## **Castlefield Forum** ## _2024: A Year in Review_ _After a multi-year, multi-agency process, we now have lighting on the North Gate reconstruction in the Roman Gardens. Credit: C McGowan_ 1/24 ## Executive Summary Welcome to our latest annual report where we are reflecting back on some wonderful activity that’s happened across 2024; it’s been another great year. **If you’ve been involved, a huge thank you for helping to make our neighbourhood a better place and if you have yet to get involved or know someone who would like to, do please get in touch.** ## **So… 2024: another good vintage!** We’ve had an absolute cracker of a year. From super levels of engagement and awards in our amazing Clean & Green Castlefield group to Castlefield Viaduct now being in the planning system for a permanent extension (and doubling in length)... … through to lighting finally being installed in the Roman Gardens and progress with the new Castlefield Landowners Forum, we are very excited to see things moving. Organisations do not stand still though, so we were very sad this year to lose Russell Eckersley as a Trustee – he has decided to spend much more in warmer climes (who can blame him?). We wish him well and thank him for all his hard work on getting our Street Tree Strategy off the ground, as well as all of his efforts to deliver our Castlefield Viaduct community plot. We also saw B step down as our Secretary (but continue as a Trustee) – thank you indeed for the most efficient minute-taking we’ve ever had, and a massive thank you to Kirk Paul who stepped up as our interim Secretary and 2025 AGM host. We’ve also had some other wins through the year – we’re trying to diversify a little in terms of our funding and Jane Black worked hard to pull together both sponsorship and delivery of our second Castlefield calendar. We sold out (50 copies), we put some extra pounds in the bank and it gives us confidence that we should try and think a bit more creatively about how to bring in funding. Thank you Jane and to our sponsors: The Banyan Tree, Castlefield Estates and YMCA Manchester. We have also just had the first round of lighting installed in the Roman Gardens on the North Gate. This is the first time the structure has been lit for nearly 10 years, so not only will it be a little safer at night, it also showcases the structure much better and adds some much needed definition into the Gardens. Talk is cheap; as you know we much prefer action. This year has seen strengthened relations with Factory International, the Science & Industry Museum, YMCA Manchester (Y Club/Castlefield Hotel), Manchester City Council Neighbourhood Delivery Team, the National Trust, Our Irwell and the new Landowners Forum. As well as continued influence and input into the Viaduct project and all of our own volunteering activity, we really are doing what we can to make this the best neighbourhood in Manchester. We continue to keep you informed: at our November 2024 public meeting we heard from local stakeholders including a new action group called Our Irwell. They’re set on opening up 8km of river frontage through the city centre; at present, large chunks of it have broken or have inaccessible pathways. It’s a dream we share too, not least as the centre of the conurbation continues to grow in population but with limited new outdoor space to match the population. 2/24 We heard from Transport for Greater Manchester who briefed us on their multitude of strategies to help make our public transport safer than ever. We also heard from Embassy Village, who are building a new homeless rehabilitation village under several arches in the southern part of Castlefield. The village will help those who are ready to get back into mainstream society, and provides them with a small studio flat of their own, as well as budgeting skills, job opportunities and other life skills to help them on the road to success. As ever, there’s never enough time or funding or help, so we would always say “yes!” if you would like to get involved to nudge along any of our projects or ambitions which includes fundraising where we know we can do much more). The Forum is by you, for you. We aren’t special people: we just care deeply about making Castlefield better so please come and get involved. _(And if you can’t get involved but know people that might like to, please introduce them.)_ **Castlefield Forum Trustees** February 2025 _The Castlefield Viaduct is now in the planning system with a view to getting consent agreed in the coming weeks in order to double it in length and provide accessible access at the south end. Here are some recent inspections happening to help ensure the structure stays sound_ 3/24 ## 2024 Impact: how did we do? - **Update and share our longer-term vision and strategy for Castlefield** : this is one where we have not spent enough time, _but has also taken on a new direction all of its own._ One of the biggest issues we have in Castlefield is fragmented land ownership, with some landowners who engage and do a great job and others who are much more distant. Our aspiration is that eventually we get strong engagement across the board and with this, more responsibility taken for more areas of Castlefield. We are