Manchester Council has been informed that continuing housing development in the city is redundant and should be replaced by offices according to a leading think tank.
No one can dispute the rapid economic growth of Greater Manchester over the last 20 years, the development of Media City and the construction of the Metrolink both projects placing the city at the epicentre of the cultural north.
However, The Resolution Foundation report has suggested that if the city hopes to fulfil its potential and compete with London it requires 126,000 more homes out of the city centre and better transport connections to support a workforce in the city centre.
We spoke to Manchester residents who offered varying opinions on the effectiveness of each section of the plan.
Opposing current council plans for the city-region it recommends that more housing be built throughout Greater Manchester with focus on Rochdale, Stockport, Bury and Tameside.
Almost all the people we spoke to agreed on one thing – affordable housing outside of the city centre.
Richard Bell, 53, listed this as his main priority for the city stating: “The thing I would like to see invested in the most is affordable housing along with developing tech.”
This was mirrored by another interviewee who said “housing and accommodation are the areas which need the most attention in the city”.
This follows Greater Manchester’s announcement that after years of delays the plan to build 165,000 homes by 2037 is in its final stages.
The Tale of Two Cities report outlined that an expansive city centre is likely to attract ‘knowledge intensive’ businesses and the highly skilled workers it brings with them if it hopes to grow at the same rate as London.
This suggested policy sparked the most debate amongst the people we spoke to.
David Lisby thought the influx of a wealthy cohort of people working within tech would intensify wealth inequalities within the city: “This plan might be something for the future, but the here and now there are a lot of people who are struggling.
“You might end up with a nightmarish San Francisco scenario where there are very many haves and many have nots.”
This wasn’t unanimous however and Richard said: “A greater knowledge base should bring the city up as a whole.”
The report also said public transport needs to play a greater role in expanding the availability of skilled labour, with the effective size of the labour market supported by public transport much lower than headline numbers suggest.
The majority of the people we spoke to believed the need for improved transport links from Greater Manchester into the city centre was a top priority.
Paul Navin, 24, said : “Middleton is a very highly populated place but the transport is very bad. The transport links there are terrible, they do have one train station but it is right on the edge of town. I’d say Middleton needs a lot more attention.”
Responding to the report, Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig said: “We have a plan. We have a mission. We have a track record of delivering it. But ultimately, we still need more levers, more resources and more political will from the national government to get us to where we want to be.”
The council is set to publish its new economic strategy later this year.
Image taken from Google Streetview
