Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)

The report provides a high level summary of the refreshed Victoria North Strategic Business Plan. The report includes updates on progress made since the Strategic Business Plan was approved by Executive, and scrutinised by this Committee, in February 2020. This includes an update on progress made in delivering the 988 homes covered by the Initial Development Area Business Plan, in addition to a look ahead to the next Development Area Business Plan, together with a summary of the high level opportunities, challenges and risks associated with the overall programme. 

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided a high-level summary of the refreshed Victoria North Strategic Business Plan. The report included updates on progress made since the Strategic Business Plan was approved by Executive, and scrutinised by this Committee, in February 2020. This included an update on progress made in delivering the 988 homes covered by the Initial Development Area Business Plan, in addition to a look ahead to the next Development Area Business Plan, together with a summary of the high-level opportunities, challenges and risks associated with the overall programme.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Governance, decision-making and scrutiny;
• Strategic Business Plan – Joint Venture progress to date;
• Key themes of the refreshed Strategic Business Plan;
• Affordable housing;
• Strategic Investment Plan;
• Infrastructure interventions and Delivery Strategy;
• Delivering social value;
• Social and Community Infrastructure Strategy; and
• Contributing to a Zero Carbon City.

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

• Solutions to address flooding risks;
• Concerns of existing residents, including about the risk of losing their communities;
• How this work would be monitored to ensure that the project was meeting its original goals, noting that this project would take around 15 years to be fully implemented;
• Was dentistry being considered as one of the amenities that would be needed; and
• Social value including whether information could be provided on whether this enabled residents to access jobs across the income distribution.

In response to a question from the Chair, the Executive Member for Housing and Development clarified that the intention was to deliver 5% affordable housing through planning and a further 15% through grant funding from Homes England.  He confirmed that the levels of affordable housing were being monitored throughout the project and that this would be reported back to this Committee and through other channels.  He acknowledged the point about considering access to dentistry for future Victoria North residents.

The Assistant Director (Major Regeneration) reported that, following geological issues with the original plan to remove a weir in the River Irk, the plan was now to deliver on-plot flood solutions.  He outlined how the Council was working with the Environment Agency on this, finding practical solutions to dissipate the issue without displacing the problem elsewhere, while trying to take as many properties as possible out of a flood zone altogether and take all properties out of flood zone 3. 

The Strategic Director (Growth and Development) reported that the Victoria North Board met quarterly and monitored progress and that every phase of the project was subject to a business plan which was refreshed annually and closely monitored.  She reported that there was a guarantee that anyone who was going to lose their home due to the regeneration of the area would be found a replacement home which met their needs.  She acknowledged the Member’s comment about residents’ existing communities and outlined how residents in Collyhurst were actively involved in the plans for the area, emphasising the importance of two-way communication. The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that the Local Lettings Policy would give priority to people with a local connection and that, while plans for Collyhurst could see the number of homes in the area increase from approximately 600 to 3000, he emphasised that the existing communities were at the heart of the scheme and helping to shape plans for their area.  

In response to comments from the Chair about new primary schools opening in phases, rather than offering places in all school years from the outset, and the challenges this presented for families moving into the area if they had children of different ages, the Executive Member for Housing and Development stated that he would discuss this with Education colleagues, who they were working closely with in relation to school provision for Victoria North. 

The Victoria North Strategy and Coordination Lead reported that the four existing schools in this part of the city, two of which were Roman Catholic, one of which was Church of England and one which was a community school, currently had spare capacity, although they were all one-form entry schools.  He reported that work would take place with Education colleagues and existing schools to identify a strategy to provide sufficient school places as the area’s population started to grow.  In response to the question about social value, he informed Members about the North Manchester Social Benefits Framework, advising that the intention was to have a more outcome-focussed and person-centred approach, although he acknowledged that it would be challenging to find a way to monitor the ongoing progress of a Manchester resident after they had started work.  The Chair stated that this could be discussed further when the Committee considered the item on Social Value and the Economy at its December meeting.

Decisions:

1.  To note the summarised content of the refreshed Victoria North Strategic Business Plan.

2.  To endorse the refreshed Victoria North Strategic Business Plan.

3.  To note the general programme update.

[Councillor Richards declared a personal and prejudicial interest in this item due to her involvement in the Joint Venture Board and some of the decision-making on Victoria North during her time as an Executive Member and left the room for this item.]