Examining the Potentiality of a Co-Operative Manchester City-Region
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Urban renewal and the ‘Just City’: Examining the potentiality of a co-operative Manchester city-region. Submitted thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Edge Hill University Kevin Burke The Business School September 2018 Supervisory Team Director of Studies – Professor John Diamond (Edge Hill University) Supervisor – Dr. Alan Southern (University of Liverpool) Acknowledgements Throughout this research journey, there are several people that have guided, supported and helped me. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge you all. Professor John Diamond of Edge Hill University, as my Director of Studies, has shown great understanding of myself as a person and as a student. Your knowledge, calming influence and confidence in me has been a huge motivating factor during this time and I would like to specifically thank you. Dr. Alan Southern of the University of Liverpool also deserves special thanks. As part of the supervision team, your frank and honest ideas and guidance have helped me keep the motivation and focus within the work. Thank you both. I received great support and guidance from the Graduate School at Edge Hill University, especially during my early experiences of post graduate study. Thank you to Dr. Leon Culbertson, the Assistant Director for Graduate Research, for encouraging me to progress down this route and organising a fantastic supervision team. This post graduate progression was also encouraged by my undergraduate lecturers at Edge Hill University – Dr. Tasleem Shakur and Dr. Deborah Baldwin, thank you both. Colleagues at my current place of work, the University of Bolton, have also been wonderful in affording me time and support in getting this work completed – thank you Jane, Jo, Stuart, Chrissie, Paula, Bren and Andrea. I also really appreciate the time given by all the participants and interviewees in this work as they have all provided valuable contributions for which I am extremely grateful. Your thoughts and perceptions have added a richness to this work. Without my family’s patience and support during the last few years this would have been a difficult journey. Thank you to my dad and to my brother. Finally, Rachel, undoubtably without you this would not have been possible. I have shared the good and challenging times with you all and the arrival of a ‘PhD baby’, Isaac, has made this journey even more worthwhile. Abstract This thesis examines the management of urban renewal policy and practice during a five-year period (2010-2015) in the Manchester City- Region. It is set within a context of recession and a Conservative-led Coalition government. The study draws upon and adapts Susan Fainstein’s concept and criteria of the ‘Just City’ (2010) and the specific focus of this work is to see if the city-region has the potential to be a just city. Qualitative data collection has mainly involved a series of semi-structured interviews, based on three core research questions, with key decision makers in various layers of the city-region from within the public, private and community/voluntary sectors. Findings suggest that Salford and Manchester each have the potential to contribute to a just city. This is despite the challenges of recession, austerity urbanism and a continual focus upon economically-driven processes as a catalyst for change. Within these processes, the findings demonstrate that there are differing attitudes between, and within, the two places in terms of a shared understanding of leadership, cross-sector relationships and ways of working together. Significantly, having taken the idea of the just city concept and reworked this in a particular way via the case studies, what has emerged is the ‘co-operative city’. Set within a broader politico-economic context of the move to devolution and the backdrop of austerity, the claim to originality is done through interrogating and adapting Fainstein’s notion of the ‘just city’, to position co-operative working as central to an understanding of how social justice might be better promoted and realised in the Manchester City- Region. More specifically this work claims that co-operative working is central to an understanding of the mechanisms and processes of how the ‘just city’ might be brought about and is considered as a fourth criteria to those identified by Fainstein. Contents Acknowledgements. Abstract. List of tables. Glossary of Acronyms. Chapter 1 – Rationale and purpose of the study. 1 Chapter 2 – Social Justice and Urban Renewal: Theoretical Perspectives. 10 Chapter 3 – Researching justice and urban renewal. 48 Chapter 4 – Case 1 Cheetham Hill, Manchester. 92 Case 2 Broughton, Salford. 145 Chapter 5 – New hope for old industrial places: The co-operative city? 201 Chapter 6 – Contribution to knowledge. 227 References. 249 List of Illustrations. 267 Appendices. 271 List of Tables Table Page 1 Interview summary table 64 2 Anticipated and actual number of interview participants 73 3 Percentage of private and social housing in Cheetham 103 4 Cheetham – evidencing justice criterion in Cheetham three sectors 144 5 Ward population statistics 174 6 Broughton – evidencing justice criterion in Cheetham three sectors 196 7 The strength of the relationships between the two wards 210 8 The visionary match between the just city and the co-operative city ? 219 9 Infrastructure table 224 Glossary of Acronyms AGMA – Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. Established in 1986 as a local government association which represented the ten district councils of Greater Manchester when the Greater Manchester County Council was abolished CLS – Community Leisure Salford. Run for the people by the people CLS are community organisation run in conjunction with Salford Council that attempt to enhance the physical and cultural wellbeing of the community through the sport, library and cultural opportunities across 40 venues in Salford CVP – Cheetham Village Partnership. A cross council (Salford and Manchester) initiative aimed at retailers on Cheetham Hill Road. This is a way of allowing businesses and the local authority to come together to share ideas on the economic prosperity of Cheetham. GMCA – Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The GMCA is made up of the ten Greater Manchester councils and Mayor, who work with other local services, businesses, communities and other partners to improve the city-region. The ten councils are Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. GMSF – Greater Manchester Spatial Framework. This is the plan that Greater Manchester has set out to address homes, jobs and the environment. This has been agreed upon by the ten councils in Greater Manchester. HBP – Higher Broughton Partnership. This organisation was established in 2004 and delivers regeneration initiatives in Higher Broughton, Salford. They aim to create community facilities for local residents along with a range of affordable family homes. MCC – Manchester City Council. This is the local government authority for Manchester. The council is made up of ninety-six councilors and is Labour controlled. The leader is Sir Richard Leese and a new chief executive, Joanne Roney. NMSFW – North Manchester Strategic Framework. Local policy delivering urban renewal initiatives in North Manchester. Published in 2003 the framework identified key opportunities and strengths in north Manchester and ways in which the area could be developed and improved. The aim was to set out a 10-15-year plan that would create sustainable communities near to Manchester City Centre. NWDA – North West Development Agency. This was a business led organisation and was the regional development agency for the North West of England. It was a non-departmental public body and was abolished in March 2012. NWIEP – North West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership. This was a partnership assigned to helping local authorities and partner organisations improve objectives and efficiencies set out in the North West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership Strategy. It attempted to contribute to local and multi area agreements through commissioning support to improve local services for residents. Salford CVS – Salford Community and Voluntary Sector. This is a city-wide infrastructure organisation providing support to the social enterprise, voluntary and community sector. They provide advice and support opportunities for influence and collaboration in communities. SCC – Salford City Council. This is the local government authority for Salford and is part of the 10- local authorities that make up the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Salford council has an elected Mayor, currently Paul Dennett and previously Ian Stewart. The council is Labour controlled and has a number of deputy mayors addressing various areas of governance. TFGM – Transport for Greater Manchester. This is the public body responsible for coordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester VSNW – Voluntary Sector North West. Voluntary Sector North West is the regional voluntary sector network for the North West of England. They aim to support the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, in all its diversity, to take its full part in shaping the future of the North West. VSNW works with over 140 members who work across the region directly supporting and delivering services for individuals. Chapter 1 Rationale and Purpose of Study “Housing crisis: 15,000 new Manchester homes and not a single one 'affordable'” (Pidd, 2018) As a human geographer this researcher enjoys, and is interested