Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner has confirmed Salford City Council will become one of ten, specially selected Government Vanguard Councils for Housing.
The announcement came at the Local Government Association (LGA) Conference, hosted in Liverpool and follows an application from Salford to be a part of this new programme.
It means Salford City Council will now have access to the LGA’s new support offer to enhance the delivery of council homes and council housebuilding approaches.
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “I’m delighted with this announcement and confirmation that Salford City Council will be part of the Government Vanguard for housing. It means we will be part of a group leading the way in new developments and thinking around housing. This is a real coup for the city, but I believe it is right that we are part of this, as a city council, our track record in this area means we have earnt our place in this programme.
This now provides us with much more support to deliver on our commitment to increase the number and quality of truly affordable social housing in the city.”
As one of only two local authorities selected from the Northwest and the only representative from Greater Manchester, housing leaders from Salford City Council will now begin to work closely with the LGA to identify the key issues affecting the city. Salford was selected due to recent successes in the sector and its innovative approach.
Dérive, is Salford City Council’s own development company, which has now also achieved recognised provider status. Through Dérive 3 housing schemes have been delivered in 2024/25, resulting in a further 128 affordable homes created across the year. This equated to 25% of the total delivered in the city in the same period.
60% of these new affordable homes were at social rents and 118 of the units were delivered to Dérive’s Future Homes plus / Passivhaus standard. This included 8 wheelchair accessible homes and 8 purpose built move on homes provided for rough sleepers.
Since Dérive acquired its first new affordable home in 2019 there are now an additional 364 new affordable homes in Salford managed by Dérive with a further 510 in construction or in planning.
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett continued: “Our commitment to improving housing in the city is clear. Everyone in Salford deserves a decent and affordable place to call home. The city has seen significant investment in a wide range of new homes, including those developed through Derive.
We know we need to provide for our city’s growing population. So, we welcome any backing and beneficial collaboration, and we’ll now look to ensure we take full advantage of this support as we continue to prioritise increasing the supply of decent and genuinely affordable housing for our residents.
We’re focused on working with local housing providers to significantly increase the delivery of high quality, truly affordable and low carbon homes. Working with housing providers we’re looking at ways to make better use of council owned land to build more social and mixed tenure housing and we’re developing a single integrated housing function within the council. This will deliver better housing services for our residents and improve our ability to build new houses.
Being part of the vanguard council scheme now opens up further opportunities for us that will help us deliver on our commitments and I’m confident this will lead to further positive outcomes for our residents.”
