Decades of huge change for city – and more ahead
Outgoing GMCA boss on his legacy and hopes
WHEN Eamonn Boylan got his first job as a housing officer in Miles Platting, Ancoats was derelict. Four decades later, it is one of the most desirable places to live in Manchester - and it has even been crowned one of the ‘coolest’ neighbourhoods in the world.
“Some might say it’s gone too far in terms of gentrification,” the top public official says, “but I don’t believe that’s the case.”
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News as he prepares to retire, the chief executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) lists his proudest achievements from a 42-year career which has taken him all over the country to work on huge regeneration projects. The transformation of Hulme in the nineties, which he helped lead, stands out as ‘one of the best,’ he says.
“The lesson I learnt from that scheme was that we’re not in the world of local government and public sector regeneration to create things of beauty,” he says. “We’re in the world to create things that make logical sense for people.”
While not considered one of the ‘coolest’ neighbourhoods in the world, Mr Boylan says that the work which got under way in 1992 transformed Hulme from an area families would not choose to live in, to one which is a ‘logical choice’ for those looking to relocate.
Mr Boylan, who worked at Manchester and Stockport councils before joining the GMCA, took the top job at a time when the city centre’s skyline was changing dramatically. But as more swanky skyscrapers continue to pop up, many residents are being priced out.
Council bosses have come under pressure to demand developers build more affordable housing - or contribute towards the costs. Mr Boylan says that as Greater Manchester has grown, local leaders have gained more leverage at the negotiating table with developers.
He points to Deansgate Square, where a new primary school is being built with funds from the developer, as an example. At Trinity Islands where four skyscrapers will be built next to Regent Road by the same developer, a new park worth £10m will be created.
But in many cases still, including these schemes by Renaker, no affordable housing is built as part of the project with developers contributing very little towards affordable housing elsewhere in the city. Manchester council policy states that 20 pc of new homes should be affordable - or an equivalent financial contribution is paid - but exceptions are made if this affects profit margins too much.
Manchester councillors often blame government guidance which considers a development that yields less than a 20 per cent profit margin as not ‘viable.’ This is regularly used by developers as a reason why they will not build or contribute towards affordable housing.
Defending the way the city has been developed, Mr Boylan says that the ‘expensive’ apartments - many of which are occupied by young professionals wanting to live in the city centre - have created more ‘choice’ in Manchester’s housing market. But the outgoing chief executive says that the profits made from all these big developments are still not enough to pay for much affordable housing.
“There’s an assumption about the ability to deliver affordable housing that is based in myth,” he says. “The reality is that the margins for development in Greater Manchester are not the same as they are in other parts of the country, particularly in the South and East.
“The idea that you can generate huge amounts of development gain to sustain large amounts of affordable housing - we’ll never lose sight of the ambition to do it, but it’s very, very hard to do.
“One of the reasons why we don’t have sufficient affordable housing in Greater Manchester is because, as a set of national priorities, we’ve not prioritised the delivery of genuinely affordable housing.
“That’s something that has exercised the combined authority and the leaders and the mayor who are very, very determined that they are going to change that and deliver more affordable housing, but at the same time, recognising that there was a need for us to provide housing that would enable people to participate in the economy of the city centre and take advantage of the city centre.”
According to Mr Boylan, local leaders have spent years arguing with the government about the need for more funding. Describing himself as
‘bag carrier’ for his predecessor, former Manchester council boss Sir Howard Bernstein, who negotiated the first devolution deal for the city-region a decade ago, Mr Boylan says that funding - worth £150m - was finally secured last year in the ‘trailblazer’ deal.
92 developments across the cityregion have now been selected for a slice of the Brownfield Housing Fund, with more than half of the 7,800 homes planned set to be affordable. The latest devolution deal will also give the GMCA more control over its finances.
Currently, the organisation’s budget comes from 114 different funding streams, each coming with their own rules on how the money is spent and some requiring the cityregion to compete with other areas for. But from next year, the GMCA will be funded in a similar way to government departments - single pots of funding with local leaders like Andy Burnham given more of a say on how it is spent.
While specific details - such as the metrics which the GMCA will be judged by when the government hands over the cash - are yet to be agreed, Mr Boylan describes this move as a ‘massive step forward.’ Securing the deal will be considered one of Mr Boylan’s legacies.
Last year also saw the rollout of the first publicly controlled buses in Greater Manchester since the 1980s. Greater Manchester was given the power to take buses under public control in 2017 as part of a deal which saw the creation of Mr Burnham’s job as mayor. The new Bee Network - which will bring buses, trams and eventually some trains under one London-style public transport system - was finally launched in September 2023.
With plans in place for all buses in Greater Manchester to be brought under public control by next year, Mr Boylan will be stepping down with one of his most important tasks almost complete. There is one more huge project coming to its conclusion just as Mr Boylan retires - one aimed at uniting Greater Manchester over its future that ended up dividing the city-region after a decade of rows.
Mr Boylan says: “I’m very, very proud of the fact that we’ve managed after a lot of effort, a lot of determination, we’re on the brink of delivering a spatial framework Places for Everyone - for the whole of the city-region.
Reaching these pivotal moments on several projects, is one factor behind Mr Boylan’s decision to step down from the role now. “But also,” he says, “I’ve been working full-time as a public servant for 42 years and the reality is, everyone will wake up one day and think, actually, I’m getting old and I’d like to just do some different things, to be perfectly honest.”
Earlier this month, the GMCA named the person who will replace Mr Boylan. Stockport council chief executive Caroline Simpson will be the new chief executive of the GMCA as well as Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) - a role also held by Mr Boylan since 2017.
Mr Boylan will stand down from the role after the local elections on May 2. Asked what advice he would give to his successor, he said: “I would say there’s a strong foundation here, but it’s a foundation on which you now build.
“One thing that we don’t do in Greater Manchester, in my experience, is rest on our laurels. There’s always a desire to move forward.
“Don’t look backwards, look forwards.”
One thing we don’t do in Greater Manchester, in my experience, is rest on our laurels Eamonn Boylan