This past couple of weeks has been a good reminder of why Trafford’s relationship with Greater Manchester is so important. A lot of the objectives we have as a Borough are common with the vision Andy Burnham has for Greater Manchester- from addressing the climate crisis to promoting good economic growth. The good relationship we have with our mayor has also proved important when setting our recent budget.
Last week I joined Andy at Greater Manchester’s 2026 Green Summit. I was there in my capacity as Green City-Region portfolio holder and helped present our update on progress with the GM Five-Year Environment Plan. I also hosted a panel that launched our GM Sustainable Food Places initiative. Over two thousand people signed up to the Green Summit this year, with hundreds of organisations joining our exhibition areas- including my friends at GM Ramblers! I’m proud to see both Greater Manchester and Trafford continue to take addressing the climate crisis seriously- it’s clear that it remains something our residents expect to see strong political leadership on too.
Trafford also has a strong and positive story to tell around our good growth ambitions too, with the Old Trafford Regeneration project becoming central to that story. Earlier this year we launched the Mayoral Development Corporation for the area and last Friday I joined board members for our first formal meeting as well as an away day.
The board is chaired by Seb Coe, and I am joined on it by my colleagues Liz Patel and George Devlin, along with a three very experienced non-executive directors from the private sector. As this is a Mayoral Development Corporation Andy Burnham is also an important presence at the board. Prior to the meeting, the board had an ‘away day’ which helped us think about what we’d like to achieve in the first year of the MDC being in place. We also had the opportunity to walk around the area and think about its transformation over the next couple of decades.
Trafford is very fortunate to be the home to so many exciting regeneration projects and I remain very clear that regeneration must work for our existing residents. Regeneration means new jobs and training opportunities, affordable good quality housing, investment in the local transport network and a good range of cultural and leisure opportunities. That’s a message I took to MPIM this week as part of a delegation from Greater Manchester and Place North. It’s important that Trafford has a presence at MPIM- particularly in view of the international interest generated by Old Trafford Regeneration. There was no direct cost to the council from my attendance and I’m also grateful for the business sponsorship that helped support Trafford’s presence. Over the course of a few days Trafford had the opportunity to showcase not just the stadium-led regeneration, but also our wider aspirations for growth, industry, jobs and housing in other parts of the Borough.
Securing good economic growth is inextricably linked to our own budget situation at Trafford, where we’re continuing to work towards a more sustainable financial footing. Last week we passed our budget for the next financial year. It was a budget with some difficult choices, but choices I believe necessary to support our essential frontline services.
Over the past couple of months, there has been a lot of noise from the Leader of the Opposition about our proposals, which he promised to go through ‘line by line’ before putting together an alternative budget. In the end the main opposition party did put forward an alternative, however most of it was rejected by our Director of Finance as not viable. Had we gone against the Director of Finance’s view and adopted the amendment in full, it would have plunged the Borough into chaos. Another suggestion made that evening was to reject the budget without any alternative proposals. Again, this action would have been extremely irresponsible.
We’re working with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on further measures which will support service transformation, reduce the need for exceptional financial support (EFS) during this settlement period and improve our financial sustainability. And, returning to the good relationship we have with our Greater Manchester colleagues, we’re exploring having access to a lending facility via GM which could minimise the borrowing costs associated with EFS. I’ll update on that work in coming weeks.