Agenda item

Agenda item

Manchester College Estates Strategy (Part A)

Report of the Strategic Director (Development) and City Treasurer 

 

This report to provides an update on the LTE Group’s progress in acquiring a city centre site located within the Northern Gateway Great Ducie Street Regeneration area for the Manchester College city campus, which is a key part of its estates strategy.

 

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Development) and City Treasurer, which provided an update on the LTE Group’s progress in acquiring a city centre site located within the Northern Gateway Great Ducie Street Regeneration area for the Manchester College city campus, which was a key part of its estates strategy.

 

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:-

 

·                An overview of Manchester College’s Estates strategy, which included the proposal to consolidate the estate from 24 disparate sites into three centres of excellence in the City Centre and Openshaw, supported by community learning hubs in Harpurhey, Openshaw and Wythenshawe;

·                The new campus would focus on Manchester’s employment growth sectors and new markets, where technological change required a more highly skilled and adaptable workforce,;

·                To meet the College’s ambitions, a new city centre campus needed to be accessible by public transport and create a high quality and safe environment to inspire  learners to achieve;

·                Land to the east of Great Ducie Street had been identified as the preferred site for the new City Centre campus;

·                The proposed arrangements to fund the delivery of the new city centre campus, which included a loan funding package of £27.6m from the Council; and

·                The College's approach to the proposed development of the City Centre campus would mean that the City would be well placed to deliver the new technical pathways which were being proposed as part of the Government's Post-16 Skills Strategy and critical to the delivery of the Industrial Strategy.

 

The Committee had been invited to comment on the report prior to its submission to the Executive on 12 December 2018.

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:-

 

·                The Committee welcomed the proposed development;

·                It was suggested that transport connectivity to the proposed development be improved;

·                What were the future proposals for the College’s St Johns site; and

·                It was questioned whether the learning hubs would have A level provision.

 

The Head of Work and Skills advised that it was intended that the learning hubs would deliver vocational qualifications up to first level 3 (equivalent to A levels) and as learners specialised, it was intended that they would move to the centres of excellence within the city either undertaking a levels or the new Technical levels (T Levels), with opportunities for apprenticeships and Higher Education as well.

 

 

 

In terms of connectivity, The Strategic Director (Development) advised that there would be a requirement to embed the proposal in a revision of the Great Ducie Street Framework and in essence the site would require its own framework , which would include addressing the known issues of getting students to the new college campus safely from across the city. He also commented that in terms of the future of the College’s other city centre assets, the first step was to establish a new campus.  The College would then look to withdraw and dispose of other locations in order to pay down its debt to the Council and other financial providers.

 

Decision

 

The Committee endorses the recommendations contained within the report that the Executive:-

 

(1)    Supports LTE Group’s plans to deliver a new Manchester College Campus on Great Ducie which would be a centre for excellence for skills in Creative & Digital (Phase 1) and Business, Financial & Professional Services (Phase 2);

 

(2)    Notes that the LTE Group has committed to work with the Council to ensure that new development proposals comply with and support approved planning policies for the City Centre, and to work with the Council to bring forward a new development framework for the site; and

 

(3)    Notes that the arrangements include a proposed loan of £27.6m to LTE Group the details of which are set out in the separate Part B Report.

 

[Councillor Hacking declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in this item due to being a Director of the LTE Group and a Governor of Manchester College.  He left the meeting during consideration of this item.]

 

[Councillor Raikes declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in this item due to his employer being a corporate sponsor for the LTE Group.  He left the meeting during consideration of this item.]

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