PART 1 (Open to the public)
ITEM NO.
REPORT OF THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL
TO CABINET ON
29th September, 2004
TITLE:
SUBMISSION FOR URBAN REGENERATION COMPANY (URC) STATUS FOR
CENTRAL SALFORD
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. That Cabinet endorse from Salford City Council’s point of view the submission of an
application for status as an Urban Regeneration Company (URC) for Central Salford
2. That Cabinet request the Leader of the Council to agree the final drafting of the
submission from Salford City Council’s point of view with the Chief Executive
3. That Cabinet endorse the continuation of discussions concerning the legal agreements
that will underpin the URC submission by the Chief Executive, advised by the Head of
Law and Administration and request a separate Lead Member report upon their
completion
4. That Cabinet endorses the Leader of the Council exercising the City Council’s vote at
the URC Board with the Chief Executive exercising the vote in the Leader’s absence
5. That the Cabinet endorse the Lead Members for Housing and Development Services
acting as observers on the URC Board
6. That the Cabinet commits the City Council to fund alongside NWDA and English
Partnerships (EP), the URC revenue budget for three years to the extent of £293k in
2005/06, £293k in 2006/07 and £293k in 2007/08 by each partner.
7. That the Cabinet requests the LSP to include these commitments in the Neighbourhood
Renewal Fund (NRF) programme for the relevant years
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS
(Available for public inspection):
Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy and Community Plan
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
The source of funding for Salford City Council’s (SCC) one third contribution towards the revenue
budget of the URC will be the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF). The LSP/SCC NRF
programme for 2004/05 and 2005/06 already includes £333k to support the prospective URC and
the LSP will receive a report on 13th October 2004 on NRF, which will include similar support for
years 2006/07 and 2007/08.
Partners to a URC are also required by the ODPM Guidance on URCs to prioritise the URC area
for significant capital resources. NWDA and EP are expected to provide substantial capital funding
to enable the URC to implement its Business Plan, although NWDA have made it clear that they
will not make significant new monies available straight away. SCC will contribute towards the cost
of individual URC capital projects by deploying resources from the external funding programmes
SCC receives and from SCC’s capital programmes on an agreed and planned basis.
The monitoring of URC revenue spend and provision of an integrated programme management
function will be via a Service Level Agreement between the URC and the Chief Executive’s
Programme Management Team.
LEGAL ADVICE OBTAINED:
Each of the Founder members has taken legal advice on draft legal documents that will underpin
the submission. The Head of Law and Administration is advising the City Council. Eversheds are
advising the Central Salford Shadow Board.
CONTACT OFFICER:
Cath Inchbold, Assistant Director of Strategy and Resources – 793 3796
WARDS TO WHICH REPORT RELATES:
When the Central Salford concept was being developed the boundary, for working purposes, was
based on the eight electoral Wards that broadly made up the old Salford. The change in Ward
configuration in June 2004 and the preparation of the submission has given the opportunity to
consider the rationale for the proposed boundary for the Central Salford URC. The Shadow Board
agreed in July that, in order to capture both opportunities and need and to be as inclusive as
possible, the boundary should be drawn around the seven Wards of Ordsall, Broughton, Irwell
Riverside, Langworthy, Kersal, Claremont and Weaste and Seedley.
KEY COUNCIL POLICIES:
Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy and Community Plan
DETAILS:
1.
Background
For more than two years the City Council has been working with partners (North West
Development Agency (NWDA), English Partnerships (EP) and Partners IN Salford) to realise the
ambition within the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy and Community Plan and develop an
appropriate delivery vehicle to transform Central Salford - the area of major change within the
City identified in the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy.
In August 2003 a partnership based Steering Group (latterly Shadow Board) chaired by private
sector representative Felicity Goodey CBE began to meet and initiate work on:
 Development of a Vision and Regeneration Framework, procured via an international
competition
 Relationship building with partners, existing regeneration partnerships and programmes
and residents to position the Initiative to add value to current activity
 Agreement about which type of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is appropriate to take the
Initiative forward and the development of the vehicle
 Development and delivery of an early win programme of feasibility work and key
projects.
The Steering Group/Shadow Board has met five times and the City Council is represented by the
Leader and Lead Members for Development Services and Housing, in addition to the Chief
Executive. Significant progress has been made, including:
 The successful launch of the international competition. Five, experienced, international
consortia have been shortlisted with the successful consortia due to be selected in
November, following a second stage process which includes a public exhibition and
community focus groups
 Understanding of and strong support generated for the Initiative among existing
regeneration partnerships and residents
 Clarity that the most ‘fit for purpose’ delivery vehicle for the Initiative is an Urban
Regeneration Company (URC) and brokerage of support for this approach among
partners and Government Departments
 Procurement of resources (over £600,000) from NWDA, EP and other partners to deliver
feasibility work and kickstart key projects such as Greengate, Salford Central Station and
the Manchester Bolton Bury Canal refurbishment at the Middlewood site.
2.
Key aspects of the submission
The index of contents and Executive Summary of the submission is attached as Appendix 1 and
Appendix 2 respectively to give Cabinet Members a sense of the main areas the submission
document includes and the key aspects of /rationale for the submission. The vision is captured
as:
‘Central Salford URC will reinvigorate the heart of our City, working with existing communities
and attracting new residents and businesses to make the Regional Centre and the City a
preferred place in the North West to live, work, invest and enjoy a quality lifestyle.’
The whole of the current draft has been made available and discussed with the Leader of the
Council and the Lead Members for Housing and Development Services, who raised several
issues which have now been incorporated into the submission.
The key features of the draft submission are that:




