given to whether there was an appetite amongst out cared for children and care leavers to develop a ‘young inspectors’ role to enhance how the Council monitored and evaluated its services.

The Executive also heard from Care Consultants as to what their aspirations for the strategy would achieve and deliver.

Decisions

The Executive

(1)       Endorse the approach proposed for Manchester to meeting its Corporate Parenting duties and responsibilities.

(2)       Agree to receive an annual Corporate Parenting Report setting out the progress and impact made against the priorities identified within Manchester’s Corporate Parenting Strategy and plan.

Report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services), which outlined the projected increase in demand for post 16 provision over the next seven years and the resulting gaps in post 16 provision.

The Executive Member for Skills, Culture and Leisure advised that the rise in the city’s population had resulted in a significant increase in demand for primary and secondary education places in the city since 2008 and these larger cohorts of children were now reaching the end of their education in school.  Over the last two years, this growth had impacted upon post-16 providers of education and training and had resulted in almost all post-16 providers within Manchester operating at, or very near to, full capacity.

Projections based on Manchester’s pupil population show ed that post 16 numbers would not peak until 2028. Furthermore, this year for the first time in two years the Council was  starting to see an impact on the number of young people post 16 who were not in education, employment or training (NEET).  The Local Authority had a statutory duty to ensure there were sufficient places post 16 for young people and going forward as demand continued to increase, without assertive action, Manchester was at risk of not having sufficient places to meet the reasonable needs of its young people.

Furthermore, there was currently no strategy, mechanism or funding allocated from the DFE to Local Authorities to address this issue, as there was for responding to demand for school places. This issue had been anticipated for a number of years and had been raised formally with the DFE since summer 2022.  As a result of this, there had been some response to enable Manchester to address this demand in the short term, with capital funding to expand provision at Loreto and Xaverian colleges following successful bids to the DFE and a successful application from Dixons Academy Trust to open a 6th form provision in Wythenshawe.  However, the Council had now used all existing mechanisms available to increase growth in the post 16 sector and had now been left with no option other than formally declaring a gap in post 16 provision.

This process involved making a case to the DFE to evidence that there was a projected gap in provision in the City and outlining the providers the Council was working with to address this gap and how they could respond to meet demand with additional resources.  A task and finish group, led by the Chief Executive, working with a range of post 16 providers, had developed a costed plan including required capital investment and revenue funding which would meet the identified gaps and future demand for post 16 places across the City. Overall, the plan would deliver an additional 1,974 offers by 2028 including the additional places created when Dixon’s 6th form opens in Wythenshawe. The offers would address the gaps specifically identified. The plan to be submitted to the DFE included a request for £28m capital based  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growthand Development) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which outlined proposals to dispose of the former Spire Hospital site, Russell Road, Whalley Range, to Great Places Housing Group (GP), on a long leasehold basis to facilitate the delivery of 120 new affordable homes.

The Executive Member for Growth and Housing reported that the development would deliver c79 social rent apartments as part of the UK’s first purpose built and co-produced LGBTQ+ majority extra care housing (ECH) scheme with ground floor space for wider community use, and c41 apartments for shared ownership in a separate apartment block. 

The LGBT majority extra care scheme had been included within the Council’s extra care development programme in response to the findings of a Council commissioned research by the LGBT Foundation. This research identified  access to good quality affordable and accessible housing as being a key issue for older LGBT people in Manchester to provide a safe and accepting environment and found high levels of loneliness, isolation and health problems amongst older LGBTQ+ people.  The report also found that older LGBTQ+ people may have no family network for support and therefore had a greater reliance on commissioned services

Subject to approval to dispose, it was proposed that the Council and Great Places would negotiate the terms of and enter into an agreement for lease with the condition that Great Places secure a satisfactory planning consent within an agreed timescale.  Following the grant of planning permission for the proposed scheme, the Council would grant a 999-year development lease, in line with Homes England funding requirements. The lease would contain specific development obligations to ensure the scheme was brought forward and completed within agreed timescales. The user clause within the lease would be restricted to social rent homes as part of the UK’s first purpose built, coproduced LGBTQ+ majority Extra Care scheme alongside Shared Ownership apartments. The lease would be drafted to maintain the LGBTQ+ majority of the ECH scheme.

The scheme would bring a brownfield site, vacant for several years, back into use. And the development would be low carbon and highly sustainable using up to date energy efficiency measures through Passivhaus principles designed to reduce end user electricity costs. The completed development would incorporate secure cycle storage and be located close to high frequency bus corridors. This would encourage active and public transport.

Based on the proposed scheme, Great Places had made a financial offer in the form of a premium payment to the Council to acquire the site. The detail regarding the offer was set out in Part B of this report.  An external valuation had also been carried out based on the assumption of an implementable, planning policy compliant scheme based on a residential open market scheme.

Councillor Leech sought clarification as to who would be eligible to apply for the c41 apartments that would be subject to shared ownership.  The Executive Member for Growth and Housing confirmed that all of the LGBTQ+ community would be eligible to apply  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

The officers consider that the following item or items contains exempt information as provided for in the Local Government Access to Information Act and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Executive is recommended to agree the necessary resolutions excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of these items. At the time this agenda is published no representations have been made that this part of the meeting should be open to the public.

Decision

The Executive agrees to exclude the public during consideration of the following item which involved consideration of exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of particular persons and public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which outlined the financial implications to dispose of the former Spire Hospital site, Russell Road, Whalley Range, to Great Places Housing Group (GP), on a long leasehold basis to facilitate the delivery of 120 new affordable homes as part of the UK’s first purpose built and co-produced LGBTQ+ majority extra care housing (ECH) scheme.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)       Approve the basis of the land transaction as set out in the report at less than best consideration.

(2)       Delegate authority to the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) to finalise the detailed terms of the transaction, in line with the principles set out in this report.

(3)       Delegate authority to the City Solicitor to enter into and complete all documents and agreements necessary to give effect to the recommendations.