‘Village must provide homes people can afford to live in’ NICK STATHAM
PLANS to create a 3,000-home ‘urban village’ in Stockport town centre must not become a cash cow for developers, a council boss has warned.
Coun Sheila Bailey says it is vital the flagship ‘Town Centre West’ regeneration project delivers affordable housing, rather than luxury accommodation.
The redevelopment of the zone is being guided by a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) which gives Andy Burnham powers to buy, develop, hold and dispose of land and property.
It officially launched last month, and is the first in the country to focus on transforming a town centre.
But Coun Bailey - whose ‘Sustainable Stockport’ portfolio includes responsibility for strategic housing has sounded a note of caution over the project.
She set out her reservations at a cabinet meeting where chiefs signed off a £100m ‘council investment facility’ to kick-start development in the area.
The veteran councillor said that - while she shared her colleagues’ ‘excitement and enthusiasm’ for the project - it was important not to ‘lose sight’ of Stockport’s housing needs.
She continued: “They are not for high-end flats and apartments, they are for housing that people can actually afford to live in either to buy through shared equity or through affordable or social rents.
“That’s the kind of housing that Stockport is short of - it’s not short of expensive properties. I think we really do have to make sure that the kind of property, the kind of building, the kind of development, that hopefully will take place in this area will reflect the actual needs of Stockport residents - and not necessarily the profit motive of developers, because the two things don’t necessarily always coincide.”
Coun Bailey told cabinet colleagues she believed ‘around 50pc’ of the homes within the development should be available at affordable prices and rents.
“I think there’s absolutely no reason why we couldn’t aim to have that amount of affordable said.
“There are many, many people in Stockport that are living in very, very poor, over-crowded conditions. I think we owe them - and everyone that would like to come and live here but can’t afford to do so - an opportunity to be part of housing,” she this development.”
The new council investment facility will including loan, equity, and grant funding mechanisms to support the development of the Town Centre West area.
It has an upper limit of £100m and bids for funding are to be approved on a scheme-by-scheme basis.