The Central Salford URC will develop a holistic long-term regeneration strategy, which will
generate an over-arching vision and regeneration framework for the area’s revival within
which a range of funding streams and programmes are focused, applied and co-ordinated. It
will bring added value to existing local regeneration initiatives by actively promoting the whole
area to the private sector and radically improving the image and perception of the area.
Central Salford suffers significant scale and intensity of local deprivation but is equally an
area of great opportunity. It is an area of regional significance adjacent to Manchester. The
scale and uniqueness of the opportunity in Central Salford, alongside the increased capacity
that the URC will bring, will really enable ‘lift off’ and the completion of the jigsaw that will
make the Regional Centre of Manchester and Salford irresistible.
Partners are totally committed to genuine community engagement and ensuring the people of
Salford benefit from the change and the investment. The market alone cannot deliver the
sustainable community that Central Salford must become and it will be crucial to pull off the
co-ordination of programmes and particularly to mesh the URC programme with the HMR
Pathfinder and the City’s SRB and New Deal for Communities programmes. This will be
achieved through partnership and local empowerment and delivery.
A URC is needed because existing arrangements, whilst workable on a project by project
basis, lack the overall capacity to address the scale of programme required to achieve the
transformation needed in Central Salford.









The Central Salford URC will be a nationally unique way of working. Its key attributes will
include less reliance on public sector funding as the main mechanism for unlocking market
opportunities; the formation and application of innovative, ground breaking models for
delivery; a focus on image and promotion and on new ways of institutionally funding
regeneration; a strong commitment and focus on achieving delivery through work with local
partnerships, including community involvement in decision making; and a programme of
physical and economic transformational change balanced with a strong degree of coordination with existing programmes. The City Council, as Accountable Body, will agree the
HMR programme with the URC Board on an annual basis in order to ensure both
programmes are complementary. Delivery of the HMR programme the Central Salford Area
Development Framework will be predominantly by local area based teams. The URC may
lead on a small number of large scale schemes on an agreed, commissioned basis.
The top priority of the URC during 2005/6 will be the completion of the Vision and
Regeneration Framework exercise and the development of an Implementation strategy and
plan. The process of appointing consultants via an International Competition is underway.
The successful consortia will be appointed in November 2004 and the commission completed
by April/ May 2005. The outcome of the Vision and Regeneration Framework exercise will
clearly define the precise nature of the broader investment programme.
The Founder Members of the Board will be SCC, the NWDA and EP. The three members will
have equal voting rights on the Board. The Board will have a private sector majority
(necessary to meet ODPM guidance and thereby secure agreement to set up). Board
decision making will be structured to ensure that private sector Board representatives cannot
out-vote the Founder Members (SCC, NWDA and EP) with whom the long term responsibility
for the area rests, on key issues such as the agreement of the Business Plan and budget
The three main partners – SCC, EP and NWDA - will provide funding to support the
operational costs of the URC on an equal basis
The URC will establish, in dedicated premises, a small Executive team to deliver the URC’s
Business Plan and act as the principal point of contact for the private sector. The team will be
a mix of secondees from partner agencies and new appointments, including joint
appointments. The URC will lead on a handful of key, flagship infrastructure projects that
have Central Salford wide significance and that existing bodies do not have the capacity to
deliver
A Central Salford Community Forum will be established through which the views of residents
and wider stakeholders will be captured and information about the URC channelled. The
Forum will be a key mechanism to ensure an effective and fruitful connection between
existing and new activity at local and Central Salford wide levels.
The URC will act as an enabler and facilitator and will not directly:
o Acquire or hold land;
o Apply for capital funding;
o Enter into major contracts; and
o Exercise planning, CPO or other powers.
It will instead exercise those powers and responsibilities through its Founder Members and
demonstrate both the strength of the partnership and a high degree of influence by its ability
to facilitate quick decisions and resolve issues/conflict.
SCC’s Planning powers will be used proactively within the new national planning framework.
The submission lists several mechanisms to achieve this which are summarised at Section
1.8 of the Executive Summary. The URC will work extremely closely with the