therefore thrilled to be part of the new Castlefield Landowners Forum, which has been created by the City Council to help tackle some of the biggest issues we face in our neighbourhood. As part of this, in 2025 this group will lead on setting out a new vision for the area; it’s of course important that this comes with a strategy to make it a reality and we will ensure your views and ideas are part of the vision-setting - **Worked closely with National Trust on developing the Viaduct scheme for the full (permanent) project** : we have been fully involved in the process and as lead community partner we continue to have a seat on the Viaduct Delivery Board and Design Team Meetings. - **Delivered some great outcomes under our Clean & Green Castlefield group** , who delivered over 670 volunteer hours and saw ‘Veg Patch 2.0’ in full production. All of this helped us to win two ‘Level 5 - Outstanding’ gardening awards both for the neighbourhood and jointly with the National Trust for the Viaduct - and then go on to win the _2024 Pride of Manchester Award_ along with Plant Mcr. - **Roman Gardens improvement project** : as per the main image at the top, we negotiated the North Gate public lighting element to be set outside the planning consent for the Roman Gardens, and are pleased to say that the lighting is now in place and under a maintenance contract with Amey. - **Continue to build on and cement strategic partnerships with other organisations with whom we work** : relations are stronger than ever with the Science & Industry Museum, our six ward Councillors (Deansgate and Hulme), the Manchester City Council Neighbourhood Delivery Team, National Trust, Y Club/Castlefield Hotel and the Veg Box People. As we enter into 2025, we are inputting into a new piece of research at Manchester School of Architecture. We are also pleased to be developing links with Trafford Council via Leader Tom Ross who came for a tour of the Viaduct. ## How we operate **The Forum is run by you, for you.** Without the Trustees the Forum would not exist. None of us are paid for our roles, some work full or part time, none of us bring egos and we all strive for a better neighbourhood, so a huge thank you to all of them for all of their hard work. The pandemic taught us that one does not need to be physically in Castlefield to have a positive impact on Castlefield. We’ve learned as a group that you can achieve plenty via electronic means. ## Operating model As Trustees, we hold ourselves accountable for the work that we do - which includes setting ambitious but realistic goals - and the decisions that we make. Because our volunteer Trustees have other commitments, sometimes things do not move quite as fast as we might like. But we are very grateful for the diverse group that makes up our Trustees and indeed the time that they give to our cause of making Castlefield a great place to be. 4/24 We are also heavily reliant on third parties to deliver many of our aspirations, such as the City Council’s Neighbourhood Delivery Team and the National Trust for our Viaduct ambitions. The Trustees run our action groups which help to address our four key themes around **Cleaner, Green, Safer** and **Better** . Our Trustee activity is planned in a quarterly cadence using the ‘objectives and key results’ framework. Find out more about our action groups in the Appendix. We continue to break down our objectives into clear goals. Each objective has measures under it, graded from: **Good** (the bare minimum we would like to achieve) to **Great** (even better) to **Incredible** (bit of a long shot sometimes!) At our public meetings we may discuss our objectives and results and are happy to go into detail as the need arises. If you would like to get involved with any of our activities, please get in touch; we would love to hear from you (contact details are in the Appendix). ## In review: by theme ## A **cleaner and greener** Castlefield ## Clean and green activity - We’ve delivered more than **670 volunteer hours** through our extraordinary Clean & Green Castlefield team. Huge shout out to Gary, Nena and Line who lead this group. 2024 numbers were a little lower compared with 2023’s 800 hours, but things are looking good for a strong 2025 as we have a cohort of new volunteers in the southside of Castlefield. - We entered the RHS ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood in Bloom’ for Castlefield itself, and the Viaduct in its entirety, and were again awarded **two** RHS Level 5 Outstanding Awards for our work in the neighbourhood and for the Castlefield Viaduct project. That’s **7 years in a row** of the top-level award for the neighbourhood! Well done, team! 