An Architectural Chrismas Market December 14, 2009

Please go along to Manchester School of Architecture and join in with Manchester School of Architecture Christmas market.  There will be a range of interesting architecture related fun activities, things to ponder and items for sale. There will be refreshments including mulled wine, mince pies and gingerbread.

As well as interesting activities and fun things to look at, the market will be an opportunity to discuss some of the student architects’ projects for the city of Manchester – projects which include the following issues and areas:

Homelessness and squatting
Reuse of empty sites across the city
The redevelopment of Oldham town hall square
Linking Cheetham hill and the Irk Valley
Promoting Ardwick green
The culture of the Northern Quarter
The cities approach to prostitution
Spaces for contemplation
Hosting the next G20 summit in Manchester
The St.Peter’s Square redevelopment
The redevelopment of Chorlton district centre
The rise of growing your own food
Lighting The River Irk
Future paradigms
Creative unemployment
The future of Wythenshawe civic centre

We hope you can spare some time during the day to come and see us -  pop in for 10 minutes, stay for a longer discussion or come and join in one of the design games or other activities.

10am – 6pm 18th December

Manchester School of Architecture
ROOM 602
Chatham Tower
All Saints Campus
Cavendish Street
Manchester
M15 6BR

Manchester’s Climate Action Website December 11, 2009

Hello,

Here is the address for Manchester’s Climate Change Action website:

http://www.manchesterclimate.com/

This website supports residents, communities, schools, local businesses and organisations in changing our individual and combined behavior to act on climate change, principally in reducing emissions to the tune of over 1 million tonnes by 2020.  It goes beyond changing lightbulbs and is the the most comprehensive climate change action plan of any city in the country.

The Infrastructure Planning Commission & National Policy Statements November 17, 2009

Listen Up!

The 2008 Planning Act introduced a new planning system for applications to build “nationally significant infrastructure” facilities in England and Wales.

National Policy Statements (NPSs) are the foundation of this new planning system, and they set out the Government’s policy on “nationally significant infrastructure”.  Twelve National Policy Statements are being prepared by the relevant Government departments, based on existing government policy.  Before being finalised, they will each be subject to public consultation and scrutiny by parliament:

• renewable energy – on and off shore
• fossil fuel power stations
• gas & oil supply and storage
• electricity networks – the grid
• nuclear power stations

These NPSs have been produced by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and are out for consultation from now until 22nd February 2010.

• ports
• national networks – rail and road
• airports

These NPSs are the work of the Department for Transport (DfT).  Ports is out for consultation from now until 15th February 2010; National Networks opens in spring 2010 and Aviation late next year.

• waste water
• hazardous waste
• water supply

These are being produced by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and will be out for consultation in spring, summer and autumn of next year respectively.

Under the new planning system the decision making for power for planning applications has been taken away from Government and placed in with the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC).  However, a quick look at there web-site revealed that they are part of Central Office of Information (COI) the Government’s centre of excellence for marketing and communications!  So how independent the IPC is I can’t say…

Until a NPS is formally designated by the Secretary of State, following public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny, the IPC (although up and running) does not have the power to decide applications just yet.

So why get involved?

It is important to make your views known because once finalised the NPSs will provide the framework for future decisions by the IPC on individual applications.  Issues relating to the need for specific types of infrastructure will not be debated again.

Except for NPSs on nuclear power stations and airports, specific locations for infrastructure are not identified (meaning they could go anywhere whether you like it or not) although criteria may guide developers to appropriate types of area.

Planning Aid North West have provided me with some guidance on the NPSs out for consultation now, they can be found on the SNAG documents page: www.snag.org.uk/documents.  I’ll touch back on this in the new year once the Core Strategy and Waste Plan consultations are out of the way.

Best Wishes, Tim.

SNP Forum / Core Strategy 8th December November 9, 2009

Hello All,

The SNP Forum scheduled for 8th December is no more : (

Instead Councillor Richard Cowell, Executive Member for Environment, on behalf of Manchester City Council, invites you to attend the Core Strategy Seminar  : ) !!!

So what is the difference?  Unlike a normal SNP Forum there will be some issues covered such as the Airport and Transport and Economy which aren’t aren’t normally discussed.

With the Core Strategy nearing its final stages Planning Strategy are keen to get your views on the Proposed Options document which can be found on the documents page of this website.  For the first time in this process, the Proposed Options proposed policy ideas in line with submissions from the last round of consultation, Refining Options.

The Event will be run in two sessions, one afternoon and one evening – see booking form below for details.

You get to choice which session to go to and which workshops you’d like to attend out of the following:

Housing, District Centres, Environment, Airport, Transport, Economy and General.

If you would like to attend please fill out the attached form:

Pre-Registration Form

It will be assumed that attendees have already read the document or at the very least chapters relevant to the workshops selected to attend.  SNAG members will be issued with a briefing paper which will summarize the content and the emerging policy.