Capita/Development Services Joint Venture Company (JVC) and will commission the JVC to
provide a range of services
While partners will not put land directly into the Central Salford URC and the URC will not
own or hold land or other assets, all partners will use their land holdings in a strategic fashion
to support the objectives of the URC (and local regeneration partnerships) and in order to
deliver the Central Salford Vision and Regeneration Framework with the URC acting as a
‘clearing house’ and facilitator for land assembly in key development areas/sites.
3.
The URC submission process
The statutory process of establishing a URC is both complex and thorough. It is governed by the
requirements of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (OPDM) set out in new Guidance and
Qualification Criteria published in May 2004 which require a prospective URC to identify its
approach, select the appropriate company status, define the geographical boundary and
formulate its strategy. The submission has to be made jointly by the NWDA and the City Council
and supported by EP.
NWDA, on behalf of the partners, have appointed KPMG to provide independent advice and
additional capacity in respect of the preparation of the submission to the ODPM and the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTi). An Officer Steering Group (made up of officers from
SCC, NWDA and EP) is managing and working with KPMG to produce the submission.
Partners are and have been in regular contact with ODPM and Government Office. They are
positive about the proposal to set up a URC, a formal submission is expected and, depending on
the strength of the business case provided, there is no reason at this stage to indicate that the
application will be turned down. Officers met with officials from ODPM and DTi (facilitated by
Government Office) on September 1st for an informal discussion around the current draft
submission. Feedback received was positive and no issues of principle arose. The key area of
further work identified was the amplification of the economic case for the URC and the
identification of the economic benefits that the URC will bring. This work is currently being
undertaken to a deadline of 1st October, with the NWDA in the lead. A re-draft of the submission
will be made available and agreed with the Leader at that point.
Each partner has now timetabled its decision making on the submission and SCC is the first of
the partners to endorse the submission. The timetable for decisions by partners is as follows:
23 September
29 September
8 October
12 October
Central Salford Shadow Board
SCC Cabinet
NWDA Board
EP Project Executive
In addition the Manchester Salford HMR Partnership Board on September 21 st will be invited to
endorse a report which sets down the strategic and operational relationship between the URC
and the HMR programme.
It is envisaged that the URC submission will be finalised and agreed by partners to go forward to
the ODPM and DTi by the end of October. The Shadow Board will then enter into a process of
negotiation with the ODPM and DTI. Partners believe that permission may be granted by the end
of 2004 with the URC operational from April 2005.
4.
Legal Documentation Formulation
Eversheds, commissioned by English Partnerships, have produced standard Model Company
documentation. It is proposed that these standard models, which ODPM have approved
previously, be utilised as the basis of the URC incorporation. Alongside the Memorandum and
Articles of Association, Eversheds will assist partners with preparing customised Members’ and
Revenue Funding agreements following negotiations between the partners. This will form part of
the submission details of the URC constitution.
Discussions are ongoing between partners on the suite of legal documents and a separate report
will be prepared for Lead Member upon their completion.
Appendix 1
URC Submission – Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Rationale
1.3 Objectives
1.4 Options Appraisal
1.5 Programme
1.6 Revenue Costs and Funding
1.7 Governance and Operation
1.8 Powers and Resources
1.9 Risk Assessment
1.10 Exit Strategy
2. Introduction and Background
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Basis of the Business Case
3. Rationale
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Case for Intervention
3.3 The Opportunity
3.4 Redressing Market Failure
3.5 Lessons from Previous/Existing Interventions
3.6 Step Change Required
4. Vision, Objectives and Strategic Fit
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Vision
4.3 Objectives
4.4 Approach
4.5 Strategic Outcome Indicators
4.6 Strategic Fit
4.7 Operational Fit
5. Options Appraisal
5.1
Introduction
5.2
High Level Appraisal
5.3
Detailed Assessment
5.4
The Preferred Model
5.5
Summary
6. Outline Programme
6.1
Introduction
6.2
Definition of Programme Area
6.3
Outline Programme
6.4
Outcomes and Outputs
7. Revenue Costs and Funding
7.1
Introduction
7.2
Summary of Operational Costs and Funding
7.3
Budgeted Operational Costs
7.4
VAT
7.5
Operational Funding
7.6
Cash Flow
7.7
Timing
7.8
Company Borrowing
7.9
Summary
8. Governance
8.1
Introduction
8.2
Members and Board Composition
8.3
Organisational Operating Structure
8.4
Community Forum
8.5
Partnerships and Linkages
8.6
Relationships with HMRF
