INTERVIEW | Manchester leader mindful of city’s development challenges

Cllr Bev Craig said supporting the delivery of office space will be a “significant focus” for the city council over the coming years, while insisting Manchester “does its best” to squeeze private sector residential developers for contributions towards affordable housing and infrastructure.

Craig, elected as leader in 2021, spoke to journalists at a briefing ahead of the publication of the Our Manchester Strategy 2025-2035.

Spanning the next 10 years, the strategy sets out what the city council will focus on to make Manchester a more equitable and prosperous place.

Its creation follows what Craig describes as “meaningful consultation” with more than 10,000 Manchester residents over a two-year period.

Delivering more affordable housing is one of 12 aims stated in the city council’s refreshed strategy, which was first published in 2015.

While Manchester is often criticised for approving city centre residential schemes that do not provide affordable housing on viability grounds, Craig said more affordable homes were delivered across the city as a whole in 2024 than in any of the last 15 years.

She believes developers are starting to make more of a contribution in this regard and referenced Salboy’s plans to deliver a standalone affordable block as part of its Viadux development as an example of this.

She said: “If you look at the planning pipeline over the course of the last 12 months, you’ve seen some new skyscrapers that have recently got planning that are targeting 20 or even 29% affordable homes.”

Craig became leader in 2021. Credit: via MCC

Craig added that there are some projects outside the city centre “whose targets are more like 60% affordable homes”.

When asked directly if she is happy with the contribution private sector developers make to affordable housing in the city centre, Craig said that national planning policy was partly to blame for any lack of on-site affordable homes coming forward.

“I’m not going to make the entire future of our city for the next decade just about my views as to the application of planning policy in Manchester,” she said.

“Manchester does its best to make sure we get the best for the city.”

She added that developers should not just be judged on how much affordable housing they deliver, saying that public realm and community facilities “like new primary schools” are also important. 

“Manchester will always push really hard to make sure that those that are developing in our city contribute to the city as a whole,” she said.

Craig has made it her mission over recent years to focus the council’s attention on forgotten parts of the city rather than simply doubling down on the city centre.

The message from the city council is that while the city centre is by no means “complete”, it is time to focus on improving other areas like Wythenshawe, which is the subject of a £500m regeneration plan.

She suggested there is too much focus from the media on what goes on in the heart of the city and not enough attention on the work being done in surrounding areas.

“Nobody’s reporting on the fantastic three- and four-bed family council social homes that we opened up in Higher Blackley two weeks ago,” she said.

“Nobody’s been out with us in Clayton when we’ve done the same there, or we’ve opened a scheme in Gorton, or we’ve gone to Hulme, or we’re building some stuff in Moss Side.

“That bit doesn’t get covered. The bit that gets covered is the planning debate and the city centre stuff.”

Much of the discourse around city centre affordable homes revolves around Renaker, the city’s most active developer.

The firm has delivered thousands of homes across several skyscrapers over recent years but has not delivered a single affordable unit.

However, backing up Craig’s point about viewing contributions in the round, Renaker did pay towards the construction of a new primary school within its New Jackson district.

What would really move the dial on the affordability crisis is grant funding from government and a change to national planning policy that would give councils more power to enforce their own affordable housing policies, Craig said.

Away from housing, the leader said she is mindful of the challenges the development industry currently faces when delivering offices.

Uncertainty around end values coupled with the high cost of borrowing mean that speculative office development has reached a standstill in Manchester and other UK cities.

Craig is looking at ways to get the wheels turning again.

“We’re looking at what we can do in the commercial space,” she said. “It’s well known that there is a slowdown in terms of completions in 2025 and 2026.

“I’m keen…to go faster, because we know that businesses are still queuing up to come to Manchester.

“We need to make sure that we don’t run out of office space and that will be a significant focus for us.”