New Mayor to change housing masterplan

HOUSING pledge . . . Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham

GREATER Manchester's new Mayor Andy Burnham has set about radically rewriting the region's controversial housing masterplan.

The former Labour MP has promised a major shift in the way the region approaches housing and has appointed Salford's mayor Paul Dennett to oversee the rewrite.

Mr Burnham has also put him in charge of tackling homelessness and focusing housing investment away from up-scale apartments in Manchester city centre.

The region's new figurehead had included a range of housing-related pledges in his election manifesto, including one to completely redraw the contentious Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

The draft plan proposes building 225,000 new homes and provide millions of square metres for office and industrial space, in Greater Manchester, but has faced widespread negative feedback for building on protected green belt. In Oldham, the plan requires 13,700 new homes to be built and 700,000 square metres of land to be made available for new factories and warehouses.

Protest groups have been created in the areas most affected, including, Shaw, Royton, Chadderton and Saddleworth and demonstrations have been held, including in Royton and Manchester.

Mr Dennett will be in charge of ensuring the alterations of the masterplan, while also changing the focus of Greater Manchester's £300m 'housing investment fund'.

The use of that pot of cash, handed to bosses under the region's devolution deal, has been criticised, with money largely put into upmarket city centre apartments. Mr Burnham wants to re-focus it towards affordable housing, spread across the region.

Salford mayor's will also be in charge of overseeing a drive to wipe out rough sleeping by 2020.

Mr Burnham said: "As mayor I am going to focus on tackling the housing crisis and ensure truly affordable housing is available for everyone in Greater Manchester.

"I will listen to communities and oversee a radical rewrite of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

"I will keep those high ambitions for the homes and jobs we need but there will be a substantial reduction in the loss of greenbelt.

"Our plan will build the right kind of homes in the right places.

"I'm also issuing a call to developers to work with me to revitalise and reshape our town centres.

"I want our towns to be residential centres that are fit for the future.

Running

Mr Dennett, who has overseen a push to build more council housing in Salford since being elected last year, said he intended to 'hit the ground running'.

"Refocusing the Greater Manchester Housing Fund as monies are recycled will be critical to building truly affordable housing within Greater Manchester and meeting housing needs," he said.

"The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework also provides a unique opportunity within Greater Manchester to provided much-needed homes our residents can afford, connect and strategically integrate the city-region, while giving all our residents the best chance of building stable homes, providing for jobs and opportunities, and creating communities we can all be proud of."