🙂 ## **For 2024 versus 2023 stats:** - 679 (versus 832) volunteer clean and green hours delivered - 47 (versus 61) events held - 237 (versus 219) bags of litter collected ## Clean and green news - A sixth street tree was planted (the previous five being on Blantyre Street); this latest was a replacement on old Deansgate, next to Deansgate Quay/back of Atlas Bar in a dead tree pit which we highlighted to the Council’s tree team. - A recovery and maintenance plan developed for the Granary Gardens. - The organic veg box scheme - in partnership with Veg Box People and Castlefield Hotel - is now two years old! - Our group delivered their plans for ‘Vegetable Garden 2.0’, a community vegetable garden, which included a major overhaul and upgrade and had its third full year of production (and no more 5/24 invasive bamboo!). This is a really lovely success story because this was originally just a piece of unadopted Castlefield sadness and is now a focus for people to come together. - A huge September clean-up in one CSR event (40 bags of waste collected). - Our usual Winter bedding and bulb planting took place to get ready for some 2025 spring cheer. ## Tree strategy - Our tree strategy work has taken a pause as our lead Trustee for this initiative has stepped down so we will bring some energy back to the strategy when we find a new tree person (get in touch if that is **YOU!** ) 🙂 ## A **safer** Castlefield ## Safety news - After very limited engagement across much of 2023, where due to multiple personnel changes we lacked a strong relationship with Greater Manchester Police, things took a turn for the better towards the end of 2023 with a city centre Police officer attending our final public meeting of 2023. - In early 2024 we held our first ‘Coffee with Cops’ (in south side of Castlefield/Hulme ward) and later in 2024 we re-established relations with Greater Manchester Police in the Deansgate ward - We attended a Transport for Greater Manchester online safety meeting in September to learn more about all the safety interventions and programmes on our transport network and then invited them to do a full briefing at our November public meeting. - We had attendance by GMP at our November 2024 meeting - There are now in place an array of regular Police meetings, including Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings and Coffee with Cops. Thank you to GMP for the greater engagement - it is appreciated. ## A **better, thriving** Castlefield ## Building our community spirit and a thriving neighbourhood - Updated Castlefield strategy drafted; we will feed these ideas into the 2025 visioning work we do as part of the Landowners Forum. - Our _Spirit of Castlefield_ consultation outputs will be used in part to drive Landowner discussions towards the future vision for Castlefield. - A nice flurry of filming activity which continues to show Castlefield’s best side - and under specific circumstances generates income for the Forum coffers. - Thanks to Jane who has stepped up to get more on top of our comms approach. For the first time (yes, we know it’s 2025!) we are more actively managing our Instagram account and helping to grow awareness of what we do. We are not currently managing our former Twitter account though the account (on X) is still live. - Jane led on our second-ever printed Castlefield calendar - to help showcase local photography talent and to raise funds. We sold 50 calendars this year and with the help of generous local sponsorship from Castlefield Estates, The Castlefield Hotel and The Banyan Tree, turned a profit. Thanks to Jane and to everyone who supported us. ## Stronger partnerships - We have stronger-than-ever relationships and direct contact with the Neighbourhood Delivery Team at the Council, with four reliable contacts with whom we liaise both on problems and on future, proactive work such as the installation of Christmas lights and hanging baskets. - The team has also committed to always sending someone to every Forum public meeting which is brilliant. 6/24 - Periodic formal meetings with Deansgate Councillors were re-established - but we all need to work harder together to diarise them on a more regular basis as they are useful when they do happen, but were sporadic through 2024. - We received 98 free tickets to Sounds of the City (this was a reduction from 180 in 2023 and 240 in 2022) which we balloted out to the community. - Factory International hosted their first Neighbours event at Aviva Studios which was well received, including the bites to eat! ## Lighting - We once again managed to get the Christmas lights up on Liverpool Road and on the tree outside Deansgate Station. This was funded via Manchester City Council’s _Neighbourhood Investment Fund._ ## Roman Gardens revamp - After a long duration and a lot of bureaucracy, we now have public lighting installed again on the North Gate (we secured the funding before the previous planning consent lapsed). Unlike the original large bulky sodium lanterns, the new lighting is now on a maintenance contract with Amey. Thank you to Vice Chair Lou for persisting and to the Neighbourhood Team for bringing a solution to the table, including helping us to fund the shortfall; costs had risen significantly as the original quote was from when we had the previous planning consent which then needed to be renewed. - Our next goal has been to start discharging the planning conditions and focusing on plans to ensure the planning consent continues to be retained. _Funded from the Neighbourhood Investment Fund, we worked with the Council’s Neighbourhood Team and Deansgate Councillors to get the North Gate lit. We are very pleased to literally show the Gardens in a better light_ ## Collaborations and giving back - We were