8.7
Powers and Responsibilities
8.8
Deployment of Planning Powers
8.9
Treatment of Land Assets
9. Performance Management Framework
9.1
Introduction
9.2
Potential Approaches to Joint Appraisal
9.3
Wider Performance Management
9.4
Monitoring
9.5
Evaluation
9.6
Action Plan
10. Risk Assessment
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Limitations of Scope
10.3 Measurable Issues
10.4 Non-measurable Issues
10.5 Scale and Probability Matrix
10.6 Summary
11. Exit Strategy
11.1 Overview and Principles
11.2 Member Withdrawal
Appendix 2
URC Draft submission
1.
Executive Summary
1.1
Introduction
This business case sets out the background, rationale and framework for the establishment of an
Urban Regeneration Company (URC). It is proposed that the company will oversee a programme
of regeneration to be delivered in Central Salford. The case is presented by the North West
Development Agency (NWDA) and Salford City Council (SCC), supported by English Partnerships
(EP). The Central Salford URC represents a holistic long-term regeneration strategy, which will
generate an over-arching framework for the area’s revival within which a range of funding streams
and programmes are focused, applied and co-ordinated. It will bring added value to existing local
regeneration initiatives by actively promoting the whole area to the private sector and radically
improving the image and perception of the area. The URC will help deliver ‘the key planks of the
Sustainable Communities Plan (Reference: URC Policy Stocktake Introduction) and can give early
outputs for the Northern Way strategy and implementation plan.
1,2
Rationale
Central Salford suffers from severe deprivation. The updated 2004 Index of Multiple Deprivation
shows Central Salford falling within the top 4% of most deprived super output areas nationally.
Central Salford has consistently ‘lost’ resident populations to other areas, with a marked outward
migration that increased in pace in the 1990’s. There is a clear interdependence in both cause and
effect between economic decline and chronic outward migration of population. The resident
population remaining in Central Salford is characterised by a much higher than average proportion
of economic inactivity and single parent families.
Yet, despite the scale and intensity of local deprivation Central Salford is an area of great
opportunity. It is an area of regional significance adjacent to Manchester. The scale and
uniqueness of the opportunity in Central Salford fills the Shadow Board with the enthusiastic belief
that the private sector can be engaged and that public and private investment can be managed to
deliver truly transformational change. Fantastic things are already happening, stimulated by
Salford City Council. The increased capacity that the URC will bring will really enable ‘lift off’ and
the completion of the jigsaw that will make the Regional Centre of Manchester and Salford
irresistible. The Leader of Manchester City Council and the Chief Executives of Manchester City
Council and New East Manchester URC echo this view and enthusiastically welcome the prospect
of Central Salford URC.
Central Salford’s Shadow Board is already using the International Competition that is underway to
create massive international interest and ‘buzz’ around the Vision and Regeneration Framework
development. We have a panel of international experts judging the competition including architect
Michael Wilford, designer Wayne Hemingway and professor of architecture David Dunster. The
five shortlisted consortia include an eclectic mix of Dutch and Italian architects, urban strategists
from the US and Canada as well as highly respected and innovative UK architects, economists
and urban designers.
We are totally committed to genuine community engagement and taking the people of Salford with
us to ensure they benefit from the change and the investment. The market alone cannot deliver
the sustainable community that Central Salford must become and it will be crucial to pull off the
co-ordination of programmes and particularly to mesh the URC programme with the HMR
Pathfinder and the City’s SRB and New Deal for Communities programmes. We will achieve this
through partnership and local empowerment and delivery. The mechanisms to achieve this have
been thought through and are spelt out in this submission.
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We know we cannot expect massive amounts of new public sector capital and we want our URC
to be in the premier league. This will put us at the forefront of developing new and innovative
funding models – another challenge we relish. The answer to this challenge partly lies in coordination of existing funding streams and delivery through local regeneration partnerships but
also in working with English Partnerships at national level and Government Departments, including
HM Treasury to innovate development models which capture and re-cycle increases in values and
involve institutional finance, tax reliefs and investment trusts. Models such as these have been
talked about for some time. We want the opportunity to work alongside you to make them a reality.
1,3
Objectives
The URC seeks to deliver a vision for Central Salford through focussing on five key objectives.
These are to:

