Call to Action: Submit your consultation response

We are inviting you to submit a consultation response about the draft Manchester Local Plan by Monday 17th November.

This is one of the most important policy documents for the city for the next 20 years. All cities have to produce a Local Plan. The Manchester Local Plan is a 15 year development plan for the city which will decide how much housing will be built, where, and what kind of housing as well as what other kinds of facilities and infrastructure will be developed and how much action they will take to improve our air quality, waterways and all manner of other issues.

Submitting a consultation response is simple. The easiest option is to just send an email to: planningstrategy@manchester.gov.uk.

You can also read the whole document and comment on it section by section here.

Why are we sending you this?

Social Homes for Manchester www.socialhomes4mcr.org.uk is a campaign coalition that was catalysed by communities organising for a better deal from planning and housing developments across the city from Collyhurst to Wythenshawe in 2023. Community groups and networks across the city are sending in consultation responses but it is also important for as many people as possible to respond as individual citizens - even if it is only to talk about one issue like housing, or clean air, or health - you don't have to answer every question and can just write an email or a letter structured in the way that works best for you.

Below we list some of the issues that we feel are important as a coalition - you may have your own issues that you want to highlight or raise that are particularly relevant for your own local area. It is helpful if you can write your response in your own words. But if you are short of time, putting in a copied response is better than not putting in a response at all!

Many thanks for your ongoing support and we hope to see you at one of our events soon.

The Social Homes for Manchester Steering Group

socialhomes4mcr@gmail.com

@socialhomes4mcr 

Here are some of the key points we ourselves will be raising with the city council in case this is helpful when you write your own email to the Planning Strategy Team:

1. Poor level of community engagement and accessibility

· Most people know nothing about the Local Plan

· The Local Plan Review pages and the consultation portal itself are challenging to access even for those with reasonable digital skills

· Some of the statistics, figures, and timeframes cited about housing delivery are confusing and could be set out in much clearer, more accessible terms given that this is one of the most important policy areas to be determined by the plan.

· There should be training for ward councillors and local community and faith groups well in advance of consultation periods to enable them to engage with their communities about the plan and collate together collective priorities for their neighbourhood to give people a voice in the future of the city.

· How has the council ensured social groups who may face particular forms of disadvantage can have a say about the plan?

2. The plan will not significantly address the housing crisis in its current form

· We welcome the increased targets for social rent homes that Manchester City Council recently introduced and we know you are trying to do more - thank you for this change in direction.

· However, the plan does not provide for enough genuinely affordable housing across Manchester over the next 15 years.

· The plan as currently written requires 21% of all new housing developments of ten homes or more to be for social rent - This is not enough.

· Research evidence shows that we need 32% of new developments to be for social rent to address the housing crisis.

· The numbers on the waiting list continue to soar and there are now over 20,000 households on the waiting list for a social rent home in Manchester alone.

· Larger families in priority band 2 or below have little or no chance of getting a home at present as there simply aren't enough 3+ bedroom properties in the city. Many new developments continue to focus on building one and two bedroom apartments (which are also needed) but there is not enough in the policy to ensure sufficient delivery of larger social rent family homes.

· Housing providers and the council are prioritizing "right-sizing" which encourages single people living in homes with more than one bedroom to downsize. This is helpful in principle, but it is a long term strategy with uncertain outcomes which requires people to agree to leave their long-term home. 

· The families stuck in poor quality accommodation, or sofa surfing, sometimes women with children fleeing situations of domestic abuse, can't wait for this: they need somewhere to live now. There were 4,678 children living in Temporary Accommodation in the City of Manchester alone by the end of June 2025.

· There is a need for more proactive enforcement to ensure that properties which could be used for family housing are not converted into Houses of Multiple Occupation, Short term lets, or Student accommodation. Greater use of Compulsory Purchase powers should be used to bring properties into use as social rent family homes.

3. New policy/strategies on planning transparency, public participation, community-led regeneration

We have heard a lot about there being a new era at Manchester City Council where there is more interest in addressing inequality not just promoting private sector led growth. The Local Plan is the perfect opportunity to set out how this will be achieved in practice over the next 15 years. Community Savers/CLASS would like to see:

· A clear policy that requires meaningful partnership with local communities from the earliest conceptual stages for new developments and area development frameworks - Neighbourhood Development Boards or other local innovations could be trialled to enable communities to develop their own plans for their local area in partnership with key agencies and the council.

· A practical strategy for how the council will accelerate the number and diversity of community-led developments in the city from housing to community centres and social infrastructure including asset transfers, land donations, and the promotion of community land trusts and neighbourhood plans.

· Policy requirements and a practical strategy for increased provision of accessible information on new proposals for local areas, local area data on housing need, housing in the pipeline, levels of section 106 enforcement and how these funds are being invested over time.

To read our latest publications - click here.

To join our mailing list and receive updates from the Coalition and Commission - click here.