Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2016.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 22 November 2016 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.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The report reviews the current position of mill buildings in Stockport and defines which mills are development priorities for Stockport; considers current best practice examples of mill development elsewhere, including delivery routes and funding structures

The Panel is requested to comment on the report.

Officer Contact: Nicola Turner on 0161 218 1635 or email: nicola.turner@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which reviewed the current position of mill buildings in Stockport, defined which mills were development priorities for Stockport and considered current best practice examples of mill development elsewhere, including delivery routes and funding structures. One of the aims of the review was to consider the current status and development potential of Stockport’s mill buildings, and to consider priorities for future mill redevelopment in the context of brownfield development priorities. A report on the ‘Brownfield First’ approach would be submitted to the next meeting of the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee.

Currently the Greater Manchester Historic Textile Mills, Buildings at Risk Survey was being undertaken in Stockport by the Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service. This survey would review the condition and future risk to historic textile mills and compare this to the previous survey undertaken in the 1980’s. Initial findings were expected in March/April 2017 and would feed into this review.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         The Panel reiterated that the review should be confined to textile mills and not include other historic or industrial buildings in Stockport.

·         European funding programmes which were once available to potential mill developers were no longer available for large scale capital projects.

·         Stockport’s ongoing Brownfield First Programme included the Employment Land Review (2015) and had identified eight mill buildings where the Council would seek to assist or intervene in order to bring forward development. Officers confirmed that any possible subsidy towards the conversion of a mill would be the subject of a report to the Executive.

·         The Panel discussed the current situation with regard to Weir Mill, Unity Mill and Avondale Mill.

·         A Member enquired, given the barriers to the development of mills outlined in paragraph 6.4 of the report, whether there was any possibility of the mills being redeveloped given that developers were looking at market demand and a return on their investment.

·         In terms of assistance to developers, the Council could, for example, try and find funding, put together business cases, assist in bids for funding to the Homes and Communities Agency, commission feasibility studies and pay for infrastructure works.

·         The Council could offer rate relief if it was necessary to relocate commercial premises.

·         A number of the mills were listed buildings and businesses in them did not have to pay business rates. However, most of the businesses who enquired about relocating to, or within, Stockport did not wish to relocate to a mill given the high maintenance costs.

·         The housing market in Stockport town centre was untested at the moment and Council Officers were trying to support the development of a wider housing market.

·         The Council could not provide a priority order of those mills which were most viable for redevelopment given the amount of surveying work which would need to be undertaken to produce such a list.

·         There was an issue of accessibility to some of the mills given that they were located down unmade roads with limited access by public transport.

·         The Panel needed to look at a future meeting which mills were listed (nationally listed and locally listed) with the aim of suggesting which mills should be retained and redeveloped, and whether agreement should be given for some derelict mills to be demolished if the owner wished to redevelop the site.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To agree the dates of future meetings of the Scrutiny Review Panel.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting of the Review Panel be held at 6.00pm on 21 March 2017.