WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TO IMPLEMENT SUSTAINABLE REGENERATION


Introduction


Regeneration is not easy; you have to be in it for the long term. It is about relationships and partnerships, and that is the main theme of this paper. We, the Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company, have worked a lot with Richard Wynne of Urban Vision and the Salford City Council in our Central Salford work. We could not have done it without them. Luckily Salford City Council is forward thinking, and brave, in terms of taking on challenges and making progress. Currently, in 2010, we are in very challenging times economically, financially and politically, and facing uncertain outcomes. For example the public sector is facing £6 billion cuts.


Urban Regeneration Companies


Central Salford URC has 3 founder members, the Homes and Communities Agency, Salford City Council and the Northwest Development Agency. We have a private sector led Board, chaired by Felicity Goodey. But we have two council leaders on the board, the leaders of both Salford City Council and Manchester City Council. We have come a long way and greatly benefit from their wealth of experience and advice.


The A6 going into Manchester does not look pretty. There are many derelict buildings mainly due to the public sector disinvesting out of that part of Salford. For good reasons the hospital, the town hall, the police authority and the fire services all moved out and the only public organisations still there are Churches, the Cathedral, and schools. To make this regeneration work we began to look at site assembly just as the market was rising with speculators thinking they could make a quick buck, as development is so easy. This prevented a lot of development coming forward and it soon was apparent that this piecemeal approach would not work. Regeneration has to be done in a comprehensive way in the knowledge that not much will happen in the short term. It is essential to adopt a long-term view and a comprehensive approach.


We are a private not for profit company. We have no powers of any kind, we are not the planning authority, we do not hold


62 Karen Hirst


I joined the URC in the September 2006, a month after it was legally formed, just as ideas for Chapel Street began to emerge with possible partners, English Cities Fund a joint venture company with the Homes and Communities Agency, Legal and General and Muse. The deal had to be signed by December 2006 before the Assisted Area status changed. I had never met Richard Wynne of Urban Vision before but we soon got to know each other well. We did not cut any corners with that time frame but we certainly worked closely with weekly, and sometimes daily, meetings. Salford City Council put its land asset into the Partnership. These were interesting times and we were trying to bring in other resources and work with funders such as North West Development Agency and working to get the planning framework right.


ASSET - Liverpool-10


any assets and we have no money of our own but it is amazing what we do despite all of that. The key is bringing people along with you and not doing things to them. The Central Salford area is more than 2,000 hectares and is divided into priority areas for the purposes of the resourcing of people as well as money. The URC has an established vision and in all our project work we take the view that you have to hold on to that vision, and hold your nerve even in the tricky times, but still be realistic. That is the approach that we all take.


In this paper I intend to focus on three projects, Chapel Street and the A6 corridor into Manchester, Greengate (the area of Salford that pushes into Manchester opposite Manchester Cathedral) and Irwell River Park that links Salford Quays along the river through the City Centre to the University.


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