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 the Council had secured £51.6m via GMCA’s Brownfield Housing Fund to build thousands of new homes.  The funding would support the development of 31 long-term underused sites over the next two years, helping to build 3,380 new homes, with 1,761 of them (52%) genuinely affordable.  These new homes were contributing to the target set in the Council’s Housing Strategy to 2032 which aimed to deliver 36,000 new homes across the city with 10,000 of these affordable and 3,000 of these affordable homes in the city centre.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that the final homes in a 69-home low carbon development for social rent in Silk Street, Newton Heath, had been completed.  The long-term brownfield site overlooking the Rochdale Canal had been developed and brought back into use by the Council delivering 36 one-bedroom apartments, 12 two-bedroom apartments, 17 two-storey three-bedroom houses and four three-story, four-bedroom houses.  The apartments had been built to HAPPI design principles that provided larger internal space as standard, which accommodated someone using a wheelchair, along with extra storage space. This meant they could also be adapted to meet the needs of the tenants.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development also reported that major investment in Ancoats Green was underway to create a much improved city centre park space as part of the culmination of Ancoats’ regeneration.  The scheme would include new walking and cycling routes to encourage active travel through the neighbourhood, significant new planting – including new wildflower and wetland areas – and new trees to add colour throughout the year. At least 30% of new services would be made from reclaimed materials, including granite paving slabs removed from Albert Square as part of its transformation under the Our Town Hall project.  The transformed Ancoats Green would help underpin the development of 1,500 new homes in this part of Ancoats, supporting the creation of a low-traffic, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood.  Homes England had committed £28.1m to the overall project – along with the Mobility Hub – which, combined with the £4.7m allocated by Greater Manchester Combined Authority through the Brownfield Housing Fund, brought the total budget  to £32.7m.

The Executive Member for Young People, Children and Families reported that preparations were taking place for Manchester’s fourth Family Hub to open.  Hubs were already open in Longsight, Cheetham and Wythenshawe with a fourth due to open in Gorton this spring.  Family Hubs were Manchester’s new community based ‘one-stop shops’ offering support and advice to families, children and young people through to early adulthood.  Unlike Sure Start Centres which largely provided support aimed at younger children, the age range of those supported through the hubs was from pre-birth, through the infant and toddler stage all the way up to age 19 years, or up to 25 for young adults who had special needs.  The Hubs were part of the broader five-year Making Manchester Fairer action plan, which aimed to address inequalities in the city that could start early on in life and even affect how long people lived for and their opportunities around work and housing.

The Executive Member for Health Manchester and Adult Social Care reported that Just Checking (an innovative piece of technology) had been piloted and evaluated for its contribution around supporting independence and more accurately, prescribing the right kinds of support for people. Over a period of 10 months, the impact of Just Checking had been evaluated for 112 people discharged from Hospital with Reablement support. Compared with a control cohort, the people who received Just Checking as part of their support plan ended the reablement service more independent with a larger reduction in support hours. Modelling of the potential impact of using Just Checking for the year had highlighted a potential financial impact of saving just over £1m.  Based on this evaluation, the Reablement Service was exploring incorporating using Just Checking routinely as part of its pathway to better support Assessors and provide a more accurate depiction of how someone moves around their own home. 

Decision

The Executive note the updates.