Core Strategy Consultation October 30, 2009

OK we’re almost there now

Welcome to the Proposed Options Stage the Core Strategy for Manchester.  Consultation opens on Monday the 9th of November until 4th January 2009.

I can tell you that Option B was the most popular option following the refined options stage earlier this year (72% of us preferred B), which should please most of you no end.

As ever I’ll be sending a briefing paper to SNAG members ASAP to give you the low down on how the Proposed Option is shaping up.  Certainly none of the headline Spatial Policies have change, but I am yet to see if there is any devil in the detail; I should think not.

So what’s in the option which will lead to the flourishing of Manchester into a green and pleasant, sustainable 21st century haven of well-being and knowledge based industrial excellence?   I’ve only had a quick flick through so these are but my first impressions:

The usual slugs in the pottage include the preference of economic growth over economic development, airport growth (although there are mentions of high speed rail links) over greenbelt protection and a focus on development of the city centre as opposed to effectual sites for employment in the burbs.

I am picking up heightened levels of climate change related activity compared with the previous incarnation of this strategy but the dedicated climate change info measures just 1 small paragraph here and another one there on my climate change policyometer.  The waste management enthusiasts amongst you may find this rather disappointing.

So what’s coming up roses?  If I take number of pages as a proxy to the level of good policy, housing and design are smelling the sweetest.  Economic growth is of course the compost feeding everything in our great Mancunian City.

Watch this space.

Best Wishes, Tim.

Latest EAP July 24, 2009

Hello,

Well a very short meeting but one attended at least by the Leader Sir Richard.  It always makes me a little happier when the big guns turn up.

Right so what happened?  Er…  I have to say not very much sadly.  In a nut shell “The main thrust of the discussion centred around the divide between focus on mitigation at the expense of adaptation or we can and should do both because they are so interlinked it wouldn’t work any other way.” At the end of the meeting I couldn’t help that many were still on the fence or were slightly confused as to whether a decision had been made.

There were no matters arising from the previous minutes and they were passed as a true and accurate reflection of the previous session.

There was a very short talk through the minutes of the ESPB meeting held on 9th July to which the only comment from the panel was to question the dedication of ESPB officers sitting on the Board due to apologies given and/or deputies sent.  It is worth mentioning here that there a very many number of other meetings – meetings with contractors, developers, GONW, service providers which may very well take priority over business meetings because no attendance would slow delivery.  There are also great efforts going into informing officers of potential and significant initiatives such as the Deep Geothermal seminar which was held in a full Lord Mayor’s Parlour.

There followed a question as to the scrutiny of  environmental strategy with suggestions the OSC should be doing more perhaps to drive the agenda forward as should input from opposition councillors.  Sir Richard answered accordingly that OSCs don’t drive forward anything – they scrutinise; neither do opposition councillors, so perhaps engaging with both the executive and the party in power might be a more successful method of driving any agenda.

The last item on the agenda was “the role and remit of the 5 thematic groups” but this seemed to be abandoned in favour of discussing mitigation vs adaptation.  Arguments included but were not exhaustive of:

• the headline aim of the CCAP is to reduce emission by a minimum of 1m tonnes;
• focus on mitigation but where ever possible include adaptation issues if they do not detract from the emissions reductions;
• focus on mitigation but remember that some mitigation exercises will direct us away from a the end goal of low carbon lifestyles…

Although I failed to see any concrete adoption of any of the above – I sensed that the the second argument got the most votes in people’s minds.

Obviously from a Transition point of view, it is important to start from a vision – the end goal and working backwards plan each and every move so that all mitigation and adaptation can be planned to achieve the vision.  I think the problem here is that we have until mid September to sort something out.  Time is a luxury right now that we can’t afford.  So mitigation first, then with more time on our side, construct the adaptation plans (which as was pointed out are largely determined by what happens in Copenhagen anyway) post December.

Worth mentioning that adaptation here = climate change adaptation such as flood defense and not behavioural adaptation – which is a worry.  Other points to develop at a later date are international connections and interactions, using the core cities to progress national transition thinking and peak oil.  (I did plant the question of peak oik and where its related issues fits into the CCAP; the response was that CCAP Energy Group will cover this, to which I responded it’s not really an energy issue it’s re-skilling and behavioural change issue.  A debate perhaps for another time…?).

Thoughts on a postcard please… you know the address, Tim.

Notes from SNP Board Meeting July 22, 2009

Board held Thursday 17th July (postponed from 17th June)

SNP Board Papers Review

16^th July 2009 (postponed from 17^th June)

Item 1 – Welcome and Apologies

Richard Sharland has excepted his appointment onto the SNP Board in his capacity as Head of Environment Strategy.

Item 2 – Minutes of the last Meeting

No matters arising from previous minutes.

Item 3 – SNP Forum Report

Report Noted and Cllr Andrews commented that it was well attended and very useful.

