The Place and External Relations Scrutiny Panel met to discuss place-based growth, skills growth, and capital monitoring, with a particular focus on the progress of strategic growth initiatives and financial performance. The panel reviewed the progress of the Strategic Growth Unit, the Tameside Means Business programme, and the council's capital budget, including a significant reprofiling of capital expenditure into the next financial year. The panel also discussed the corporate performance report for the first quarter of 2025/26 and the scrutiny work programme.

Progressing Place-Based Growth

The panel received a presentation from Councillor Andrew McLaren, Deputy Leader (Growth, Housing and Homelessness), and Nicola Elsworth, Director of Strategic Growth, providing an overview of the Strategic Growth Unit, Tameside's Strategic Growth Delivery Programme, the nine Town Growth Plans, Capital Investment Programme, Revenue Investment Programme, Development Activity, Housing Growth and Business Growth.

The Strategic Growth Unit (SGU) was established to focus on driving growth across the borough, working closely with all council departments, and covers strategic development, planning and transport strategy, economic and business growth, housing growth and strategic assets.

The presentation highlighted key aspects of the strategic growth transformation, including the establishment of a Strategic Growth Board and Officers Group, the Homes Spaces Places Project Board, and the commencement of growth plans for the nine towns in Tameside.

Tameside has one of the six Growth Clusters within Greater Manchester, the Eastern Growth Cluster, which allows it to leverage unique opportunities and assets. The Greater Manchester Mayor has made manifesto commitments to deliver 30,000 new affordable homes, of which 10,000 will be net zero before 2038, and Tameside needs to deliver its fair share. The borough currently has a house building target which steps upward in three phases, with an annual average requirement to deliver 485 homes per year. Growth in Tameside will positively impact council tax and business rates, helping to sustain critical front line services.

The Tameside Strategic Growth Delivery Programme for 2025/26 includes a number of key projects, such as:

• Ashton Market Square refurbishment
• Ashton Town Hall refurbishment and future use
• St Petersfield (350 homes)
• Ashton Moss (130,000 sqm advanced manufacturing)
• Hyde Town Centre (1000 homes)
• Godley Green (2150 homes)
• Stalybridge Town Centre (400 homes)
• Ashton Regeneration Partnership (2500 homes)
• Droylsden (500 homes)
• Denton (150 homes plus active travel/public realm)

The Tameside Strategic Growth Strategy Programme for 2025/26 includes nine town growth plans, an inclusive growth strategy, a local transport plan and local implementation plan, a Tameside transport strategy, MDC transport oriented communities 13 stations study, parking standards, Article 4 direction site development briefs, and AMDZ Homes, Spaces, Places Business Support & Economic Growth.

The plans for strategic growth are guided by the Places for Everyone, Homes Spaces Places, the 2040 Transport strategy, the Tameside Transport Strategy, and supplementary planning documents such as the nine towns growth plans and various masterplans and development frameworks.

Each of the nine towns in Tameside will have its own growth plan that reflects its current journey and opportunities, embedding this approach in a planning framework. Each growth plan will include context, fact finding, a vision for the future, and a delivery policy approach. The growth plans will be presented and discussed at the Strategic Growth Board and then will be consulted on in draft as part Homes, Spaces, Places in November/December later this year.

The capital investment programme includes funding for various projects across Tameside, including:

• Stalybridge Market Street improvements (£1.28m from Heritage Action Zone)
• Stalybridge infrastructure improvements (£19.91m from Capital Regeneration Project)
• Godley Green Garden Village (£0.72m from Housing Infrastructure Fund)
• Ashton Market Square, Town Hall, Bus Interchange (£20.19m from Levelling Up Fund 1)
• Ashton town centre improvements (£20m from Plan for Neighbourhoods)
• Various schemes (£3.8m from UK Shared Prosperity Fund)
• Hyde Town Centre (£0.75m from Accelerator Programme & One Public Estate)
• Denton Town Centre (£16.76m from Levelling Up Fund 3)
• Various schemes (£15m from City Region Sustainable Transport Strategy (CRSTS))
• Various schemes (£1.7m from Local Authority Flexible Grants)

The SGU has access to £500k/yr of revenue support as part of the GM Growth Cluster Programme, as well as revenue funding from Homes England. An additional £470k has also been allocated to Strategic Development, Housing Growth and Business Growth by the council this year to create more capacity. A review of the structure has been undertaken and additional posts added, with recruitment commencing in September. The Planning and Transport Team structure is currently under review to ensure appropriate resources are allocated to this team.

