Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2017.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 6 December 2017 were approved as a correct record.

Councillors and officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

Councillors and officers were invited to declare any interests which they had in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations were made.

The Panel at its meeting on 2 October 2017 gave approval to holding three thematic meetings based around three strands identified during the scoping of the Review.

The third of these meetings is based around how the town centre can be made an attractive development opportunity.

Alistair Chapman (CBRE) attended the meeting and made a presentation providing an overview of how the town centre could be made an attractive development opportunity including an appraisal of the following key themes:-

·         What is an attractive development opportunity and to who?

·         The economics of development.

·         What sites have been developed and which stakeholders have they benefitted?

·         How can development opportunities be made more attractive?

The following comments were made in relation to the presentation:-

·         Consideration needed to be given to the ways the Council could assist with the financing of development.

·         There was significant housing need in the Borough and anything that has been built has been sold or let, however there was concern about the break-even point on development where land and development costs exceed the potential sale prices that could be achieved in the town centre.

·         The Council’s focus on residential development had been around increasing the number of affordable units rather that funding commercial development.

·         There may be potential around exploiting the capacity provided by Viaduct Housing to lend to develop new homes in the town centre.

·         Consideration needed to be given to offset develop obligations to make town centre development more viable.

·         The Council’s contribution to future development may be through land release in the town centre to facilitate new build.

·         That quality of landlord or management agent following the completion of a development was critical to its success.

·         The Council was able to leverage more control over land on which it had a freehold interest.

·         A design guide for the town centre needed to be developed.

·         It was queried whether Stockport Homes had the capacity to provide long-term leasehold management.

·         Concern was expressed in relation to those developments which were already coming forward for approval within the town centre but which fell short of adopted standards with regard to parking and disabled access.

·         Parking standard within the town centre needed to be revisited to determine whether they were appropriate, possible or desirable to achieve within such a highly connected location.

·         The level of rent apportioned to management costs was approximately 10-15% in Stockport which fell short of the average 25% fee charged in Manchester.  It was suggested that the reason for this is that the additional 10% was used for the maintenance and reinvestment in the building to ensure that the quality of the development was maintained over time.

·         The threat of compulsory purchase had been used on a number of occasions, but landowners largely arrived at a private sale prior to the compulsory purchase route being taken to its conclusion.

·         Part of the work taking place needed to be to identify potential recreation and leisure opportunities in the town centre in order that commuted sums collected as part of development agreements could be targeted at an early stage to increasing the amenity offer for residents in the town centre.

RESOLVED – That Alistair Chapman be thanked for his attendance and presentation.