Work with residents and add value to existing partnerships by enabling the holistic
regeneration of the area through pioneering innovative delivery models;

Exploit the natural assets of the city in order to create an attractive physical environment in
which to live, work and play;

Attract and harness private sector investment interest in the area to ensure that development
activity is maximised to deliver sustainable economic development and assist current and
future residents to develop sustainable communities

Market and promote Central Salford to change outside perceptions and raise the area’s
positive profile

Attract and ensure that all investment in the area is ‘joined up’ and contributes to a coherent
and sustainable long term vision for the city.
1.4
Options Appraisal
The nature of the development challenges in Central Salford requires that key delivery attributes
be deployed into a Special Purpose Vehicle. Existing arrangements whilst workable on a project
by project basis, simply lack capacity to address the scale of programme required to achieve the
transformation needed in Central Salford. The Shadow Board for Central Salford have given
detailed consideration to the range of intervention options available. They have concluded that the
area requires intervention and promotion by a Special Purpose Vehicle and that this vehicle
should be configured around the principles of an Urban Regeneration Company. In addition to
the core attributes contained within this model, the Shadow Board have also concluded that
additional attributes are required which would, if integrated into the URC model, provide a
nationally unique way of working. These additions include less reliance on public sector funding
as the main mechanism for unlocking market opportunities; the formation and application of
innovative, ground breaking models for delivery; a focus on image and promotion and on new
ways of institutionally funding regeneration; a strong commitment and focus on achieving delivery
through partnerships with local partnerships, including community involvement in decision making;
and a programme of physical and economic transformational change balanced with a strong
degree of co-ordination with existing programmes, including Housing Market Renewal (HMR).
1.5
Programme
During 2004/5 partners are already collaborating closely to lay the foundations for the URC’s
Business Plan and to gather and maintain momentum. There are a number of key projects and
schemes that have been identified through either existing or emerging area based planning and
development frameworks and that partners are confident will form early priorities for the URC. A
combination of feasibility and project development/ design work is underway, funded jointly by
partners.
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The top priority of the URC during 2005/6 will be the completion of the Vision and Regeneration
Framework exercise and the development of an Implementation strategy and plan. The process of
appointing consultants via an International Competition is underway. The successful consortia will
be appointed in November 2004 and the commission completed by April/ May 2005.
The outcome of the Vision and Regeneration Framework exercise will clearly define the precise
nature of the broader investment programme. However, the partners have agreed an indicative
year one programme. This is based largely on early win schemes that are in planning stages
already. The programme also gives a flavour of key HMR and other complementary activity. The
programme will deploy funding from a range of sources, the majority of which are already in place.
It does not rely upon large amounts of new public funding but seeks instead to co-ordinate existing
funding around key priority projects and to lever new private funding.
1.6
Revenue Costs and Funding