thrilled at the first-ever community tour of the Science & Industry Museum; it was hugely entertaining and lovely to see some bits that are often off-limits. Here we met the inspiring David Rhodes who was one of the original protagonists at Manchester City Council for helping to ensure that the Castlefield we have today, ever happened. Thank you! - We’ve continued our relations with the Science & Industry Museum (who now offer their facilities for our AGM), Factory International/Aviva Studios (who ran a Neighbours event which was well attended, as well as offering space for our November meeting), National Trust (who kindly host our summer meetings), Manchester City Council’s Events Team and Castlefield Hotel/Y Club. 7/24 - We are very grateful for the various community clean-up events from staff at both Factory and the Museum and for the coordination by the Neighbourhood Team at the Council. ## Organisational resilience - We gained a new interim Secretary as B had to step down in that role but we welcomed Kirk Paul to the fold; thank you Kirk! - Sadly we lost Russell as a Trustee; he has really put in the hours, on both tree strategy work and in helping to deliver and maintain our Plot up on Castlefield Viaduct. Russ, very best of luck in your new adventures! ## Helping shape permanent plans for Castlefield Viaduct Initially scheduled to run from summer 2022 until late summer 2023, the Pilot scheme has been extended until summer 2025. Over 95% of visitors to the pilot wanted to see the viaduct park become a permanent Manchester fixture and over **200,000** (!!!) people have now been up on the structure. All this on a piece of iconic Manchester heritage which saw no human access for nearly 55 years - and even dogs can now visit! We are working very hard behind the scenes with the National Trust to make a permanent park a reality and are waiting on the planning consent outcome, which should be known in March 2025. As part of the design and deliver process for the permanent masterplan and Phase 2 (which makes the Pilot permanent and provides a through route with accessible access at both ends): - Phasing was agreed for the permanent scheme, so that the work can be delivered in smaller chunks. - The National Trust decided to continue backing the project even though major funding had not yet landed by the end of 2024. - A revised community role was agreed with National Trust, including a seat at table for Phase 2 design, a seat at the table for the project management workstream and continued presence on the Delivery Board. - Calum (Chair) continues to have a place on the Delivery Board for Castlefield Viaduct and takes part in the monthly Board meetings to ensure that the local community voice and experience is heard. - Jane attends the Design Team meetings to help stay on the pulse and offer a local lens on the design process for Phase 2 and is also a National Trust volunteer on the Viaduct. - We are thrilled too that Castlefield Viaduct is now cited and included in the National Trust’s new strategy, highlighting new ways they can add value without necessarily owning an asset. _Castlefield Viaduct: BDP’s Jenny Ferguson & Darrell Wilson unveiling the masterplan at our 2024 AGM. Credit: C McGowan_ 8/24 ## Events strategy - After many years of working at arms length with the Events team at the Council, there’s now a draft Events Strategy agreed for events in Castlefield Bowl. As part of this the Forum was offered a £5,000 rebate for the Sounds of the City event from 2023 and this payment landed in 2024. As a volunteer-led charity, this creative way of receiving funding is appreciated. - The New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration was held for the first time in Castlefield Bowl (2023 into 2024). Lessons learned, including through feedback from the community, meant that the fireworks were moved elsewhere for the end of 2024. The Bowl was simply overwhelmed by the vast crowds so it was felt a bigger space was needed. ## Financial update: please refer to our Treasurer’s Report You can find our full and independently-examined accounts further ahead in this document. ## Funding awards We continue to pursue the Manchester City Council Neighbourhood Investment Fund grants as and when the need arises; this year they have helped to fund our clean and green activity as well as the Liverpool Road Christmas lighting. For the first time in 2024, and off the back of some careful negotiations, the Forum gratefully received £5,000 as a result of the Sounds of the City events. Under a draft Castlefield Events agreement, the Council’s Events team felt that it would be sensible to make an annual donation as a thank you for the inconvenience that the gigs cause. Thanks to our Deansgate Ward Councillors who helped with this. We also continue to receive ad hoc awards from Screen Manchester: we have an arrangement such that any filming in Castlefield which is deemed to cause an inconvenience (e.g. road closure, a place out of use) will result in a donation to the Forum. It is much appreciated that not only does Castlefield get to be on screen but that it helps us out too. It is important to note that the majority of our funds are restricted as they are allocated