Message from Neil Fairlamb, Strategic Director of the Neighbourhoods Directorate

Hello, I’m Neil Fairlamb, the Strategic Director of the Neighbourhoods Directorate and part of the Council’s senior management team. I want to welcome you to Manchester City Council. This is an area of the Council I am passionate about, and I’m looking forward to working with you to continue to improve our neighbourhoods. Our role is to ensure we work with our city's diverse communities to create and maintain clean, safe and vibrant neighbourhoods that Mancunians can be proud of. We develop initiatives that help us meet this objective by working with the people who make up our communities, listening to their views and taking action on their concerns. Our objectives are structured around the themes of Clean, Safe and Vibrant.

Clean: Develop a waste strategy that reflects the future requirements and priorities of our city. Implement strategies and initiatives at a local level to target areas impacted by littering, recover and improve recycling levels, and reduce residual waste levels through increased participation and compliance. Promote legitimate waste-disposal routes that prioritise reuse and recycling options, where possible, to reduce the associated environmental and financial costs. Build on the existing partnership work and strengthen intelligence-sharing and engagement to tackle illegal waste activity. 

Safe: Continue to work with partners, VCS (Voluntary and Community Sector) organisations and communities to develop community-led initiatives to address local priorities such as challenging hate, prejudice and extremism, and addressing serious violence. More recently, we have launched The Women's Safety Charter, a new initiative Manchester City Council is introducing to improve the safety of all women in the night-time economy.

Vibrant: Continue to invest in neighbourhood and community assets, including parks and leisure/sports centres, libraries, and cultural and social infrastructure. New libraries are planned for Crumpsall, and Gorton, along with an investment to transform Chorlton Library. Refurbishments are planned for Didsbury, Longsight, Newton Heath and North City. New park and leisure facilities are planned for Abraham Moss, Hough End and Wythenshawe Park, with refurbs at the Manchester Aquatics Centre and the National Cycling Centre. 

Through the Future Shape of the Council programme, we will embed a place-based approach through our systems, processes and decisions, ensuring we consider the role and needs of neighbourhoods in the way we deliver services. We encourage our workforce to understand the city, including the different characteristics of Manchester’s neighbourhoods, and use this knowledge to improve outcomes for Manchester residents. We are building upon recommendations in the Marmot Review, which includes bold and ambitious recommendations on how to reduce health inequities and build back fairer from the COVID-19 pandemic for future generations.

I hope you enjoy your new role where together it’s our job to keep Manchester working properly, ensuring we have clean streets, emptied bins, and great local facilities within vibrant communities. Manchester is a place of brilliance, but there is always space for growth and improvement where together, as a service, we can make a lasting impact on our city.

Neil Fairlamb, Strategic Director of the Neighbourhoods Directorate

Manchester City Council has been named Council of the Year at the prestigious LGC (Local Government Chronicle) Awards