The three main partners – SCC, EP and NWDA - will provide funding to support the operational
costs of the URC.
A financial model has been developed which outlines the annual expected
operational costs based upon current costs. The budget headings are consistent with the best
practice budget proforma provided by EP1.
Table 1-1 below sets out the total operational costs associated with its first three years of
operation. Total budgeted operational costs in the first three years of operation are estimated to
be £2,245,000. Added to this is irrecoverable VAT. This is estimated, but not yet proven to be in
the order of £392,000.
Table 1-1: Operational Operating Costs
Total Budgeted Operating
Costs
Irrecoverable VAT2
Total
2005/6
£000
2006/7
£000
2007/8
£000
Total
£000
749
131
£880
748
131
£879
748
131
£879
2,245
392
£2,637
1.7
Governance and Operation
Legal Form
The Shadow Board is committed to setting the URC up as a new company as a means of
providing independence, profile, identity and cohesion. The URC will utilise best practice standard
models developed by existing URCs in developing a Constitution, Memorandum and Articles of
Association and Members’ Agreement.
Role of Members and Partners
The Founder Members of the Board will be SCC, the NWDA and EP. The three members will have
equal voting rights on the Board and will negotiate a Members Agreement and a Revenue Funding
Agreement which splits three ways the operational costs of the URC and the Executive team.
The Members Agreement will also structure decision making to ensure that private sector Board
representatives cannot outvote the Founder Members with whom the long term responsibility for
the area rests, on key issues such as the agreement of the Business Plan and Budget. Details of
the Board structure are specified in Section 8 of this business case. The roles of all other key
partners to the URC are summarised in the table below.
1
www.urcs-online.co.uk
Note the figure for irrecoverable VAT is based on an assumed estimate provided by the Founder Members. It is not a precise
figure and may therefore be subject to change.
2
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Figure 1.2: Partner Roles
PARTNER
SCC
NWDA
EP
GONW
LSP
Salford University
SCC Planning Service/Capita JVC
SCC Programme Management
Team
Residents/Voluntary community
organisations
Private sector representatives
Developers, investors
Representatives of regeneration
think-tanks, prominent professionals
ROLE
Founder Member, Board Director, funder, seconder of
staff, deployer of powers/assets on behalf of URC to
support URC business plan
Founder Member, Board Director, funder, deployer of
powers/assets in support of URC business plan
Founder Member, Board Director, funder, seconder of
staff into URC, deployer of powers/assets in support of
URC business plan
Board Director (observer) of URC and NDC, conduit to
ODPM
Board Director, key influencer/driver of mainstream
service delivery improvement
Board Director, Knowledge Capital member and
currently Chair of Salford Manchester Housing Market
Renewal Partnership
Provision of streamlined Planning/Development control
service via agreed protocol with URC, provider of
commissioned capacity
Provider of Programme Management/monitoring
function via SLA
Members of Community Forum
Board Directors
Key scheme/project deliverers/funders or Members of
Professional Advisory Group
Members of Professional Advisory Group
Operation
The URC will establish, in dedicated premises, a small Executive team to deliver the URC’s
Business Plan and act as the principal point of contact for the private sector. The team will be a
mix of secondees from partner agencies and new appointments, including joint appointments.
While generally partners will employ staff, the URC may employ a small number of staff, including
the Chief Executive and Development/Commercial Director. The key characteristics of the team
will be:

