Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development).

This report provides a further update to members on the priorities for the services in the remit of this committee and details the changes to the initial revenue budget options proposed by officers in November 2022.  

The committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided a further update to members on the priorities for the services in the remit of this committee and detailed the changes to the initial revenue budget options proposed by officers in November 2022. It highlighted how the Provisional Local Government Financial Settlement, announced on 19 December 2022, reflected a change in government policy in relation to funding inflation and social care pressures and provided an opportunity to review the quantum and phasing of savings. It was consequently proposed that options of £36.2m were progressed, of which £2.169m was within the remit of this Scrutiny Committee.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• The Growth and Development directorate was made up of City Centre Growth and Infrastructure, Strategic Development, Strategic Housing, Planning, Building Control and Licensing, Investment Estate, Manchester Adult Education Service (MAES), Work and Skills and Digital Strategy;
• The Growth and Development directorate has a gross budget of £35.5 million and generates £44.8 million in income;
• The Highways service was within the remit of this scrutiny committee and has a gross budget of £25.1 million;
• Earlier proposals presented in November 2022 suggested savings options of £3.54m over three years but the Provisions Local Government Finance Settlement provided more funding than had been forecast and enabled both the quantum and phasing of savings to be reviewed to ensure minimal impact on service delivery;
• Savings of c£2.044m over the three-year period were initially proposed for Growth and Development and savings options of £100k had been removed from this following the review;
• Savings of £354k over three years were initially proposed for the Highways service but, following review, these had been reduced by £129k to a revised total of £225k. The revised proposals were made up of a combination of increased income of £160k and deleting two vacant positions amounting to £60k;
• Other changes to the proposals suggested in November 2022 included reducing opportunities to capitalise on staffing costs with the Investment Estate service from £250k to £150k per annum and to invest £300k to provide additional resources to enable the establishment of a new team within City Centre Growth and Infrastructure, and to provide additional capacity to the Highways Development Specialist team;
• An overall reduction of 2 Full Time Employees (FTE) was anticipated as part of the savings proposals and these were both vacant posts; and
• The directorate continued to be affected by Covid-19, particularly in the Investment Estate service, and work was ongoing to assess requests for rent holidays on a case-by-case basis, and the cost-of-living crisis.

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

• How an economic recession could challenge income generation within the Growth and Development directorate and
• Welcoming the decision to remove savings from temporarily reducing gully cleansing.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reiterated the impact of austerity over the previous 13 years on the city, council, and residents. He highlighted that the Growth and Development directorate was an income generator and that the budget proposals before the committee sought to maximise these opportunities. This would be used to help in funding affordable homes, planning, regeneration, and retrofitting. He also stated that the Council would be able to expand on what it delivers, particularly around social and affordable housing, if the government provided fair funding.

The Executive Member for Employment, Leisure and Skills echoed comments already made and highlighted that Manchester was a financially well-managed Council. He stated that insufficient government funding constrained the Council’s ambitious plans and objectives.

The Strategic Director (Growth and Development) highlighted that additional resource had been secured to further progress works on active travel and to develop and plan for strategic infrastructure across Manchester.

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport stated that the Highways directorate also generated income for the Council. She explained that the Active Travel Strategy had progressed, but additional and fairer funding would have allowed this to be implemented at pace. The Head of Finance also highlighted that some savings had been removed following receipt of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.

In response to a query from the Chair around the potential impact of recession, the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) expressed confidence in the income generation assumptions within the budget proposals and stated that these were robust. She highlighted that significant income was generated through rent from Manchester Airport and the directorate was working on several other areas of income generation, such as the Strategic Asset Management Plan which allowed the Council to take a more strategic approach to assets, and a review of the management of the Council’s commercial estate.

Decision:

That the Committee

1. notes the report, and
2. endorses and recommends that the Executive approve the budget proposals.