Purpose

The Greater Manchester Good Growth Fund (GGF) is the Combined Authority’s primary delivery vehicle for driving forward the Greater Manchester Strategy, aligning investment to the Integrated Pipeline and supporting the delivery of housing, employment space and inclusive economic growth across the city region.

The schemes included within this decision have been identified through the GGF pipeline as strategically significant projects that are currently stalled due to clearly evidenced viability gaps arising from prevailing market conditions, including construction cost inflation, reduced values and constrained access to private finance. Intervention through recoverable, below-market loan funding is required to unlock delivery and enable these schemes to proceed.

The proposed allocations will support the delivery of new homes and employment space, contributing to wider economic growth objectives and maintaining momentum across the Integrated Pipeline, in line with the agreed investment principles of the Fund.

To ensure that time-critical investment decisions are not delayed, avoiding further impacts on scheme deliverability, investor confidence and programme momentum, decisions are being taken to ensure continuity of delivery and are consistent with, and made in line with, the delegation approved by the Combined Authority in March 2026, which authorised the Group Chief Executive Officer and Group Chief Financial Officer, in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Leads, to approve funding decisions between 27 March and 29 May 2026.

Decision

1. An indicative allocation of £77.8m for housing schemes supporting delivery of 738 homes;
   2. An indicative allocation of £23.7m for a commercial property scheme supporting 209,182 sq ft of employment space;
   3. An indicative allocation of £1.975m for Social and Affordable Housing supporting delivery of 158 new homes;
   4. A sectoral loan of up to £450,000 to Greentec Auto Limited;
   5. An update to the existing loan to Castlefield House Properties Limited;
   
   

Alternative options considered

Deferring the decisions to a future Combined Authority meeting was considered but rejected as this would result in unnecessary delays to schemes that are ready to proceed, risking impacts on delivery timelines, viability and investor confidence. Deferral would also mean the decisions fall outside of the agreed delegation window (27 March to 29 May 2026), removing the ability to progress these recommendations under the authority approved by the Combined Authority in March 2026
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Other schemes were considered alongside these proposals as part of the subsidised loan investment call process and assessed against the agreed Good Growth Fund methodology and prioritisation criteria. The recommended schemes were selected on the basis of their strategic fit, deliverability and clearly evidenced viability gaps, and therefore represent those which are most appropriate to progress at this stage.