Manchester’s new council leader has said delivering more homes is an “absolute priority” as he set out his ambitions for the city.
Garry Bridges told Radio Manchester’s Joe McGrath Breakfast Show that high-rise developments had a place in Manchester’s housing mix, but were not affordable to everyone.
The council aims to help deliver 36,000 homes by 2032, including at least 10,000 social, council or genuinely affordable homes. The council said almost a quarter of the affordable homes target had already been met.
Bridges also described rough sleeping as a “complete failure of the state and of society”, with the council expecting about £2m through the government’s £442m Rough Sleeping Programme.
Bridges, who was formally appointed council leader last week after succeeding Bev Craig, said getting the job had taken “a good few days to sink in”.
He described it as an “amazing honour” and said becoming leader was not something he had imagined when he first became involved in politics.
The Old Moat councillor, first elected to the south Manchester ward in 2015, previously served as deputy leader and had been acting as interim leader since Craig became Greater Manchester mayor.