LREF 2023 | Turning Manchester’s growing pains into opportunities 

Manchester’s success has thrown up challenges around housing, infrastructure, and affordability that the city is working hard to tackle, according to Becca Heron, the city council’s strategic director for growth and development. 

Speaking at a panel discussion at the London Real Estate Forum at the Barbican, Heron said the city council was treating the challenges of success as a lever for more growth. 

“We’re not ripping up the playbook, we’re outperforming other cities so why would we?” she said 

“Now is an appropriate time to review and reassess our economic strategy because we now have the economic momentum, but that brings its own challenges.” 

Expanding on the challenges Manchester faces, she added: “There’s still a lot of poverty but the success of Manchester is causing problems of its own.  

“There are issues with the supply of housing and Manchester’s popularity exacerbates issues of affordability. We also have accessibility issues.” 

Heron explained that Cllr Bev Craig, who became leader of the authority in late 2021, had laid down a gauntlet to the executive team to deliver growth that benefits everyone. 

“She asked how can we maximise the productivity of the Manchester economy whilst doing everything we can to narrow the gap,” Heron said. 

“We need more housing, we need more highly skilled people.” 

In addition to these challenges, recent doubts cast on the delivery of HS2 to Manchester have left some local government officials “slightly jaded” by the expression levelling up, Heron said. 

However, overall she is bullish about the direction Manchester is heading in and has stats to back that confidence up. 

“We know Manchester’s GDP per capita has grown from £36,000 per person in 2011 to £51,000 in 2021, a 44% increase, higher even than London. And we know our labour market has grown from 350,000 in 2015 to 416,000 in 2021, particularly in the tech sectors.  

“The city feels strong – I live in the city centre, and there are no quiet periods, you need to book a restaurant table on a Tuesday night. But that success brings challenges.” 

The expansion of the Oxford Road corridor into the former UMIST campus, now re-named ID Manchester, would play a key role in maintaining this momentum, while the city council is also looking at how it can grow outwards in a sustainable way.

“Urban design can have a massive impact on health outcomes, but needs to be more strategic,” Heron had said at a session earlier in the day. 

“[We are] looking at how we can anticipate demand for services in new developments like Victoria North, where there will be 15,000 new homes, and in longer-range schemes like Holt Town, which is still in the early stages.” 

Growing pains would mean developing new ways to think – and new networks for everything from traffic to water, said fellow panellist Stephen O’Malley, chief executive and founder at Civic Engineers. 

“The densification of the city is a good thing but we can’t continue to use the tools and the networks that have got us this far. 

“Population growth means we clearly can’t let everyone drive into the city so we have to make it more attractive to walk and cycles, but also means more green spaces like Mayfield Park. We need to think profoundly about new approaches, and its not going to be straightforward or easy,” he said.