Blooming regeneration

Plans are afoot to assist retailers on Liverpool Road to improve their store fronts. Whilst this initiative is only to be welcomed one wonders about the broader context which has seen the collapse of independent retailing in Irlam, Cadishead and Eccles. Each of these places were once retail destinations in their own right, but are now littered with cheap booze shops, charity shops take-aways and empty properties - all signals of long term retail decline.

At the same time there is pent up demand to find space on the high street, from small producers, creative businesses, restaurants and cafes, plus demand for living space above shops, as a source of cheap housing.

Putting two and two together however seems to be beyond the remit of powerful landowners and local government.

The key reason why so many shops have disappeared from the high street is the growth of hugh superstores, like Tesco, and out-of-town shopping malls, like the Trafford Centre.

These businesses act like retail vacuums, in the sense that they suck up as much retail trade as possible, whilst creating a business environment which makes it impossible for even niche businesses to compete.

Another fundamental problem is that Liverpool Road remains - in the main - a no parking zone. Parking restrictions that were put in place decades ago to assist traffic flow along what used to be main road in Manchester, are no longer relevant. However, the yellow lines remain in place. And so passing trade passes by.

Retail, however, rarely figures in the urban regeneration policy. In fact for decades it has been deliberately left out of urban renewal initiatives from the local to the European level. Policy makers assume that if they can sort out socio-economic problems then the retail growth will automatically follow. This is a flawed logic. It ignores how retailing can contribute to job creation and generate local sources of wealth through the growth of independent businesses on the high street. Independent retailing needs to be protected, otherwise huge retail chains move in and suck out the profit.

To improve Liverpool Road - this is what really needs to be done:

1. Stronger planning to restrict growth of superstores

2. A withdrawal of excessive regulation of parking in declining retail areas

3. Deregulation of land use restrictions to enable the conversion of shops into alternative uses

4. Crackdown on absentee landlords who allow properties to fall into disrepair.

5. Shifting public services to empty high street locations

6. Environmental improvements to hard and soft landscaping

7. Improved public lighting schemes

8. Introduction of alternative traffic control measures which don't involve additional regulation.

9. Rent-caps to protect the supply of cheap property for low margin businesses like creative producers and artists.

Nominated Candidates for Election in Irlam and Cadishead 2010

Nominated Candidates for Election in Cadishead

Christine Hudson (Labour)
Tony Kelly (Conservative)
Jennifer Carr (Liberal Democrat)
Colin Ward (BNP)

Nominated Candidates for Election in Irlam
Roger Jones (Labour and Co-operative Party)
Mark Armstrong (Independent)
Chris Bates (Conservative)
Katriona Middleton (Liberal Democrats)

Analysis of Regional Spatial Strategy Housing Targets for Salford

Analysis of the North West of England Plan: Regional Spatial Strategy 2010 for Salford

Published by the Government Office of the North West. 2008. 

Regional Overview

The North West regional housing target is 416,000 new units. The region's population is approx  6.7million (Census, 2001).  The North West is an area of 5469 square miles (14,165km2).  On average the region is expected to build 76 new homes for every square mile.

Each local authority within the region is set allocation of this broader target.  Clearly some authorities are bigger than others in terms of area and population.  So Manchester, for example, is expected to provide 15% of the 416,000 units - around 62,000 new homes, which will be quite of challenge given that Manchester is already relatively built up and has little space in which to expand.

But what are the implications for Salford?

 

Table 1: Greater Manchester Housing Targets

 

Local authority	Housing target as % of NW total	No. of units (000s)	Population (000s)	% of NW Population
Manchester	15	62.4	393	5
Salford	7	28.8	216	3
Wigan	4	16.0	301	4
Bolton	3	12.0	261	3
Tameside	3	12.0	213	3
Trafford	3	12.0	210	3
Bury	2	8.0	181	2
Rochdale	2	8.0	205	3
Stockport	2	8.0	285	4
Oldham	1	4.0	217	3

Table 1 shows the housing targets identified in the Regional Spatial Strategy for Greater Manchester.  The data is ranked according to size of the targets.  Salford is ranked 2nd after Manchester, as the city is expected to provide 7% new units to be constructed in the North West.  This equates to 28,800 new properties to be constructed within Salford's boundaries.  In other words – Salford with just 3% of the region's population plans to build 7% of the region's houses!