against specific action group initiatives. We submit independently examined accounts as part of our annual submission to the Charities Commission. ## Biggest challenges ahead: short, medium and long term Many of these carry over from and have evolved over the last 12 months. ## Strategy Just because we are volunteers and just because we are a small organisation doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a robust long-term strategy. We wanted to get on with this in 2024, and then something rather good happened: the Council spun up the new Landowners Forum, where we have a seat at the table, to help various organisations and agencies to start working much more closely together. Initially focused on the Deansgate ward part of Castlefield, we are hopeful that eventually boundaries will become blurred and **the whole neighbourhood can be treated as one** . There is a visioning piece to happen in 2025, being driven by the Council and of which we will be a part. 9/24 _We also hope (and expect) that this will be a genuine co-design process to make this vision and eventual reality._ ## People and a growing neighbourhood Wider neighbourhood engagement remains a priority, notably with existing communities in Hulme and Ordsall plus residents from: - Under construction and planned blocks in the south of Castlefield (Hulme Ward); and - Under construction and or new towers in St John’s (2 towers) and Trinity Islands (2 towers), plus others in the pipeline All of these extra residents represent a new energy in and around Castlefield, as well as a new pressure on local resources, transport and facilities. It’s great to see at New Jackson a new NHS medical centre and we were pleased to see in autumn 2024, a brand new primary school opened there too: Crown Street Primary. The Castlefield Viaduct has helped to unlock vast amounts of local consultation and we continue to develop new local relations on the back of this. ## Trustees Bringing on board skills and experience to not only keep our organisation resilient but to help us flourish and help us deliver on longer-term grand plans, including the full viaduct scheme and realisation of our Spirit of Castlefield ambitions. With 10 Trustees, we are in reasonable shape - and will continue to build on the expertise and passion within. We have room for up to 15 Trustees; **if you think you have a skill that we need, please get in touch. We would be happy to have an informal conversation.** ## Castlefield Viaduct After Factory International/Aviva Studios, the permanent Viaduct scheme will represent the biggest-ever single investment in Castlefield for a public project and the biggest-ever public realm project in our neighbourhood. We can’t wait but we also know that challenges remain with regards to funding for Phase 2 (which makes it a permanent garden), and that we need to be realistic that this is a long-haul project. The masterplanning design process was completed in 2024 and Phase 2 is now in the planning system, awaiting a determination. ## Increased traffic and footfall With Aviva Studios completed and in full use, Water Street permanently closed to traffic, the St John's neighbourhood nearing completion and Castlefield Viaduct literally on the horizon, we expect there will be more people than ever living, visiting or working in Castlefield. This will present challenges around parking, idling vehicles, coaches, pollution and of course the inevitable outflow of thousands of people from each and every Factory International event at Aviva Studios. Aside from the annual flurry of ‘Sounds of the City’ gigs, we have never had to deal with sustained large volumes of people. We will monitor all this carefully as new buildings and spaces come on stream, grow our relationship with Factory International and lean on help from the Council if any interventions are required. With another full year of Factory operations completed, we regard the egress of large volumes of people not to have presented any real issues. 10/24 ## Graffiti and litter… …which continues as last year to blight Castlefield and is now at the worst it has ever been. **We don’t feel enough action is being taken by key stakeholders to address this and the situation continues to get worse and worse** . We continue to be disappointed by levels of cleanliness around the Ellesmere Street area – this is a target for improvement for 2024 and in late 2024 we saw a flurry of new activity so are hopeful that we can replicate some of our Clean and Green magic in 2025. The following is copied almost entirely from our 2023 report because sadly very little has improved: We have seen very limited clean-up on a few heritage assets but at the moment the graffiti artists are very much winning. _**How might we address this? How might we turn a problem into an opportunity?