Tameside Means Business Skills Growth

The panel received a presentation from Sarah Jamieson, Head of Employment & Skills, and Dean Kleban, Business Growth Manager, Strategic Growth Unit, providing an overview of the Tameside Means Business programme offer.

The Tameside Means Business programme offers growth support and opportunities to Tameside businesses, including start-ups, SMEs and the largest employers in the borough. It is supported by GM partners including the GM Business Growth Hub, GM Build A Business, GM Chamber of Commerce, MIDAS, Tameside College & Ashton Sixth Form College.

A range of support is on offer such as recruitment, business planning, property search, workforce development, innovation, social media and marketing. TMB delivers a range of business network events such as the quarterly network event, net zero festival, monthly business drop in, manufacturing roundtable, growth event and social economy network. The Pride of Tameside Business Awards is also managed by the Tameside Means Business Team. Since the relaunch of the TMB Network in January 2023 there has been a marked increase in engagement from businesses, with over 500 interactions with businesses.

The Tameside Means Business initiative enables Tameside businesses to access fully funded support to increase apprenticeships, training, upskilling and job opportunities in the borough. This includes close collaboration with Tameside College, Ashton Sixth Form College, the GM Business Growth Hub, and the GM Skills Map.

Period 3 2025/26 Capital Monitoring

The panel received a report summarising the council's current capital budget, including the forecast outturn position, from Councillor Hugh Roderick, Executive Member (Finance & Resources), and Zoe Evans, Acting Director of Finance.

The opening scheme budget for 2025/26 was £95.920m. The panel noted the reprofiling of £26.677m of capital spend for 2025/26 into 2026/27, and other capital changes of £11.597m, resulting in a revised 2025/26 budget at Period 3 of £57.646m. The capital programme position is a projected spend of £56.863m for 2025/26, following Executive Cabinet approval to reprofile project spend of £26.677m into 2026/27.

The reprofiling of £26.677m of capital spend into 2026/27 includes:

• £10.131m for Stalybridge Levelling Up
• £4.800m for Ashton Public Realm
• £0.014m for Operations & Greenspace
• £8.936m for Education
• £1.851m for Children's Social Care
• £0.945m for Adult Social Care

Other capital changes of £11.597m include:

• (£12.254m) for Denton LUF
• (£0.306m) for Stalybridge HAZ
• £0.306m for Stalybridge LUF Cultural Quarter
• £0.100m for Droylsden Public Realm Works
• £0.250m for Capital Projects- Access improvements to Stalybridge Library & Art Gallery
• (£0.003m) for Hyde Town Hall Boiler
• (£0.040m) for Active Longendale Demolition
• £0.300m for Ashon Old Library Roof
• (£0.135m) for Bridge Parapet Refurbishment
• £0.135m for Richmond Street Parapet Refurbishment
• (£0.035m) for Unallocated Highways Maintenance
• £0.035m for Footbridge Replacement – Various Locations
• (£0.060m) for Strategic Drainage
• £0.060m for Flood Prevention and Consequential Repairs
• £0.190m for Improvement of playgrounds, paths & other park infrastructure
• £0.062m for Various S106 Contributions
• (£0.451m) for Cemeteries & Crematoria
• £0.136m for Devolved School Capital
• (£0.008m) for Devolved School Capital
• (£0.057m) for Devolved School Capital
• (£0.018m) for Secondary Schools
• £0.018m for Unallocated High Needs Grant
• (£0.012m) for Primary Schools
• £0.012m for School Minor Works
• £0.016m for Primary Schools
• (£0.016m) for Unallocated School Condition
• £0.045m for School Minor Works
• (£0.045m) for Unallocated School Condition
• £0.100m for Meadow View Children's Home
• £0.078m for Family Hubs
• (£3.130m) for Unallocated Adults Capital Grants
• £3.130m for Mandatory Adaptations
• £0.259m for Extra Care Assistive Technology
• £0.040m for Capacity within Housing Adaptations Team
• (£0.259m) for Unallocated Adults Capital Grants
• (£0.040m) for Unallocated Adults Capital Grants

The council's capital programme for 2025/26 to 2027/28 contains £88.345m of schemes (£85.010m are fully approved and £3.335m are earmarked).

