Housing Market Renewal Fund
What is the Housing Market Renewal Programme (HMR)?
In 2000 Salford began to experience housing market failure in a number of local areas across the city – many of which were already within current regeneration areas such as Broughton, Seedley and Langworthy and Kersal/Charlestown together with specific pockets of decline in the Weaste and Claremont wards. In simple terms this meant there was a lack of quality housing which met the needs and demands of local people or attracted new residents in.
Many of the areas affected by housing market failure were characterised by high levels of empty properties, large swathes of older terraced property which was no longer in demand and low value properties which offered restricted choice for those wishing to move up the property ladder. It was closely linked to other indicators of social deprivation and sometimes area abandonment. It was identified as one of the key challenges of Community Plan and the corporate Housing Strategy.
The case for the funding
During 2002 Government invited nine area partnerships across the North and West Midlands to establish pathfinder projects to tackle low demand and housing abandonment. Manchester and Salford is one of these national pathfinders.
The pathfinder projects have developed comprehensive proposals for programmes of neighbourhood renewal in order to create sustainable housing markets and thus sustainable neighbourhoods. These programmes incorporate substantial investment in both existing and replacement housing and in improvements to the physical environment, as well as increased investment in neighbourhood management and proactive enforcement.
HMR investment is contributing to the implementation of comprehensive local plans for neighbourhood renewal, through the Local Strategic Partnership's - Partners IN Salford - Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy. Investment is aligned with programmes in education, health, community safety etc in order to narrow the gap between neighbourhoods in inner Manchester and Salford and the national average and to create places where people want to live and invest.
Manchester Salford Pathfinder
The Manchester Salford Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Partnership (involving key agencies from both cities) submitted a detailed investment programme to Government during the summer of 2003. Between 2003 and 2006 £115m HMR funding was invested in the housing markets in Salford and Manchester.
A Scheme Update covering detailed plans for 2006/07 and 2007/08 and outline plans beyond that period was submitted in October 2005 and Government allocated a further £106m for this 2 year period.
A third phase of funding of £140 million for Manchester Salford was allocated in February 2008 for a three year period up to 2011.
This investment is being targeted towards four areas- Central Salford, North Manchester, East Manchester and South Manchester. Each of these areas is now implementing detailed schemes focused on site assembly, securing development, supporting home ownership, progressing home improvements, working with registered social landlords and other landlords in the private rented sector, and neighbourhood management measures.
Central Salford
Over the three years 2003 to 2006 Central Salford benefited from £44 million of HMR investment which provided a catalyst supporting the regeneration of many key area based initiatives and creating neighbourhoods of choice. This in turn attracted significant resources from other key funding agencies and the private sector. The Annual Report 2005/06 (Adobe PDF format, 5.3mb) summarises the achievements of the programme over the 2003/06 period.
For the period 2006/07 and 2007/08 Salford benefited from a further £38m of HMR investment. The latest Annual Report is available here MSP Annual Report 2006/7 (Adobe PDF format, 3.94mb) along with other publications about the programme.
The focus of this investment is on 7 neighbourhoods within Central Salford - Seedley & Langworthy, Higher and Lower Broughton, Charlestown & Lower Kersal (NDC area), Claremont & Weaste, Ordsall and Chapel Street. The Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company is leading on the work for the Chapel Street Area in partnership with English Cities Fund .
The allocation of the third phase of resources for 2008/11 will be considered by the Housing Market Renewal Board in April and then the two individual city councils in May. Because the resources allocated are less than we bid for, the intention is to honour existing contractual commitments and to focus remaining resources on those areas with the greatest chance of market failure. Final decisions on future allocations will be made in the summer of 2008.
It is likely that the HMR programme will be further scaled down or discontinued from 2011 onwards and both City Councils are looking in detail about investment work will be continued if this is the case.
New partnerships have been forged that are driving forward the programme for change in Central Salford in the future:
- The Higher Broughton Partnership, including Salford City Council, RBOS, City Spirit and In Partnership, is implementing the master plan for the areas, including providing approximately 700 homes over the next 7 years. Details of the first phase of this scheme are provided here Broughton Green
- In New Broughton the city council is working in partnership with Countryside Properties to regenerate the neighbourhood over the next 15 years The first phase of this programme won the Manchester Evening News North West Property awards in 2007.
- The city council is working with Legendary Property Company for innovative plans for redeveloping Ordsall;
- The NDC programme in Kersal and Charlestown is working with Miller Homes and Inspired Developments, along with Manchester based architects Stephenson Bell. in implementing a development framework for the area. More details can be found here Housing and new development in Kersal and Charlestown
- In Seedley & Langworthy the city council is working with Urban Splash to develop entire new forms of urban living through a radical transformation of existing terraced stock. This innovative scheme Chimney Pot Park has won many regional and national awards.
Find out more information about Central Salford.
This page was last updated on 22 May 2008
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