**_ We have started discussions around a more formal public arts programme but the time diverted to the Viaduct scuppered any chance to address this. The city centre has had some great successes with turning blank and unloved surfaces into public art; save for not having enough time to make it happen, there is no reason we cannot eventually replicate the best bits of this in Castlefield. The brighter news is that in 2025 we plan to bring this conversation to the Landowners Forum. ## Funding and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) CSR is both a challenge and an opportunity in that 24 months ago we were literally turning help away. We are continuing to use our improved sign-up process, having more people power and elements of self-serve to help run events. The Forum has grand ambitions for Castlefield (including but not limited to the Viaduct) and as a small community organisation with a set of volunteer Trustees, trying to acquire the right levels of help and / or funding, and to coordinate our ambitions and deliver against them is difficult. We are hoping to try and use the Roman Gardens project to try and break this cycle. As with all things Castlefield, if you think you can help or have connections who might, do please get in touch. ## Climate Emergency It goes without saying that climate change brings an incredible set of challenges to the planet and right down to a local level we need a much clearer plan of how we can all act differently to help drive real change. The Forum is only at the beginning of this journey and we would readily welcome any extra support. We are sorry to report that we have made very little direct progress on this initiative in 2024 but are hopeful that the Viaduct once fully open will encourage more people than ever to use active travel as a means to reducing vehicle use. One small step and all that. We are hopeful as well that the seemingly never-ending roadworks and remodelling of Deansgate might finally also offer more hope in promoting active travel and a reduction in pollution. 11/24 ## Looking ahead and closing remarks If you read our report a year ago, this might sound like Groundhog Day but we start 2025 with some very big tasks, challenges and opportunities ahead. A Viaduct Phase 2 to get planning consent for. A strategy for more trees to pick up again. Continue the strengthened relationship with Greater Manchester Police. Plans for our biggest and best Veg Patch ever. Roman Gardens planning consent to keep alive and nudge along plans for the East-West path. More grot spots sorted. Growing our Clean & Green presence on the south side. Building our longer-term vision and strategy for Castlefield. Keeping an eye on development plans for the redundant arches on Bridgewater Street and the development sites in the southern portion of our neighbourhood. More awards to shoot for… ## **Please continue to support us and don’t hesitate to get stuck in if improving your neighbourhood means something to you.** Finally, a reminder that the Forum exists by you, for you. **A huge thank you to all of our Trustees** and supporters who helped to keep the Forum diverse, alive and thriving. And if you feel like you might want to get involved yourself, we might have said once or twice, please get in touch. Thank you, ## **Calum McGowan** **Chair - Castlefield Forum on behalf of Castlefield Forum Board of Trustees info@ourcastlefield.co.uk** 12/24 Appendices 13124 ## Castlefield Forum Accounts - Final - Verified ## **CASTLEFIELD FORUM** ## **ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30/04/2024** 14/24 ## Treasurer's Report I have prepared the accounts for Castlefield Forum for the year ending 30th April 2024. These accounts comprise an Income & Expenditure overview and a Balance Sheet to provide visibility on general and restricted funds held. All payments made have been verified by invoice copies. As Treasurer, I confirm these accounts represent a true and fair view of Income & Expenditure for the period. The accounts will now be reviewed by an independent examiner. Giles Grover 23rd February 2025 15/24 Income Ex enditure General Funds Restricted Funds E:30 Totsl Income & ndlture Income Donations- Individuals & Organisations Donations- Castlefield Filming MCC- Roman Gardens MCC- Castlefield Viaduct Clean & Green - NIF Slate Wharf- NIF 5,533 5,533 165 658 165 658 3.744 3.744 Total Income 6,533 4,567 ii,ioo Ex nditure Roman Gardens Castlefield Viaduct Clean & Green Slate Wharf Forum Admin Expenses Zoom Subscription Public Liability Insuran Training Course 165 260 165 260 3.744 3.744 91 156 367 91 156 367 150 Total Expenditure 763 4.170 4.783 Surplus/ldeficlt) 5,770 398 6,317 16124 Statement of financial ition 2tr2a 23 Gentral General Funds 202 Re#ricted Funds 20 Tthal Funds Total Assets Bank Petty cash Total IIA73 20 27.202 5.703 20 26,805 32.5081 20 32.528 20 38.695 11.493 27.202 5.723 26.805 Llabllttle5 Charity Generèl funds Irepèyablel Restricted fund5 (Tepayablel Tgtsl assets le¥ Ilabili IIA93 272OZ 5.723 26W5 61f.. s.n3 5.770 IIN93 26.805 398 27203 32528 6.167 38.695 6,179 -456 5,723 3S.328 -8.523 26W5 41.S07 -8.979 31528 Movement In reseThes IsurpluslldefKltII ReseNes clfr 17124 Reserves E:30 2024 Chan es in reserves Movement in General funds General resenies Surplus/deficit Current year 2022 2023 23 0 bal ￿24 5,723 2023 24 Cl bal 5,723 5,770 5,770 Totsi General funds 5.723 5.770 11.493 Movement in Restricted funds 2022 2023 23 0 bal ￿24 Roman Gardens 26,005 50 750 2023 24 Cl bal 26,005 50 1,148 Castlefield Viaduct Clean & Green Slate Wharf- Held in Trust 398 Total Restricted funds 26.805 398 27.203 Total Reserves 32,528 6,168 38,696 'Restricted Funds reflect where Neighbourhood Investment Funding grants have been received for a specific proect and the closing balance at year end is £27,203. This funding is monitored and evaluated by Manchester City Council and, in certain circumstances, may be subect to repayment. 