Partners Salford City Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Homes England, Peel Land and Muse have officially launched the Salford Strategic Regeneration Forum (SRF) today (11 March) at MIPIM.
This new proposition presents a unique collaborative way of working between the public and private sectors. The innovative approach embraces the rich pipeline across the city and looks at how place based solutions, good growth and inclusive growth can be delivered across the city with partners.
This more formalised approach of the Forum underpins an agreement to work proactively together, with the aim to continue that growth momentum, delivering on quality, pace and scale of regeneration.
Councillor Jack Youd, Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Finance, Support Services and Regeneration at Salford City Council said:
“This is an important and positive step, part of our strategy to drive growth through regeneration, a cornerstone of the council’s Corporate Plan.
Our vision to create a fairer, greener, healthier and more inclusive city for all, includes priorities to deliver good growth and creating places where people want to live, and this Forum will help us achieve this.
Salford has seen extensive and valuable regeneration over the last 20 years, the city, it’s growth and its reputation have been defined by the key schemes we’ve greenlit over this period.
Establishing the Forum brings together a variety of benefits for the council, partners, developers and Salford residents. The objective is to increase the quality, pace and scale of regeneration delivery and place making in the city. This in turn helps to build local community wealth and growing the social economy.
Through the Forum, we can ensure that housing and economic delivery is supported by the right infrastructure. The expectation is that there will be the ability to move more quickly on redevelopment. The goal being for projects to start quicker, achieving key political priorities and addressing local aspirations to see more immediate action. Lost time will be limited, costs and resource requirements reduced.
This is the starting point to working to secure and commit funding from central government, via the GMCA. We want to ensure Salford is at the forefront of both funders and developers thoughts so the Forum can facilitate the next wave of opportunity for Salford. Alongside our regional partners and key city developers, the aim is to bring about further beneficial change for the city together.”
The development of the Forum, is the city’s response to the need to attract and secure funding to deliver the city’s regeneration ambitions. This approach is an alternative to the option of creating an Mayoral Development Corporation.
The Forum enables opportunities to be explored across different sectors, such as housing, place-making, infrastructure, business, retail, and leisure. It will also, look to focus on the use of existing partners assets and bring forward schemes more quickly to achieve agreed strategic outcomes.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “The Salford Strategic Regeneration Forum is an exciting partnership which will allow us to drive forward our vision for growth across the city region.
“We’re committed to supporting the forum and its important work – creating much-needed new homes, high-quality jobs, and making our neighbourhoods better places to live.”
Duncan Inglis Markets Partners and Places Director – North at Homes England said: “The Forum is a signal of our commitment to build on existing partnership working with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Salford City Council to support the delivery of one of the most ambitious and exciting regeneration projects in the country.
This partnership represents a unique opportunity to bring together our shared expertise and resources to realise the vision that will secure sustainable growth and positive transformation for Salford.”
Phil Marsden, Managing Director North West at Muse, said: “We look forward to working with the Forum partners to deliver successful and sustainable places across the city, building on the scale of what we have already achieved through our work at Salford Central and Crescent Salford.
Salford has seen significant growth and investment in recent years, and the Forum will act as a catalyst for enhanced collaboration, enabling us to utilise our collective skills and expertise to provide further high-quality, sustainable places that meet the needs of the city’s vibrant communities and contribute to the ongoing revitalisation of Salford.”
Stephen Wild, Managing Director at Peel Land said “Salford has been a key investment location for Peel over many years. We have jointly delivered landmark schemes, most notably MediaCity, as well as the Salford Community Stadium, home of the Salford Reds, and the hugely successful RHS Bridgewater. We have worked on a number of residential sites over several years and look forward to continuing this exciting journey with Salford and all our partners.”
The Forum has been launched with development partners who have many years experience of delivering sustainable change at scale whilst also stretching the ambition for what is possible in Salford and it is understood that it could grow where similar partners share the forum’s ambition.
