Report of the Chief Executive attached

The Executive considered a report of the Chief Executive which provided an update on key areas of progress against the Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 which reset Manchester’s priorities for the next five years to ensure the Council could still achieve the city’s ambition set out in the Our Manchester Strategy 2016 – 2025.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that Manchester had secured more than £3 million to support housing projects across the city which were bringing long-term brownfield land back into use.  The funding, through Round 2 of the Government’s Brownfield Land Release Fund, would help build 210 homes in total, 119 of which would be affordable housing at sites across north and east Manchester, and one city centre site.  81 of the affordable homes being supported through the new brownfield funding were part of the Council’s Project 500 initiative which would be capped at the Manchester Living Rent.

The Deputy Leader (statutory) reported that the Council had begun a major conversation with Manchester people to inform the city’s 10 year cultural strategy.  It was intended that the decade-long plan would build on the investments in culture which the city had made, building on the existing cultural vibrancy and extending its reach further.

The Deputy Leader reported that Warm Welcome spaces were again being provided for Manchester residents this autumn and winter as part of the Council’s cost-of-living support for residents.  The city’s 22 libraries were again operating as warm welcome spaces, providing somewhere people could get out of the cold, especially if they are worried about heating costs and a range of other support for people who needed it. In addition to the libraries, there were dozens of other community and volunteer-led spaces are joining the offer of support this year.  All these spaces were free to access and people could stay as long as they like during opening hours.

The Deputy Leader also reported that a year on from Manchester receiving initial Living Wage City accreditation the number of employers paying the Real Living Wage has increased to 282, a rise of more than 50% which had exceeded the target set for both 2023 and 2024.   Within newly accredited Real Wage employers, the number of jobs uplifted to a real wage had increased by more than 9,000 people – exceeding the 2023 target of 6,056 employees.  Citywide, the number of people employed or contacted by Real Living Wage employers had increased by 13.2% since this time last year, with the proportion of jobs employed by accredited Living Wage employers increasing from 16.3% to 18.4%. 

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport reported on the Council’s emerging Tree and Woodland Action Plan.  A Council commissioned Growing Manchester’s Trees study had looked at how the city’s treescape had evolved and how it could be improved, and concluded that there was significant scope to increase the city’s tree canopy cover from its current level of almost 19% of tree cover to almost 22%.  The draft Tree and Woodland Action Plan envisaged the Council working with organisations and other stakeholders across the city towards that goal, which it was estimated would require 64,000 new trees, equivalent to 320 hectares of extra tree cover or an area the size of 600 football pitches.

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport also reported that the latest data showed that the Oxford Road cycle route was more popular than ever with the millionth journey of the year being recorded on 20 October 2023 – a month earlier than last year.  The cycleway was a flagship of the Council’s ambition to improve cycling provision  throughout the city as part of an effort to encourage active travel for shorter journeys, contributing towards the city’s goal of becoming zero carbon by 2038 or earlier. At the same time, the route had improved the experience for pedestrians and created new public realm and green spaces.

Councillor Leech sought clarification as to whether the funding for bringing long-term brownfield land back into use was sufficient to address all brownfield sites and whether those that had been identified so far for remediation works where the most contaminated.  He also sought clarification in respect of the Tree and Woodland Action Plan as to whether any consideration would be given to the retention of existing trees not subject to preservation orders as well as the planting of new trees

Councillor Johnson sought clarification as to the overall timescale for the Tree and Woodland Action Plan.

Decision

The Executive note the report.