Glitzy high-rise developments have been on the march in Manchester for the past 30 years but they have left poorer families out in the cold, according to a damning report.
Predictions have been made that Manchester is facing a looming housing crisis due to a “misguided” developer-led regeneration strategy.
Almost 50,000 new and mostly private homes are planned in central Manchester by 2040 – yet some 80,000 people are currently on Greater Manchester’s social housing waiting list.
The report from Alliance Manchester Business School said regeneration over the past 30 years has focused disproportionately on new flats and offices in the two central boroughs of Manchester and Salford. It said this has resulted in a centre filled with one and two-bed buy-to-let flats built for one demographic – young white-collar workers – and is failing to meet the demands of others such as families and those on lower incomes.
The report also argued that there is a danger of the creation of “social clearances” where expensive new developments could create community tensions. As central Manchester expands, the planned developments in areas such as Angel Meadow and Collyhurst could intrude on existing communities, many of them in areas of social deprivation.
Over the past 30 years, according to the reports’ authors, local authorities have allowed private property developers to lead the city’s regeneration, focusing primarily on building new flats and offices in central Manchester and Salford. The repercussion of this, they said, is that the city is no longer meeting the needs of many of its residents and does not have the social infrastructure such as schools, libraries and broadband “that communities need to thrive”.
Karel Williams, a professor of accounting and political economy at the business school who led the research team, said: “Nobody can argue that major progress has not been made in regenerating Manchester’s city centre in the two decades since the IRA bomb, much to the city council’s credit. We hope that our analysis shines a light on the huge challenge facing Greater Manchester in the near future. In many ways the shiny, high-rise, newbuild flats and offices in the city create a misleading impression of a prospering city region. But across the outer boroughs – principally in terms of social infrastructure like housing and amenities – regeneration is failing our communities, and that requires a change in thinking.”
After the abolition of Greater Manchester county council in 1986 by the Thatcher government, local councils targeted regeneration by allowing private property developers to build large-scale developments on brownfield sites near the city centre.
The report recommended that Greater Manchester Combined Authority create a long-term strategy that focuses on the wellbeing of all the people who contribute to the cultural and geographical diversity of Greater Manchester’s 10 boroughs.
Williams added: “Developer regeneration has produced an expanding new town in the centre, whose shiny external appearance impresses London journalists on a day return rail ticket. But this regeneration has done nothing to remedy the painful inequalities within and between Manchester boroughs, including shockingly low life expectancy in poorer neighbourhoods.”
A spokesperson for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said: “This report is surprising as the authors are calling for something which already exists. We currently have a Greater Manchester strategy that has been written by all 10 councils, the mayor, the NHS, transport, the police and the fire service, with help from businesses, voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, and members of the public.
“It sets out our ambitions for the future of the city-region and the 2.8 million people who live in the towns, cities, communities and neighbourhoods that make up Greater Manchester. It covers health, wellbeing, work and jobs, housing, transport, skills, training and economic growth.”
Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester City Council, said: “We fundamentally disagree with the research produced by the Manchester Business School. Manchester’s strategy around growth and economic and social success depends on an approach that requires dense living with residential opportunities close to major transport interchanges. This is what we have achieved in Manchester.
“Far from being the incorrect approach, we would like to see a similar model being replicated in other towns to see similar economic growth in other areas across our region.”
