Agenda item

A report providing the latest six monthly update of the Greater Manchester Strategy (GMS) implementation plan and performance dashboards.

Andy Burnham provided Members with the latest six monthly update of the Greater Manchester Strategy (GMS) implementation plan and performance dashboards. 

The Mayor thanked Members of the committee for their continued engagement with the scrutiny process with this level of debate valued as being an essential component in developing the right policy in GM.

The presentation delivered to Members was noted as having previously been delivered to the GM Reform Board, and had a focus on providing an update on delivery, specifically change delivered to the residents of the 10 GM boroughs. 

The update detailed improvement in School readiness, with positive improvements in outcomes for disadvantaged children and for pupils eligible for Free School Meals having improved consistently since 2015.

In terms of Mental Health in Children and Young People, rates of patients with a diagnosable mental health condition receiving treatment were noted as being ahead of national targets and ambitions.  It was highlighted that in December 2018, Greater Manchester became the first area in the country to start collating and publicly publishing waiting time data for children and young people’s mental health services.  It was also fed back that in terms of general population health, levels of exercise in GM were increasing with 73.3% adults being active for at least 30 minutes a week.

The Mayoral Development Corporation was highlighted as showing the potential to deliver sustainable development and regeneration and represents a piece of genuine progress. The Our Pass initiative was noted as being taken up by 35,000 young people making 2 million journeys, both being examples of how devolution was delivering change. 

In terms of providing an update on the GMSF, officers clarified that due to not having regulations in place as a result of them not being agreed by Central Government, the next round of statutory consultation will not be until summer 2020. It was intended that there will be an informal response to the consultation in early 2020 to show ongoing process.

Members requested an update in relation to Clean Air targets in the 5 year strategy, particularly in the wake of the climate emergency being declared and numbers of car users stated as not reducing significantly.

The Mayor highlighted the legal obligation to tackle clean air with local councils liable to achieve air quality targets.  It was noted that TfGM conducted air quality analysis in all 10 GM boroughs which revealed a number of pockets across the City Region which fell short of legal limits.  Tackling this problem GM wide was thought to be the right approach to avoid displacing the problem and successfully managing levels of traffic across GM.

It was stated that that the Mayor and TfGM were conscious of the potential impact of managing the costs of transition on commercial taxis and van drivers and also HGV and bus operators, which may require financial assistance to upgrade.   The Mayor stated that there should be no impact to jobs and businesses as GM seeks to improve clean air.  It was highlighted that GM did not want to include vans in the initial charges as current technology and the market do not currently make this viable for vehicle upgrade which would heavily impact on businesses.

Members were updated that the previous Prime Minister’s Government response to GM’s request for £350 million for Clean Air transition, would only support the funding of cameras and not support packages for vehicle transition. It was noted that engagement on this subject had improved with the current Government, however this was now on hiatus in the run up to the General Election.  Leaders have subsequently felt that consultation on a proposal for a clean air zone in January 2020 can’t be achieved, as a clear offer to affected companies and drivers cannot be finalised without proposals coming back from Government.

The Mayor commented that for the climate agenda to be successfully addressed, there will need to be a financial incentive with cost savings to makes changes.  The point was made that without this, there was a risk that adopting change will be divisive between those that can afford to upgrade and those that can’t.

Members highlighted that in light of the positive progress update figures presented, there was a disparity between the GM districts with some outperforming others and some averages being lifted by a small number of districts.  These issues were linked to examples in some boroughs where it was expensive to redevelop brownfield land, with property values not viable enough without Government subsidy.  The complexities of developments were highlighted particularly in relation to brownfield sites. Concern was also expressed in terms of the potential time taken for town centre residential developments in the smaller districts to become as desirable and popular as city centre developments. Members expressed concern over maintaining quality of developments and thought that coordination at a GM level was required in order to not increase any existing divides between the districts.

It was clarified that pushing economic activity north of GM was what the GM Spatial Framework in its current draft form was attempting to achieve with the Northern Gateway.  The challenges of having the housing deal withdrawn due to Greater Manchester requesting a drop in figure from the 2016 consultation from 227,000 to 201,000 resulting in a loss of £50 million funding.  It was highlighted that allocation of land remediation funding had gone to to areas of highest value of housing. This trend had been mapped which revealed that the vast majority of northern areas were not eligible. 

The Mayor expressed opportunism in town centre developments throughout GM, with a revival of modern attractive developments on good transport links. Adopting age friendly living rather than the care home model was noted as being an important shift.

RESOLVED:-

•      That the updated GMS Implementation Plan and Performance Dashboard be noted and that the comments of the Committee be taken into account.

•      That the overall progress towards the achievement of the GMS 2020 ambitions and targets be noted.