‘Be brave and be ambitious’ | Q&A with Pat Ritchie and Simon Century

Headquartered in Leeds, the public financial institution will provide flexible capital to housebuilders, developers, and registered providers to support the delivery of more than 500,000 homes.

Due to launch in the next few weeks, the Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund will provide local authorities with cash to build the transport infrastructure required to deliver previously unviable housing and commercial projects.

Combatting the council’s £1.4bn debt will be a long process, although government-appointed special advisers were optimistic that changes in the top team will make a big difference.

Having seen five regeneration directors depart within a three-year period, the council will now combine that role with leading on neighbourhoods amid a redrawing of senior roles.

Leaving the controversial Green Belt Cheshire East development behind, housing secretary Steve Reed has unveiled the latest list of seven new settlements and urban extensions proposed to receive government backing to deliver between 15,000 and 40,000 homes.

After a nervous, nearly six month-wait, Sefton Council has received confirmation that the money promised to mend the grade two-listed structure has been signed off by the Department for Business and Trade.

The Manchester neighbourhood was one of 40 communities to secure a place on the expanded Pride in Place programme, which will see a total of 284 areas receive financial support for improvement works over the course of 10 years.

Receiving £60,000 to further develop their bids, the local authorities will compete against the likes of Sheffield, Milton Keynes, and Portsmouth to claim a £10m prize.

City Investment Funds were just the start of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ announcements on Tuesday for reshaping the Northern economy – she also teased additional fiscal devolution measures that would provide mayors with control of some of the national tax income.

The UK’s renewed focus on new towns is prompting fresh debate about how to create places that thrive for generations. At a panel session hosted by Place North, industry leaders were tasked with a thought experiment: how would they design a settlement from scratch?

Mayors, city leaders, and Combined Authority officials from across the Midlands, the North of England, and Scotland used a roundtable hosted by Place North to argue that the UK’s next wave of growth will be driven by regional cities, highlighting opportunities in AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and housing, while calling for deeper devolution and stronger infrastructure investment.

The development of the new ground and the surrounding area should celebrate the diversity of Old Trafford as an ‘incredibly welcoming place’, according to Cllr Tom Ross, Leader of Trafford.

An interesting wrinkle can be found in the Gorton and Denton election result by comparing it to recent council by-elections in Greater Manchester, writes Rob Loughenbury of Lexington.

A review of the council’s estate has found that the cost of maintaining the listed civic buildings would amount to £35m over the next 50 years.

The garden village, one of the area’s largest housing allocations in Places for Everyone, will return to the council’s planning committee on 18 March after a letter of complaint was filed over councillors’ decision to reject the scheme in January.

The former ‘Minister for Merseyside’ is seen as one of the founding fathers of English devolution but the 92-year-old lacks confidence that a more decentralised society is around the corner, declaring today that the country remains “very badly run”.

Labour came third at the polls last night, with Reform securing more than 10,500 votes for a second place finish.

A draft supplementary planning document will go to consultation, as the council looks to prepare the way for up to 1,700 homes across Beal Valley and Broadbent Moss.

Elections in Lancashire and across the country will go ahead as planned in May after the government reversed a decision to delay them following a legal challenge by Reform UK.