Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) attached

This report details the work undertaken by the District Centres Sub Group to enable its findings to be integrated into Local Plans.  The report also outlines the on-going work by IPM and the Council on centres as part of their roles in the Area Based Collaborative Entrepreneurship in Cities (ABCitiEs) European Partnership.

The Committee considered the report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) that summarised the work of the Subgroup that had commenced their enquiry in March 2016 and presented their final recommendations.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were: -

·                Welcoming the report and enquired how was this work was being shared with other local authorities;

·                Noting that an evidence based approach was useful to share good practice, promote growth and stimulate activity in other areas of the city;

·                Acknowledging that appropriate levels of staff resourcing remained a challenge and welcomed the comment from the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration that this would be explored further;

·                Were residents engaged in the identity branding of district centres; and

·                Had consideration been given to using other sources of data, other than footfall to measure activity in district centres.

The Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration paid tribute to the Chair of the Subgroup and all of the Members who had participated in the work of the group. She also expressed her gratitude to the Institute of Place Management for the support provided to the work of the group. She acknowledged the quick wins that had been delivered in the pilot areas and noted the importance of these to engage local stakeholders in with this work. She commented that the challenge would be in resourcing this activity going forward, however the importance of district centres to delivering the zero carbon city ambition was recognised and adequate consideration needed to be given to this when developing the Local Plan. 

Dr Steve Millington endorsed the comments from the Executive Member and thanked the Members for engaging with the Institute of Place Management to deliver this work.

The Chair of the District Centres Subgroup stated that she wished to thank all of the Members and officers who had engaged with the Subgroup. She advised that the rationale for establishing the Subgroup was in recognition of the importance of district centres, both as a catalyst for economic activity and to promote and deliver a sense of place and identity for local residents, whilst recognising the changing nature of the high street. She described that an Our Manchester approach had been used to deliver this work and the group recognised the importance of partnership working.

The Chair of the District Centres Subgroup stated that it was important to ensure the basics were right, such as ensuring district centres were free of litter, pavements were maintained and signage was appropriate, stating that this would all contribute to delivering a sense of place and identity. 

The Strategic Director (Growth and Development) informed the Committee that options were being considered for building additional capacity within the Growth & Development Directorate to deliver the ambitions described within the report. He stated that this work would be delivered in conjunction with local stakeholders, noting that this approach would also inform local branding campaigns for individual district or neighbourhood centres. Dr Millington stated that it was recommended that place branding should be informed and designed by local communities through participation and consensus, rather than being imposed and he provided an example of where this had been delivered successfully. In regard to the comment raised regarding footfall, he described that this had been used as it provided a universal measure, however other sources of data were captured and utilised.

Officers reported that they would continue to work with colleagues across Greater Manchester to promote this work and share good practice. Dr Millignton stated that the Withington Project had been shared as an example of good practice with European networks and this had been well received. He advised that a conference would take place in Manchester in September 2020 that would bring together European partners and enable for the sharing of good practice.

Decisions

The Committee;

(1)       Note the report and recommendations made by the Institute of Place Management (IPM) summarised in paragraphs 3.3 to 3.5 of the report.

(2)       Whilst taking note of the need for additional staff capacity, endorse the District Centres Subgroup’s recommendations set out in Section 3 with a recommendation that the Executive be asked to endorse the policy recommendations arising from this sub group’s work.

(3)       Recommend that an update report on the implementation of the recommendations is submitted to the Committee for consideration in six months’ time.