Unlocking housing development: councils, providers, and investors unite to debate challenges
A diverse group of housing leaders, regeneration specialists from councils across the North West gathered for a high-level roundtable discussion on the challenges and opportunities in the housing and regeneration sector.
Convened by Michael Taylor, editor of thebusinessdesk.com and Phoenix, the round table brought together representatives from local councils, housing associations, developers, and institutional investors to tackle the thorny issues around housing supply, funding, and place-making.
Connar McBain from Phoenix outlined some of the contributions Phoenix has made to the government’s investment summit, but more importantly, the direct relationships they can build in order to provide patient capital to support projects.
“The UK has the second largest long term savings and retirement capital pool in the world, but too much of it goes outside of the UK, quite frankly,” he said.
“And we’re trying to change that. We want to understand opportunities here. We obviously need some sort of government support for a better policy framework, but we also want to get closer to the opportunities, understanding what are the challenges on the ground that everyone here faces and we’d also like to hear how we can better work with you on those opportunities as well.”
Phil Mayall
Phil Mayall from MUSE, English Cities Fund, which has interests in many of the towns and communities around the table opened the debate with a useful synthesis of the regeneration challenge – demonstrating the viability of a scheme.
“There is money, generally speaking, sat there waiting to be invested. It always comes back to viability and the challenge at the moment is to get that message across.
“For me, the narrative has shifted too far towards the idea that if we solve the planning regime, we will get houses built. I know the planning process is a ‘pain in the proverbial’ but it isn’t the thing holding back housing supply in most of the country. It’s viability, and a one-size-fit-all approach is so wrong.
“The challenge we have at the moment is working with partners in local authorities, where you have to hold your nerve in designing a scheme without knowing where the funding is going to come from.”
Leading the charge from the local authority perspective was Mark Robinson, Director of Economy and Place at Rochdale Council. “Planning is absolutely not the issue, particularly in the North West,” he asserted. “It’s the viability challenges and how we fund the essential infrastructure that’s the real stumbling block.” Robinson explained that Rochdale has taken bold steps to release greenbelt land and bring forward sites in its local plan, but without the right funding mechanisms, many of these developments remain unviable.
Aidan Thatcher, Director of Place at Wigan Council, echoed these sentiments, noting that while GM authorities have a combined pipeline of 60,000 unbuilt homes, the reasons they aren’t coming forward are complex. “For some of our big schemes, it’s the viability challenge – whether that’s ground conditions or how to fund the essential infrastructure that nobody really wants to touch,” he said. Thatcher also highlighted the importance of working closely with local education providers and employers to build the construction capacity needed to deliver at scale.
Paul Lakin, Nick Gerrard and Lisa Harris
Paul Lakin, Executive Director of Place at Bury Council, provided a nuanced perspective on the role of local authorities. “It’s very easy to just build cheap flats and compromise on quality of place,” he warned. “But what we’re trying to do in Bury is maintain that ambition and focus on creating balanced communities, not just hitting numbers.” Lakin stressed the need to think holistically about place-making, leveraging transport investment to catalyse development around key hubs.
Lisa Harris, Executive Director of Place and Growth at St Helens Council, shared the challenges her team has faced in revitalising the town centre. “We’ve had to be really honest and upfront with developers about our non-negotiables from the start,” she explained. “It’s about creating the conditions for private investment to come in, but on our terms.” Harris emphasised the importance of local authorities demonstrating their own commitment through strategic land assembly and infrastructure delivery.
Nick Gerrard, Director of Growth and Prosperity at Blackpool Council, outlined the authority’s innovative “invest to grow” approach. “Our leader’s message was clear – we’re going to invest our way out of this,” he said. “That public sector investment in things like the Enterprise Zone and year-round tourism has been crucial in building confidence and triggering private sector interest.” However, Gerrard acknowledged that the recent interest rate environment posed a significant challenge, making it harder to maintain that momentum.
Mike Reed from Tameside Council, the home of deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who is driving this national policy, said one of the specific challenges in Ashton-under-Lyne, where Rayner is the MP, is to take a ‘whole place’ approach. “If we can start to create better jobs within the locality through commercial employment, it helps to support our viability position on some of the residential opportunities we’ve got in the town, we start to raise some of the income levels of our community. It has a knock on impact on the residential viabilities as well. And that is something that Angela has been very keen on us demonstrating our local area. So any investment that is there coming into the the area is starting to raise the aspirations and income levels of the local community as well,” he said.
Academic Aaron Robertson, a housing specialist from Salford University, stressed the importance of a wider perspective. He emphasised the need for long-term planning, forecasting, and aligning the various moving parts – from construction capacity to regulatory changes – to unlock a housing revolution.
Robertson’s academic perspective provided a valuable counterpoint to the more operational experiences shared by the local authority and housing association representatives. His questions pushed the group to consider the systemic, national-level factors that will ultimately shape the success or failure of efforts to significantly boost housing supply.
Helen Spencer, Nick Horne, Connar McBain
Turning to the housing association perspective, Nick Horne, Chief Executive of Wythenshawe Community Housing Group and Chair of the Manchester Housing Providers Partnership, stressed the importance of patient, place-based investment. “What’s taken 20-30 years in Wythenshawe is the result of faith from multiple agencies – the council, GMCA, government – creating an infrastructure that makes it an attractive place to live and work,” he explained.
Helen Spencer, Executive Director of Growth at Great Places, echoed this sentiment, highlighting the role of housing associations as long-term stewards of place. “It’s not just about building new homes, it’s about the whole community – how we work with local partners to raise aspirations and tackle embedded deprivation,” she said. Spencer emphasised the need for a more holistic approach to regeneration, combining physical redevelopment with social and economic interventions.
Sandy Livingstone, Executive Director of Property at Onward Homes, stressed the importance of patient equity and long-term investment. “It’s about looking at investment on the basis of a long-term cash flow rather than a short-term return,” he explained. “We have the backing of government, so we can offer that stability and security that investors are looking for.”
Jacque Allen, CEO of Your Housing Group, provided a sobering perspective on the immediate housing crisis. “How do we use regeneration to do something for those who need it now, not in 5 years’ time?” she challenged.
She challenged the group, asking: “How do we use regeneration to do something for those who need it now, not in 5 years’ time?” She went on to explain:
“We own 55 acres of land in North Manchester, just up from the Etihad. We’re just remediating the land at the moment, we will probably somewhere between 700-800 units on there, and a school that we have worked with the City Council to build, because it will need a school. But actually a lot of the people who will go in there are homeless today. You know, it’s a five year build. So how do we use regeneration in a different way to help give people hope and aspiration.”
Allen’s perspective highlighted the need for regeneration efforts to address the immediate housing needs of vulnerable communities, not just focus on long-term physical redevelopment. 
Sandy Livingstone, Executive Director of Property at Onward Homes, emphasised the need for “patient equity” and long-term investment approaches, rather than short-term returns. He explained: “It’s about looking at investment on the basis of a long-term cash flow rather than a short-term return. We have the backing of government, so we can offer that stability and security that investors are looking for.”
Connar McBain from Phoenix said in conclusion: “I think it’s been a fascinating and high quality discussion, because the point of this is to really understand what makes you guys tick.
“Something is happening with pension funds being more flexible in the future, there’s a lot of pension fund wealth in the UK, as I say, far too much of it leaves the shores.
“You guys can work with us so we can come up with solutions to a lot of the problems that we face, because institutions like Phoenix are really keen to help invest in our communities. Afterall, the people in the communities are also our customers.”
