Roney defends three-person planning panel

Manchester City Council is pulling together a bid for financial support from Whitehall to help it progress key regeneration schemes including the £1.4bn Mayfield and the £1bn Northern Gateway.

Ask Real Estate’s Staycity hotel, and Salboy’s Shudehill office are the last proposals to be approved by Manchester City Council’s three-person emergency panel, as the authority announced it would pivot to full virtual planning committees at the end of July. 

The city council expects to gain approval on Wednesday to set up a company to deliver at least 500 homes each year until 2025, including affordable and private tenure units, and reduce the budget for projects such as the Town Hall refurbishment.

Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett has asked the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to write to the secretary of state to question the Government’s decision not to fund the removal of unsafe cladding from a local building. 

Discussions are ongoing on how best to use the emergency coronavirus hospital at Manchester Central Convention Centre, but it is expected to remain in place for the rest of the year, according to mayor Andy Burnham.  

As the region’s property community draws up plans for a phased move out of lockdown, the process of making a safe return to the office is being approached with caution, according to managing directors across Manchester and Liverpool.

The Greater Manchester and Liverpool mayors said town centre regeneration plans could take a different course in the wake of the pandemic, and pressed the Government to deliver adequate funding to help the region emerge from lockdown.

The council is set to move forward with the formation of a development and management company in order to deliver 2,800 homes, of which 1,800 would be affordable.