The key talking points from the latest meeting of Manchester’s town hall bosses
18:58, 10 Sep 2025Updated 19:33, 10 Sep 2025
The plan for potential walkways is only an ‘idea’, but it shows how the Irwell could be transformed near The Lowry Hotel (right)(Image: CyanLines)
Manchester city council faces a £9.1m overspend in its budget for 2025/26, amid pressures in children’s social care services.
In recent weeks, the authority has unveiled plans for tens of thousands of new homes and a bold vision for 100 miles of floating walkways, after waiting 12 years for its local plan to be revealed.
The blueprint for how the city would develop over the next 15 years could see a surge in new affordable homes.
It proposes almost 60,000 new homes built; expanding the city centre boundary, reviewing future demand for hotels; and examining if Manchester needs stronger architectural design standards. And in the new draft local plan, developers will be required to make 30 per cent of all homes in a new housing project affordable, up from 20pc.
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But at a town hall meeting today (September 12), council bosses heard how £7.2m of extra cash is needed by the service due to a high proportion of external children’s home placements and associated costs.
Finance boss Coun Rabnawaz Akbar explained a shortfall in funding from the Home Office; pressures due to increased demand for assessments; and fewer foster carers are also exacerbating the issue.
He said that placement sufficiency is a national issue, also impacting other councils budgets across the country. He said the Local Government grant from the government was the ‘best in 15 years’, which would go some way to helping ease the financial pressures facing Manchester council.
CyanLines’ vision for the area, with jetties coming off walkways which appear to float above the river and snake around bridges(Image: CyanLines)
According to finance papers, the council is estimated to spend £8.5m on external residential placements (private children’s home facilities) alone – with an additional 1,229 placements required.
Council officers are looking into recovery plans to mitigate the £9.1m overspend, the meeting heard. Any unaccounted overspend would have to be drawn from council reserves at the end of the financial year.
Building homes
Manchester council said the overall target for building homes – 3,533 annually – will be unchanged. This figure was set by Andy Burnham’s Greater Manchester Places for Everyone document approved last year.
Gavin White, executive councillor for development, said: “Our local plan is a key policy in enabling growth and development in the city. Our last local plan was agreed in 2012 so this is a refresh and the new local plan will take us forward from 2027 for another 15 years.”
The council executive, meeting on September 10, approved sending the scheme out for consultation as they prepare to enact the plan from 2027 – running until 2042.
CyanLines – the vision for 100 miles of floating walkways
The bold vision for brightly-coloured walkways along the River Irwell created a buzz amongst council bosses.
The CyanLines initiative, expected to cost at least £100m over the next 10 years, would connect Manchester’s parks, rivers, and canals with new signage, routes on the Komoot app, and major infrastructure projects.
They could include constructing a 100-mile network of walkways along a city centre section of the River Irwell. Council images have showcased cyan-coloured wooden paths floating above both the Manchester and Salford sides of the river, complete with jetties for rowing boats and cycle lanes which snake around existing road bridges.
Manchester Town Hall(Image: MEN)
Council leader Bev Craig said: “You may have noticed across the city there has been quite a lot on the billboards about CyanLines and 100 miles of nature, connecting our green parks, green connections and routes in the city. We are also cleaning up rivers and canals to make sure they are great places to enjoy.
“This is about galvanising people and showing people that it is possible.”
It’s thought the walkways are a while off becoming reality, with bosses calling it ‘an idea’ at this stage.