MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL REPORT FOR INFORMATION COMMITTEE: Economy, Employment & Skills Overview and Scrutiny Committee DATE: 21st May 2008 SUBJECT: West Wythenshawe Local Plan REPORT OF: Deputy Chief Executive, Regeneration PURPOSE OF REPORT: To report on progress on the development of the West Wythenshawe Local Plan, present the consultation summary and to inform Members of the forthcoming public consultation process. RECOMMENDATIONS: The Committee is recommended to note progress on the development of the West Wythenshawe Local Plan and to comment on the draft consultation summary as well as the planned consultation process. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: (a) Capital None (b) Revenue Resources for the development of the Local Plan have been allocated through the Sustainable Neighbourhoods Thematic Partnership and the Roundthorn Industrial Estate Renewal Fund. CONTACT: Eamonn Boylan [email protected] 234 3280 Sara Todd [email protected] 234 3286 Angela Harrington [email protected] 277 1880 Mark Rainey [email protected] 499 7778 BACKGROUND: Wythenshawe SRF report to Executive Committee in December 2004. West Wythenshawe Local Plan Scoping Report to Community Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 18th October 2006. WARDS AFFECTED: Baguley, Brooklands IMPLICATIONS FOR: Anti-Poverty Equal Opportunities Environment Employment Yes Yes Yes Yes 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Manchester City Council’s Executive approved the Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) for Wythenshawe in December 2004. This document sets out the broad vision & objectives to deliver comprehensive physical, social and economic regeneration over a 10- 15 year period in the five wards of Baguley, Brooklands, Northenden, Sharston & Woodhouse Park. The SRF recommended the development of local plans for areas where there was potential to achieve significant regeneration activity. The development of a Local Plan for the West Wythenshawe area is the second local plan, the first being Wythenshawe Town Centre. 1.2 The Local Plan area contains major assets and opportunities including Wythenshawe Hospital, Roundthorn Industrial Estate, significant investment in the area’s high schools through the BSF & Academy programmes, a retail shopping area and a large residential community with a major programme of investment via Parkway Green Housing Trust. For maximum impact, the Local Plan needs to be integrated with and complement the frameworks of the Hospital, Airport and Parkway Green. 1.3 There is a strong focus in the Local Plan on three specific areas of opportunity: Roundthorn Industrial Estate; Brookway Retail Park & High School Academy; and the Royal Oak housing estate. The local plan in its final form will include a mini masterplan for each of these areas. The associated challenges & opportunities are highlighted within the attached consultation summary. 2. PROCESS 2.1 A Steering Group, comprising local Members, key stakeholders and Officers was set up to oversee the development of the Local Plan. Throughout the various stages of the work, Local Members have also been fully consulted via specific Member briefings. 2.2 A consultant team led by Ekos-Gen was appointed following an open tendering process. The consultant team also includes Taylor Young, DTZ Pieda and Faber Maunsell. 3. PROGRESS & OUTPUT 3.1 At the start of the process, the consultant team completed a detailed baseline review of the area covering social, economic & physical dimensions, which included consultation with key stakeholders. This resulted in a Baseline Report, which provided the evidence base for the challenges & opportunities that the Local Plan needed to address and capitalise on. 3.2 Based on the baseline report, the consultants produced an Options Report. Closely aligned to Wythenshawe SRF, this report sets out the vision and a number of key objectives for West Wythenshawe that will underpin the Local Plan. A number of options were developed and workshops held with stakeholders to evaluate the options and determine which option should be worked up in detail and form the basis of the local plan. The consultant team then produced a draft Local Plan and this provides the evidence base and forms the basis for the public consultation document, which is attached. 3.3 As the Local Plan is currently in draft form, further work is needed to prepare the mini-masterplans in more detail. In particular, more work is needed on the Royal Oak housing estate element to determine its deliverability. Therefore, there will be more in-depth consultation with Royal Oak residents towards the latter part of the current consultation process. 