Simon Borkin | Chorlton CLT

The governors of Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) have now decided to progress with the sale of the Ryebank Fields site and has begun to market the site to developers through agents Cushman & Wakefield.

Should development go ahead, the CLT wishes to engage proactively with MMU and their selected development partner to achieve an exemplar scheme at Ryebank Fields.

We acknowledge that some people in our community, including some CLT members, are opposed to any development on Ryebank Fields. To ensure we have appropriate support, the CLT surveyed its members last month and has secured a mandate to engage in the process and to aim for a development that exceeds the Development Framework adopted for the site by Manchester City Council.

The CLT Board believe that a high-quality development on this site, building on the expectations of the Development Framework, can raise the bar for sustainable low carbon community living alongside nature within the City of Manchester.

To this end, we have captured the views of members from the Early Feedback Engagement Survey and fed these into an overarching Expectations and Aspirations Statement that sets out our broad position as we begin to engage in the development process, given the Development Framework’s commitment for developers to “work with a local community housing group to develop part, or all of the site” and to ensure there is “extensive engagement with the local community”.

Chorlton CLT’s Expectations and Aspirations Document

Early Feedback Engagement Survey Responses

Chorlton CLT’s first Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on the evening of Thursday 22nd October 2020. The meeting was held virtually, broadcast via Zoom from Stretford Public Hall. In total we had over 60 members attend, representing almost 20% of our total membership of 318.

We were delighted to open the AGM with a presentation by Claire Stocks from the Climate Change Action Partnership who presented on the new Big Lottery funded initiative. Her presentation can be found below.

Following Claire’s presentation, our Chair Steve Goslyn took us through the main matters of business including the presentation of the Annual Report and the Annual Accounts – both accepted by a majority of members present.

The results of Board election were also announced as voting for the election had taken place online prior to the AGM. Our successful candidates were congratulated and welcomed: Carl Emery, Pam Barnes, Zainab Suleman, Rowena Salmon, and Joseph Breen.

Following the election results, we had one resolution to consider – to dis-apply the requirements to appoint an auditor in line with the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. This was moved by our Treasurer Charles Ward and seconded by Vice Chair Margaret Manning. The resolution was approved by over 80% of members present at the AGM voting in favour.

The final part of the meeting concentrated on updates of our key projects The Picture House (Co-op funeralcare) and Ryebank Fields. Following these updates, we ended with a Question and Answer session.

The key documents from the AGM can be found below:

2020 AGM – Agenda and Papers

2020 AGM- Meeting Report

2020 AGM – Formal Minutes

2020 AGM Chorlton Climate Change Action Partnership presentation