Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, accepts co-op development recommendations

Partnership working is way forward

The Commission's final report includes recommendations concerning advice and support for existing, new start and converting co-ops, as well as for encouraging co-operation at a community level, and in specific areas such as housing, transport and digital sectors.

Co-operatives UK has supported the work of the Commission. We now commit to working in partnership with GMCA and others to turn the recommendations into action that delivers for co-ops and the people of Greater Manchester.

We envisage that some recommendations will require GMCA to lead, with Co-operatives UK and partners in a supportive role. Others will require co-delivery between GMCA and partners. And some will best be led by partners, with GMCA in a supportive role.

We can help GMCA understand how our existing programmes could help implement some of the recommendations. And we would like to explore options for bespoke Greater Manchester initiatives as well. 

But we also want to stress that some allocation of GMCA resource (human, organisational, financial) will be required if our partnership is to have a meaningful impact in Greater Manchester.

To make the best use of any public resource, we suggest looking for actions that combine higher impact with considerable leveraging of our capacities and resources. And our partnership with GMCA should complement and augment what is already happening in the co-operative development sphere.