A major risk facing the programme is the ongoing inflationary and supply pressures in the construction sector, which limits the affordability of projects. This is worsened where projects are delayed into future years, which further magnifies the impact of inflation.

There is a significant amount of investment going into Ashton-under-Lyne. Currently the council is investing £19.900m of funding from the Levelling Up Programme to redevelop Ashton Market Square and Indoor Market into a modern vibrant market space, repair the facade of Ashton Town Hall and remediate the former Bus Interchange site in readiness for redevelopment. The council is currently working up plans to invest in bringing Ashton Town Hall back into use as a civic building, which may also include commercial use on the ground floor.

A further £20m of investment will be spent in Ashton over a 10-year period through the Plan for Neighbourhoods programme, which will rejuvenate the town and improve living standards for the people of Ashton.

In addition, the council is also seeking to appoint a development partner who will work alongside the council to bring expertise and investment to deliver a sustainable mix of uses within the town centre, including new homes, leisure, retail and high-quality public realm.

The council has limited resources available to fund capital expenditure. No capital projects will be approved in the short term unless the schemes are fully funded from external sources. Any additional priority schemes that are put forward for consideration and that are not fully grant funded will need to be evaluated, costed and subject to separate member approval. There will be a revenue cost for any new capital schemes that are not fully funded from alternative sources and the implications of this will need to be carefully considered, given the ongoing pressures on the revenue budget.

Approved schemes already in the capital programme for future years (excluding earmarked schemes not yet fully approved) are reliant on £8.170m of capital receipts and therefore securing capital receipts will be vital to ensure the programme can be funded. Careful monitoring of progress in realising capital receipts must be undertaken to ensure that there is timely and proactive disposal of assets and that actual receipts are in line with projections.

The latest disposal programme forecasts £9.250m of receipts in 2025/26. Disposals have been RAG rated to identify the level of risk associated with the realisation of the capital receipt. All anticipated capital receipts in 2025/26 are rated as amber with conditions to be satisfied.

An additional source of finance available is Section 106 receipts from developers. Section 106 receipts currently available are outlined in the table below.

Corporate Performance Report - Quarter 1 2025/26

The panel received the corporate performance reports for the council's Housing, Environment, & Estates and Strategic Growth directorates, providing a summary of notable observations from the latest data.

Scrutiny Work Programme

The panel considered the information in the report and discussed potential agenda items for future meetings.

Councillor David Sweeton – Chair of Place and External Relations Scrutiny Panel, presented the scrutiny work programme, which sets out the planned agenda items for the Scrutiny Panel's future meetings and Forward Plan items that fall within the remit of the Scrutiny Panel. The agenda items are indicative at this stage and may be subject to change.

The planned agenda items for future meetings include:

• Environmental Management / Flood Risk Policy
• Cultural Framework, Strategy and Delivery
• Transport Strategy
• Empty Homes Strategy
• Progressing HSP Local Plan
• Surplus land and assets
• Progressing Place-Based Growth Scrutiny Review Update
• Q2 Corporate Performance 2025/26
• Draft Budget Proposals 2026/27
• Response to the Housing Standards in the Private Rented Sector Scrutiny Review
• Waste service overview, data (waste mapping) and improvement of provision – digitalisation of the customer experience
• Community Safety Partnership activity/strategy
• Q3 Corporate Performance 2025/26
• Update on parking tariffs (one year review), footfall and impact on highways (including highways investment envelope)

The panel were requested to identify any reports/updates they would wish to receive in the forthcoming municipal year so that they can be appropriately programmed.

The relevant entries in the September 2025 Forward Plan include:

• Proposal to declare assets surplus to requirements (Batch 6)
• Sale of Land at Grafton Street, Hyde
• Proposed Sale of the Former Droylsden Library and Lock Keepers Sites, Droylsden
• Homeless and Rough Sleeping Strategy
• Ashton Town Hall - Update
• Droylsden Masterplan Implementation

Decisions taken in the period since the last meeting include:

• Ashton Neighbourhood Plan – Board Membership and Boundary
• City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) Grant Funding Agreement for Quality Bus Transit Schemes - Rochdale - Oldham - Ashton
• Local Validation Checklist
• Moving Traffic Enforcement
• Route to Market – Park Bridge Centre
• Draft EVI Strategy for Public Consultation
• Enforcement Agent Contract
• Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Homes England Revenue Funding 2025/26
• Ashton Regeneration Partnership
• Building Control and Technical Support Service Review