Hi All,
The papers for the next Sustainable Neighbourhoods Partnership Board meeting to be held on the 24th November 2009 are now available on the SNP documents page of this site:
www.snag.org.uk/documents/snp
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:
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.
Transforming Places August 3, 2009
In July 2008, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published their draft Framework for Regeneration known as ‘transforming places; changing lives’. Following a consultation period Urban Forum produced this document which sets out how the government is taking forward the delivery of a new national framework to shape the way that regeneration is carried out in England.
This document can be seen here UF Transforming Places
Notes from SNP Board Meeting July 22, 2009
Board held Thursday 17th July (postponed from 17th June)
SNP Board Papers Review
16th July 2009 (postponed from 17th 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
Latest SNP Board Papers June 9, 2009
Hello All,
OK it’s that time of the month (well that time of every second month) again. There are quite a lot of papers this time round so maybe select the ones that are of most interest to you and comment on those rather than the whole lot perhaps? I think the most interesting are those in bold.
Agenda, Previous Minutes, SNP Forum Report, Housing Strategy Report, LAA Q4 Report, SNP Action Plan, Working Neighbourhoods Fund Report, SNP Risk Report and SNP Work Programme.
These documents will be available on line until the next Board Papers are published in approx. 2 months – at which point they’ll be available via e-mail only. Just ask…
Best Wishes, Tim.
Core Strategy Update May 29, 2009
Hello,
The Refining Options stage of the Core Strategy consultation closed today. Please go the SNAG PI web-site (SNAG Planning Issues) for more info and to see the SNAG submission which pulled together your views and comments on the document.
SNP Forum May 5, 2009
Homes for ALL in Manchester
Tuesday 12th May, 18:00 – 20:00, in the Conference Hall, Manchester Town Hall.
The next SNP Forum is being hosted by Manchester City Council’s Housing Department. The Forum will largely be based around work being done on Manchester’s Housing Strategy and Homes for Life.
There will be two 10 minute presentation from:
- Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive of Housing Quality Network – the housing agenda at national, regional and local context;
- Gail Heath, Interim Head of Housing Services – Manchester’s Housing Strategy.
Following these are extended time workshops focusing on the following issues – click link for relevant papers:
- Developing a New Strategy for Housing in Manchester in Challenging Times;
- Homes for Life – the older people’s agenda;
- Connecting People with Opportunities for Housing.
Alistair joined HQN in 1997 and established our subscription service, The Housing Quality Network, to help social housing organisations improve their performance.
From conducting the first-ever independent inspection of housing services for Liverpool City Council in 1999, HQN has become the leading organisation supporting those facing inspection. As well as assisting many organisations to raise their inspection scores from zero or one star, HQN has helped others to achieve three stars, including Your Homes Newcastle, West Kent HA, Solihull Community Housing and Evesham and Pershore HA. The company is also now the largest stand-alone social housing consultancy in the UK.
Alistair has led major research projects into the performance of landlords for the government and inspected MoD stock overseas for the National Audit Office. He regularly attends meetings with the Audit Commission and CLG on the future of inspection. He has recently developed a groundbreaking governance toolkit to assess how well boards work and to identify what needs to be improved.
Alistair is a corporate member of the CIH and has led the National Federation of ALMOs
since its inception. Before joining HQN he worked for a number of councils and housing
associations as well as a Big Four accountancy firm.
SNAG Briefing April 28, 2009
Hello,
Here is the SNAG Briefing from the SNP Board meeting on 24th April. The full papers can be seen below:
Agenda, Item 2 Minutes, Item 3 Forum, Item 4 Risk Paper and Report, Item 5 unavailable, Item 6 LAA Refresh and annex 1, 2 and 3, Item 7 Place Survey, Item 8 Draft Action Plan, Item 9 Housing Growth, Item 10 Work Programme.
Planning Update April 14, 2009
Please go to the SNAG Pi site for information on the next stage of consulation on the Core Strategy. This “Refining Options” stage opens today and closes on the 29th May 2009.