Several important questions emerge from this:

1. What is the justification of this whopping target?  Comparable local authorities have been allocated much lower targets.  Oldham, for example, has almost an identical population, but its target is just 4000.   So why is Salford required to build over 24,000 more new homes than Oldham?
   
   
2. Where are these homes to be built in Salford?  Salford is an area of just 37.5 sq miles.  To meet its target Salford will need to provide 768 homes per square mile.   However,  Chat Moss takes up 10.6 sq miles, almost a third of the city's area.  If we take this out of the equation, then Salford will need to build 1071 homes per square.  This is probably not  feasible, and hence the pressure to release green fields for development.

 

But, the stated policy is to concentrate new housing in the inner city on empty brownfield sites or redeveloping existing houses.  The regional strategy asks local government not to convert open space or green space: 

 

“Manchester / Salford and Liverpool / Knowsley – provision of sufficient new residential development to support the role of the Regional Centres and inner city areas, including those parts involved in the Government’s Housing Market Renewal Programme’s Pathfinder Initiative (including replacement and renewal of housing stock), as priority areas for economic growth and regeneration. Outside the inner city areas, development should be complementary to the regeneration of the inner core, and be focused on regenerating existing housing areas which suffer from high levels of deprivation” (emphasis added). Section 7.18. Part a. Page 63.

But if Salford is meet its target, inevitably this will put undue pressure on the release of green belt land for housing development.  This is preferred option of private sector developers, who in the most part oare unwilling to risk the expense of converting brownfield sites into habitable land.  Its much cheaper and profitable to build new homes in empty fields.

 

Where next?

• We need an explanation and justification of the 28,800 target figure?  Given the demographic trends of the region and the city, I would suggest the target for Salford needs to be a lot lower to bring it into comparison with similar local authorities.
  
  
• Why are there planing applications already going in to construct houses on green fields, when there is an abundance of empty land and empty existing properties within the city?  A thorough survey of the existing housing stock and availability of brownfield sites for housing development either needs to be completed or made public before any construction begins on greenbelt, farmland or unmanaged open space.  
  
  

I would love to see this data, because I suspect what it will show is that there 100s acres of suitable space within the city available for new housing which is currently lying empty because of unscrupulous private landlords just sitting on the land or through failed property developers, victims of the credit crunch.  I also suspect such a survey will show that the city suffers from a massive under-occupancy problem.  Salford has an ageing population, with many large family homes occupied by single people or couples.  And many new apartments in central Salford, like Manchester, are currently empty - as much as 40%.  Essentially the private sector has built the wrong type of housing and in the wrong type of area and nobody wants to live in their tiny expensive flats.  What is needed is stronger policies to construct family housing in inner city areas like Blackfriars, Chapel Street, Seedley and Langworthy.  But hey ho, we have just witnessed the demolition of hundreds of terraced houses in these areas.

Author: Steve Millington 8th April 2010

Contact: s.millington@mmu.ac.uk

Links

Communities.gov

Government Office for the North West

Drawing the battle grounds

Here is a link to a page which explains the boundary changes which affect Irlam and Cadishead for the General Election on May 6th. These changes probably enhance the chances of a Conservative being returned for this area for the first time, especially if the turnout is below 60%. History suggests that most non-voters would probably favour Labour - so if turnout is over 70% we can expect a swing back to Labour.

Of course the imponderables are Labours' national record - and their relatively new candidate Barbara Keeley.

There are four candidates:

Richard Gadsden, Liberal Democrat

Barbara Keeley, Labour

Ian Lindley, Conservative

Paul Whitelegg, English Democrat

I guess the unknown here is Paul Whitelegg. This party was established as an English equivalent of the SNP or Plaid Cymru, demanding a separate English Parliament, and return to the political conditions of middle ages. They also seek a withdrawal from the EU (where 80% of our international trade is) and return to the virtually defunct European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Despite claims distancing themselves from the Far Right, the party hold robust views about immigration - claiming they support the "wishes of the English people". I have strong misgivings about any political party making claims about Englishness, Scottishness or whatever. Ultimately such politicians are attempting to fix and essentialise something which is by definition fluid and dynamic and beyond a fixed definition.

Source: Worsley and Eccles - politics.co.uk