A full time Chief Executive of standing and experience

A multi-disciplinary team with project management of complex projects and programmes and
marketing as core skills

A small, dedicated core team which links strongly back to and draws on the expertise of
colleagues in SCC, NWDA and EP

The team will concentrate on strategy/planning, marketing/promotion, programme co-ordination
and commissioning of large physical development projects.
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Arrangements for the governance of Central Salford include the proposal to establish a Central
Salford Community Forum through which the views of residents and wider stakeholders can be
captured and information about the URC channelled. The Forum will be a key mechanism to
ensure an effective and fruitful connection between existing and new activity at local and Central
Salford wide levels.
1.8
Powers and Resources
Deployment of Planning Powers
Salford’s Planning Service is in the top quartile nationally as measured in terms of the
Governments own PSA 6 target and national Best Value Performance Indicators as far as
planning applications are concerned and URC partners are comfortable that an efficient and
effective service will be provided.
Extremely positive discussions have taken place between partners which have resulted in a range
of proposals to customise and ensure proactive use of Planning powers, within the context of the
new planning framework. Proposals include:

The URC to have a (non voting) representative on the City’s Planning Panel

Provision of information about all Planning applications from SCC to the URC

Involvement of the URC in generating the Statement of Community Engagement

Adoption of the Central Salford Regeneration Framework as part of Salford’s Core Strategy

Agreement by the URC Board of Salford’s Local Development Scheme

Proactive use of Supplementary Planning Documents, including Section 106 agreements, to
drive up appropriate developer contributions and design standards
Treatment of land assets
Salford City Council as the main landholder in Central Salford has responded positively and
enthusiastically on treatment of land assets. While partners will not put land directly into the
Central Salford URC and the URC will not own or hold land or other assets as such, the extent of
SCC’s (and to a lesser extent NWDA and EP’s) land holdings in Central Salford and the leverage
land assets can provide is recognised as a critical success factor for the URC. All partners will use
their land holdings in a strategic fashion to support the objectives of the URC (and local
regeneration partnerships) and in order to deliver the Central Salford Vision and Regeneration
Framework. A Framework Agreement will be agreed between the URC and partner land holders
(including other public sector land holders such as Salford University and the Primary Care Trust)
which enables the URC to act as a ‘clearing house’ and facilitator for land assembly in key
development areas/sites prioritised within the Central Salford Vision and Regeneration
Framework.
1.9
Risk Assessment
The business case demonstrates that a number of risks, both measurable and non-measurable,
exist that have the potential to impact upon the operational viability of the proposed company.
Specifically, measurable and non-measurable risks to the URC are identified in Section 10. There
is no expectation that any of these risks will definitely occur, but there exists a possibility that they
may arise, even if the URC undertakes all available mitigation procedures. The probability and
scale of impact upon the organisation varies by risk, but it is clear that each risk will need to be
addressed in the short term, and considered / monitored throughout the life of the Company in
order to ensure ongoing mitigation. The URC will put in place and rigorously monitor a risks
register.
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1.10 Exit Strategy
The transformation of Central Salford into a sustainable community is a long tem enterprise that,
dependent on market/economic circumstances, will take between 10 and 20 years to achieve. The
Regeneration Framework will indicate the profile and phasing for key projects. Each annual
Business Plan will include arrangements for progression over the next three years. The key
objectives of the exit strategy will be to undertake all major infrastructure schemes during the
lifetime of the URC; reduce reliance on public funding and increase private sector leverage over
the medium to long term; embed partnership working so strongly that it becomes the dominant
way of working and is sustained beyond the life of the URC; and ensure that contracts issued to
URC staff either directly or via partners will be for fixed terms to coincide with the lifetime of the
URC.
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