Item 4 – Consultation and Delivery of the Housing Strategy

Housing have commissioned a number of thematic focus groups to feed into the delivery of this strategy from the thematic partnerships, including children’s, adults’, crime & disorder. Northwards Housing in their capacity as the city’s ALMO¹ have been commissioned to produce a report on the “Golden thread” of Housing Policy – from National to Local, with the intent to produce a report and recommendations this September.

I explained that during consultation on the Core Strategy, SNAG members had raised the issue of utilizing city centre apartments for use by older people due to the many benefits they provide for older people and asked if this had been examined by Housing in their own research. Gail Heath² explained that it had been raised, but that older people found it more important to live in areas with a sense of community. If a strong older people’s community could be established in the centre then city apartments would be ideal. Gail added that further work was to be carried-out around the inter-relation between older people in large homes and fuel poverty. This work would be in tandem with work being progressed by VOP on fuel poverty. Further consultation will target key business areas using partners as the conduit for this process.

Overview and Scrutiny (Housing Sub-group) remain committed to the 60% target in owner-occupier by 2015 (this may be altered to 60% or 50,000 new owners) due to the recession.

SNAG have been asked to make comment on the Housing Strategy and comments must be submitted by the end of August. I shall issue a questionnaire which will enable you to pass comment fairly easily and quickly.

Item 5 – Neighbourhood Focus Strategy

Vicky Rosin stated that more work is being carried out on the outcomes of the Neighbourhood Focus Strategy before work can begin on its implementation. Vicky Rosin is to brief the CEOs of many of the Council’s partners such as the RSLs³ PCT⁴ and members of thematic partnership boards with the aim to report to the Executive in September. This is one of the most important customers strategies in the Council’s framework.

SNAG to be issued with a briefing paper ASAP.

Item 6 – LAA Quarter 4 Performance Report

Vicky noted that in future there may be a case for performance reporting by thematic partnerships to be conducted at different scales depending on the level of the indicator i.e. 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Item 7 – SNP Action Plan (draft).

The draft action plan highlights a number of quick fire actions which the SNP can deliver straight-away. It also highlights some larger actions which need special devotion. It will be important to the efficiency of the process for SNP partners such as the PCT to illustrate areas of best practice e.g. world class commissioning, so that SNP can replicate the processes.

1Arms Length Management Organisation

2Standing in for Paul Beardmore – Head of Housing

3Registered Social Landlords

4Primary Care Trust

Environment Commission July 16, 2009

Hello,

I met Sarah Davies – Head of Strategy and Programmes for the AGMA Environment Commission (formerly of Green City Team at MCC) at a meeting last week.  Since then I’ve had a chat with her about the structure and the make-up of the Environment Commission and have re-produced a chart which explains the structure of the commission.  This can be found in the documents page of this site.

The new Environment Commissioners will co-ordinate with a range of organisations to tackle climate change, energy, water, green infrastructure, transport, waste and other issues.

The selection of Councillors to the Commission followed the regular local democratic processes.  Selection of Appointments and Advisers followed a vigorous and independent process from over 400 nominations which were submitted.

The Commissioners are as follows:

Chair: Councillor Dave Goddard (Stockport)

Vice Chair: Lynda Shillaw – Managing Director (Property) Co-operative Group.

Councillors:

Mark Alcock (Oldham)

Richard Cowell (Manchester)

Catherine Piddington (Tameside)

James Wibberley (Trafford)

David Molyneux (Wigan)

Private and Third Sector Appointments:

Andy Cliffe – Strategy Director, MAG

Keith Davidson – Environment Partner, Pannone

Roger Milburn – Director, Arup

Anne Selby – CEO, Wildlife Trust

Strategic Advisers:

Tony Dean – North West Regional Director, Environment Agency

David Higham – Regional Director, Government Office North West

Angie Robinson – Chief Executive, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Ian McAulay – Managing Director of  Capital Programmes, United Utilities plc

Councillor Neil Swannick – Chair, Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority

David Hytch – Information Systems Director, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive.

Two more roles to be appointed (likely a third too.)  The Commission also has a strategy team of officers led by the Chief Executive of Oldham Council Charlie Parker.

Manchester Becomes Ethical Shopper July 3, 2009

Manchester City Council has released its Sustainable Procurement Policy and takes another step towards transistion.  In brief the new document gives preference to goods, services and products that are better for the environment, for society and for the local economy.  Preferences are given to small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and community and voluntary sector (CVSs) businesses and those which are magority owned by groups protected by legislation such as disabled, women and older people.   For greater detail please read the SPP Statement of Intent.

New Documents July 1, 2009

Hello,

I’ve just added some more documents to the SNAG library.  Including the Rethinking Capital (forum for the future), Green New Deal (NEF-ish), Road to Copenhagen (DECC & Defra) plus Manchester City Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Report 08/09.

Happy reading.