Greater Manchester must increase housing targets, urges campaign group
The Housing the Powerhouse campaign has said that Manchester faces a shortfall of 64,000 homes over the next 20 years if the planning targets being proposed within the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework are approved.
The Housing the Powerhouse coalition is made up of several large housebuilders, backed by the Home Builders Federation and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.
The coalition believes that housing targets in Greater Manchester should be increased to 16,000 homes each year over the next 20 years and that the lower proposals of either 7,300 or 10,350 homes which are being considered as part of the consultation on the spatial framework should be scrapped.
The higher target of 16,000 homes will create 30,000 new construction jobs every year according to Housing the Powerhouse, while the lower targets could produce a shortfall of 64,000 homes over the next 20 years.
Housing the Powerhouse has outlined its case to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in a response to the latest round of consultation on the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.
The latest ‘objectively assessed need’ document proposes a lower number of new homes than was previously suggested during the first round of consultation in 2014, although planners and economists are warning that this could put a stranglehold on Greater Manchester’s growth.
Other concerns from Housing the Powerhouse include:
- many calculations used to predict growth and housing need are out of date. HS2 alone could boost productivity in Greater Manchester by up to £1.3bn a year within five years of opening, and this is not reflected in the current strategy
- little analysis of the suitability of land already identified for development, many sites have had planning consent for many years and are now not regarded as ideal for residential use
- not enough focus on new family homes and too much reliance on city centre apartments, 46% of homes in proposed land supply are for one and two person households
- need for affordable housing is not properly addressed, with households across the UK are already losing out on £3.2bn a year due to soaring rents and mortgage payments
Matthew Good of the Home Builders Federation and member of the Housing the Powerhouse coalition, said: “The Combined Authority must face up to its responsibility and take this once-in-a-generation opportunity to plan for the homes that Greater Manchester needs. We urge them to work with the house building industry to deliver the mix of homes future generations will require and so prevent a slide towards a London-style housing crisis.
“Building enough homes will help secure Manchester’s long term economic and social future and ensure the area helps deliver the wider vision for a Northern Powerhouse.”
The consultation on the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework closes at midnight on 11 January 2016. To take part visit https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/gmsf
- Members of the Housing the Powerhouse, led by the Home Builders Federation, are Barratt Homes, Bloor Homes, David Wilson Homes, Emerson Group/Orbit Developments, Gladman Developments, HIMOR Group, Jones Homes, Peel Group and Taylor Wimpey UK. The campaign is backed by Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.
Let’s start by building on a few of the innumerable golf courses within the M60.
By Linden
That wouldn’t go down well with the membership of the HBF, Linden!
By Cynic
There are miles of ugly brownfield sites in Greater Manchester.They should start with these.Why are there great swathes of land so close to the city centre which still look like Dresden in 1945?
By Elephant
Various reasons Elephant, land bankers, absentee landowners, especially on the north side. To be fair there are a fair few planning applications in now for that area. A lot of it is industrial, not really where you would want to build housing. There isn’t much land on the South side though.
By Yarrum
Yarrum.The South Side particularly between the University and Didsbury is not that special either.Grand areas particularly around Victoria Park and Withington are student ghettoes and dreadfully neglected.The stretch between Great Ancoats street and Miles Platting is looking promising particularly Butler street.There is also effort being made around Great Clowes street in Salford.There is still this thriving City centre,prosperous outer suburbs and this grotty doughnut ring scenario though and this needs massive amounts of imagination to correct.The problem with North Manchester is in general the facilities are awful and until this changes people with money will stay away.Newton Heath has houses to rival Chorlton,but not the infrastructure to match.Until places where people want to live are too expensive,as they are in London,this will not change.
By Elephant