Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development), which provided an update on activity undertaken since the previous report to Executive in March 2023 and set out proposals and recommendations for approval in relation to a strategy to secure an Affordable Housing Delivery Partner, who would play a critical role in ensuring that any redevelopment plans brought forward for consideration contained the right mix of housing tenures to meet the needs of existing and future residents.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that Phase 1 - construction of 244 new homes in Collyhurst Village, of which 100 homes would be new City Council social rent properties with the balance being for open market sale, was now underway and was anticipated completed by April 2026 with the first 10 new Council homes completed in 2024/25, and the remainder completed in 2025/26.  As agreed previously at Executive, residents whose homes would be demolished as part of the Phase 1 scheme were being supported to move into the new development. Work was underway with the tenants affected, to allocate them specific homes in the new development, clarify timescales for their moves and commence discussions about practicalities.

The March 2023 Executive report advised that a masterplan team had been selected to prepare a detailed masterplan for the Collyhurst Village and South Collyhurst neighbourhoods.  Since the last update, the team had been undertaking baseline technical surveys to inform masterplan development and a community engagement strategy has been developed in liaison with local ward members.  As part of the Masterplan development, a phasing strategy would be developed to inform and enable more detailed engagement with residents in the future around commitments that could be made. These would ultimately be agreed between the Affordable Housing delivery partner but could be explored in advance through masterplan option testing.

Based on the work undertaken to date, and through market engagement undertaken, it was proposed to commence an MCC/FEC competitive process to identify an appropriate Affordable Housing Delivery Partner.  MCC and FEC were in the process of designing a proposed competitive process to identify an appropriate Affordable Housing Delivery Partner and both parties were agreed in principle that based on potential scope of responsibilities a regulated procurement process would be required.  it was considered likely that the partner identification process would have to launch during late Summer 2023, to conclude in Spring 2024.

It was also reported that Homes England had announced on 27 June that grant funding made available via the Government’s Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) 2021-26 could  be used to fund replacement homes, alongside new affordable homes, as part of wider estate regeneration proposals. This was a welcome shift in Government policy and was something that the Council had been lobbying for over a number of years.

Councillor Karney (Ward Councillor Harpurhey) addressed the Executive.  He welcomed the developments taking place in Collyhurst and the proposal that 100 homes would be new City Council social rent properties.  He condemned previous government’s policies for failing to build affordable homes for those most in need and welcomed the Council’s commitment to address this.

Councillor Leech queried what the range of different affordable housing products would be and whether the proposed 20% of affordable housing would actually be achieved and whether these would actually be at the Manchester Living Rent levels.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development advised that as part of  Phase 1 of the redevelopment, 130 out of 274 (nearly 50%) were for social rent and that this demonstrated the Council’s ambition to delivering affordable housing.  He also added that there was also a need for other forms of affordable housing such as shared ownership and rent to buy as ways of getting onto the housing ladder

Councillor Johnson queried how realistic it would to find appropriate accommodation in the Collyhurst area for those residents who would require rehousing whilst the redevelopment of the area was taking place.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development advised the Council had a commitment to a one move strategy for residents that would be affected which would be outlined in more detail in the Masterplan.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Note the ongoing work to develop a delivery strategy for future phases of development in Collyhurst.

(2)      Delegate authority to the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)and Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer in consultation with the Leader and the Executive Member for Housing and Development to approve the undertaking and finalisation of a formal, competitive procurement process to identify an Affordable Housing Delivery Partner to support the Collyhurst Regeneration Programme.

(3)          Note that any such process will be subject to consultation with Local Ward Members in advance of implementation.