In conversation with: John Merry

IT is hardly surprising that Salford City Council’s leader Cllr John Merry decided to go on the attack so quickly after Jeremy Clarkson’s recent tirade against the BBC’s move north.

The Top Gear presenter said that he’d rather quit than relocate to the BBC’s new MediaCity base in Salford, describing the city as a “small suburb with a Starbucks and a canal”. Merry responded by calling his comments “offensive and arrogant”.

Salford has changed considerably in recent years, and MediaCity is perhaps the strongest symbol of this, However, its transformation has been a long slog with much of the first phase of development agreed when both grant funding and bank lending were more plentiful.

In fact, Salford City Council’s leaders seem to have spent most of the past year finding ways of plugging funding gaps that have appeared due to cuts imposed by the coalition government.

Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company, for instance, was scrapped as cuts from the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) and the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) saw most of its cash withdrawn, and it is currently awaiting the outcome of its second bid for regional growth funding for cash to develop infrastructure around the 1.1m sq ft Port Salford project.

Merry said that although the regional growth fund is “a good palliative, it’s not an ideal situation”.

“It’s still a drop in the ocean compared to what the NWDA had,” he said.

As a result, the city council has had to take some bold decisions. For instance, it re-employed the bulk of the Central Salford URC team in-house and it has taken the head lease for around half of the space in the first office building at Ask Developments’ £350m Greengate Embankment scheme in a bid to kick-start the stalled project.

Despite signing a ten-year deal for a large chunk of the 196,000 sq ft building, the council has said that it does not intend to move into the building.

“There is a risk attached to it, but it’s a calculated one,” Merry told TheBusinessDesk.com.

“Part of our job is to make things happen, which is quite difficult in the current climate.”

Similarly, Merry is confident that the nearby plans for Central Salford – involving an office-led scheme on the opposite bank of the Irwell to Spinningfields will generate enthusiasm from tenants – even if the ongoing Compulsory Purchase Order planned for huge swathes of land in the area hits delays.

“Hopefully, we can achieve an awful lot of what we want by agreement but if somebody chooses to be awkward and drag the whole process out then it goes to enquiries and all the rest of it.

“It could potentially take a long time but in the meantime we can get started with the properties we own and the developments that can take place there.”

Work is already underway at Salford University’s campus redevelopment masterplan, at the Cathedral and in other areas where land is in public sector hands.

“There’s also still a lot of space in private sector ownership. Over the years, we’ve been disappointed with what the private sector has done there.
“If you look at the derelict buildings, a lot have been owned by the private sector and they’ve basically done nothing.”

The other major areas of activities seem to be based around the city’s waterways. The Irwell River Park project is being developed on a piecemeal basis in conjunction between Salford, Trafford and Manchester’s councils but is also dependent on elements of public funding for progress.

Despite this, a spokeswoman said that Salford has recently bought Charles House on Ordsall Lane, which had previously been occupied by Vanguard Textiles. This is in the process of being demolished to create link between the river and Ordsall Hall.

Moreover, a new £53m masterplan for The Bridgewater Canal was also recently approved, which will see five new villages created alongside its banks.

Merry said the canal, which is 250 years old this year, can be used to bring in further investment.

“Not so long ago I was reading complaints from council tenants about the problems caused by living next to canals. Now they’re very desirable areas and we’ve got to use them as well as we can.”

He pointed out that Salford’s population was currently growing for the first time since the 1930s.

“There is a demand for new housing and from our point of view for new council tax its a significant plus for everyone in the area if we can create new residential areas.

“I’m sure developers will want to come in as quickly as possible.”

The plan entails making features of elements such as Barton Arcade and the Worsley Delph, where a series of underground tunnels could be lit to provide more pleasure canal cruises, as being potential economic drivers.

“We’ve got some very attractive areas in Salford, which we need to make sure we’re bringing people in to appreciate them.”

Perhaps the most important stretch of water, not only for Salford but for the wider economy, is the Manchester Ship Canal.

A second bid for funding by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities and Peel Holdings has been made for public cash to help develop the 160-acre Port Salford site, was submitted last month.

Peel is planning to build around 1.1m sq ft of warehousing on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal which would be directly linked by a new rail spur to the rail network.

Peel’s newly-published masterplan for Mersey Docks predicts that the amount of cargo handled will increase by 70% as it gains the capacity to unload post-Panamax container ships.

“Inevitably, that means you’ll want to see more use of the Manchester Ship Canal,” said Merry.

He described the canal as “probably one of the most under-utilised resources we have in terms of transport”.

“It’s got a really profound impact on everybody – especially business – because what it can do is take a lot of stuff off the motorway, particularly the M62.

“This will free up space for business which can’t use the Ship Canal. It’s really important for everybody that we get this underway. We are pushing very, very hard.”