4. WEST WYTHENSHAWE LOCAL PLAN KEY ASPECTS 4.1 The key aspects of the Local Plan are explained in more detail in the attached consultation summary and there will be a presentation at the meeting. A brief summary of the vision and the area’s strengths & challenges is provided below for ease of reference. 4.2 The vision for the future of West Wythenshawe is “to become a successful area with attractive & distinctive neighbourhoods where people enjoy the benefits of living close to the Hospital, Roundthorn & the Airport with good links to the City Centre”. This fully conforms to the overarching vision of the Wythenshawe SRF- Manchester’s “Garden City”- maintaining the area’s greenness/character while also facilitating economic growth. 4.3 Some of the key strengths for the area are: major job creation assets in and around the area (Roundthorn/Hospital/Airport); £90m Parkway Green Housing Trust investment programme; some outstanding education delivery; multi-million pound High School & Academy investment programme; stable population; new private sector housing developments; and a range of green open space. 4.4 Some of the key challenges for the area are: a poor & outdated accommodation & accessibility infrastructure at Roundthorn; conflicting road users linked to the Hospital, Roundthorn & public transport; poor quality housing stock in some neighbourhoods (specifically the Royal Oak estate); long housing waiting lists & limited choice for sections of the community (elderly); severe pockets of worklessness & poor health; and high fear of crime levels. 4.5 As with all recently adopted Strategic Regeneration Frameworks and local plans, the West Wythenshawe Local Plan has been developed from the three spines of the Community Strategy: achieving full potential in education & employment (economy/business, education, skills & employment, children/young people & families and health); creating popular neighbourhoods (housing, environment & open space, local centres, transport and crime & community safety), and mutual respect & self-esteem (older people and community cohesion). Based on these three spines, the spatial & policy framework within the Local Plan provides the focus to build on the area’s strengths, while addressing the challenges, to enable West Wythenshawe over the next 10-15 years, to become one of the key places in the city to live, work & invest. 5. PUBLIC CONSULTATION 5.1 Public consultation is a key component in the development of the West Wythenshawe Local Plan to ensure that the plan meets the needs & aspirations of the local residential & business community. The approach being implemented follows that of previous successful consultation exercises for SRFs and other Local Plans. 5.2 Wythenshawe Regeneration Team is managing the consultation process but it has the involvement of local Members, Parkway Green Housing Trust, Ward Co-ordination structures and other mainstream partners. The process will involve residents, businesses, the voluntary & community sector and mainstream agencies. It will begin on 22nd May and run for a three-month period. A detailed schedule is in the process of being drawn up and will be agreed with key stakeholders prior to implementation. 5.3 The consultation summary will be the main consultation document. A shorter version in the form of a leaflet will also be produced accompanied by a questionnaire. Both documents will also be subject to the Plain English check in order to obtain the crystal mark. Specific consultation approaches are planned for the three Master Plan areas (Roundthorn/Brookway Retail Park & Academy/Royal Oak) to obtain more detailed feedback on the masterplans for the final document. 5.4 In order to successfully engage all target audiences and building on good practice from previous SRF/local plan consultations, the team will use a wide range of methods/mediums. These include: • Circulation of the consultation summary/questionnaire throughout the area; • Public meetings and drop-in sessions at schools/Sure Start Children’s Centres/community centres; • Information stands at key locations i.e. shopping centres; • Attendance at community based family events; • Links to school councils, tenant & resident Associations & specific BME community groups; • Advertisements in Wythenshawe World and adverts/talk show on Wythenshawe FM; • Online at www.manchester.gov.uk & www.wythit.com; • Presentations to key partner’s governing bodies/directors • One to one consultation 6. NEXT STEPS 6.1 Following endorsement of the consultation summary by key stakeholders, the document will be designed in an easy to read format including photographs and maps (the attached version is draft and a text only version) and printed (full colour). The three-month public consultation process will then begin. In parallel, the detailed work on the mini-masterplan for Royal Oak will be completed and a targeted consultation with Royal