Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)

This report provides a summary of the recent Greater Manchester Trailblazer deal and its implications for Manchester. 

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided a summary of the recent Greater Manchester Trailblazer deal and its implications for Manchester.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• The background to the Deal
• The four priority areas within the Deal which were:
  • Single Settlement;
  • Housing and Regeneration;
  • Transport; and
  • Skills;
• Considerations for Manchester in relation to these priority areas; and
• Additional announcements.

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

• To welcome the devolution of powers to the city region;
• What was being done to ensure that the city region was in the best possible position if there was a change of government, in terms of retaining the commitments in this deal;
• Was the £150m of brownfield funding intended to enable the delivery of current housing targets or to stretch them further;
• To ask for more information on what the Housing Quality Pathfinder might mean in practice; and
• To request a report on the development of a Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc).

In response to a question from the Chair, the Leader stated that more progress had been made in achieving devolved powers for areas within the control of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) than for other Government departments.  She cited as an example that Greater Manchester had asked for control in the post-16 educational sector and influence in the pre-16 sector and had not been given either of these, although the Department for Education had agreed to look at a partnership in the post-16 sector, which would give the city region more influence in post-16 education and skills.

The Leader advised that she felt there was very little in the deal that a future Government would not continue with; however, she advised that the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer had announced that a Labour Government would make major reforms to or scrap business rates so work was taking place to understand what that would mean for Greater Manchester.  She advised that a future Government would also need to consider devolution across different geographical areas and what powers cities themselves should have, informing Members that the Core Cities were leading on work in relation to this.  In response to a question about the rail partnership, she stated that this was not the devolved control and capital, that the city region had wanted and that it was still an emerging partnership, which the city region would work hard on.

The Strategic Director (Growth and Development) reported that the £150m of brownfield funding was to help deliver the existing pipeline of homes and linked to a target of 7000 new homes within 3 years and that it was important to demonstrate to Government that Greater Manchester could achieve more with greater flexibility and certainty of funding.  In response to a Member’s question, she stated that this should include affordable housing and net zero housing.  In response to a Member’s question, the Executive Member for Housing and Development outlined some of the other sources of funding available for housing development. 

The Strategic Director (Growth and Development) reported that there were few details on the Housing Quality Pathfinder at present but that DLUHC had been looking at what additional powers could be developed to help drive better quality in the Private Rented Sector so Greater Manchester and the West Midlands could potentially trial these.  She reported that the Mayor of Greater Manchester would have powers to approve large-scale landlord licensing, rather than the Secretary of State.

In response to a question from the Ward Councillor for Chorlton Park about the future relationship between Manchester and Greater Manchester, including in relation to scrutiny, the Assistant Chief Executive reported that work was taking place within the GMCA around its decision-making, governance and scrutiny structures in light of this deal and that the Council would be working with the GMCA on this, which might need to include consideration of how scrutiny at a Manchester level fitted in with scrutiny at a Greater Manchester level.

The Leader outlined how the Council was ensuring that Manchester was not disadvantaged financially by the deal and the new funding arrangements, including seeking assurance from Government that the Greater Manchester councils could bid for new funding which became available and making the city’s case for a fair share of the funding for Greater Manchester, taking into account its characteristics, including a much larger population and higher levels of deprivation.  In response to a question from the Chair of the Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee about whether the other 9 Greater Manchester authorities agreed with this division of funding, she reported that funding per head of the population was a well-established approach and that, when addressing issues such as poverty and inequalities, this would sometimes require funding to be targeted rather than divided equally across all areas, and that this would direct more funding towards Manchester.  

The Chair stated that Members wanted a further report on the MBacc but there would need to be a discussion about the most appropriate scrutiny committee to receive this report.  The Leader reported that the conversation on developing the MBacc was intended to help identify what good technical pathways into jobs would look like, particular post-16, and how schools could support that.  The Chair proposed that this item be added as a ‘to be scheduled’ item on the Committee’s work programme and advised that he would speak to the Chair of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee about which Committee would receive it.

Decision:

To add the MBacc as a ‘to be scheduled’ item on the Committee’s work programme and to note that the Chair will speak to the Chair of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee about which Committee will receive it.

[Councillor Johns declared a personal interest due to writing on devolution for his work.]