18124 Bankin Detailed Anal Jl51797 VD¢I2023 .16544 IF Awioii .3.7¥AJT IJIO)12a14 5ts7 151Wnty4 Jn&6rwTh. 19124 Pett Cash Petty Cash Balance as at 3010412023 20.17 Expenditure Petty Cash Balance as at 3010412024 £20.17 20124 ## Email from our auditor ## **Sent:** 24 February 2025 07:52 ## **To:** Giles Grover **Subject:** Forum annual accounts Hi Giles, Thanks for the supporting information. I report to the trust my examination of the accounts of Castlefield Forum (the Charity) for the period ended 30 April 2024. I have completed an examination of the provided set of accounts and supporting documentation. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination, giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1) accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2) the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3) the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Regards, Dan Coles FCCA 21/24 ## About Castlefield Forum Castlefield Forum is a voluntary community group established in 2009 with the key aim of making Castlefield a better place for local residents, businesses, workers and visitors. Part of the Forum’s original remit was set up to contribute to and influence Castlefield as a locality, whilst conserving and enhancing its heritage assets. We are a multi-award winning neighbourhood organisation having been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service as well as over a dozen awards from the RHS, including 7 years in a row of ‘Level 5 - Outstanding’ for our clean & green efforts. In October we won 5 awards on the same day, including a joint Royal Horticultural Society _Pride of Manchester Award._ We became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in 2019 and have always worked to bring people together for the long-term benefit of Castlefield. ## **Our objectives are:** - To protect and promote the Castlefield Conservation Area - To secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features or areas of historic or public interest - To promote the conservation of the environment - To educate the public in the geography, history, natural history, culture and architecture of the area - To promote high standards of planning and architecture - To promote urban regeneration As part of our reach we also look to build a stronger local community and voice, and provide several ways for people to get involved. The Forum consists of a board of 10 Volunteer Trustees (including residents and 3 business owners) and Action Groups - run by our Trustees - which work to meet these objectives, including: - **Clean & Green Castlefield** , who have delivered over 3,500 volunteer hours over the last 4 years, as well as developing our Castlefield tree strategy _[which is paused until we find a new lead]_ - **Roman Gardens** , who are now working to discharge planning conditions so that we can protect the planning consent for the upgrade of the Roman Gardens - **Castlefield Viaduct** , working as lead community partner alongside the National Trust and BDP to help deliver the long-term masterplan - **Castlefield Landowners Forum** , which is run by the Council and where we have a voice at the table with some of the bigger players in Castlefield The Forum meets publicly three times a year and meetings and action groups are open to all. Our elected Trustees typically meet twice a quarter, setting goals across a 4-month period and feeding back on progress and challenges to the wider Forum. Membership is open to anyone who lives, works or has an interest in Castlefield. It’s a great way to meet others in the community, to have a say in what happens and to give something back to this amazing place. Join us! ## Our organisation Organisational overview for the period ending 4 March 2025. ## **Trustees who served during the year:** 1. Calum McGowan (Chair) 22/24 2. Lou Pullan (Vice-Chair) 3. Giles Grover (Treasurer) 4. B Hunter (became Secretary in Q3 2023 but stepped back from the role in summer 2024) 5. Gary Rumens 6. Ian Hay 7. Ian McIlveen 8. Jane Black 9. Line Hilton 10. Nena Adrienne 11. Russell Eckersley, who stepped down in late 2024. Thank you Russell for all your hard work and for being chief protagonist for our Forum plot on the Castlefield Viaduct & street tree policy ## **Non-Trustee help** 1. Kirk Paul stepped in to temporarily cover our Secretary role and has been a great help, thank you ## Action Groups ## Clean & Green Castlefield - To work in conjunction with Manchester City Council (MCC) and other local partners to keep the area attractive, green and tidy - Expanding the group’s remit to maintain and develop green spaces, including community growing space - To work in liaison with MCC and local partners to present a credible entry to the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ section of North West in Bloom, aiming for a Level 5 ‘Outstanding’ award each year ## Roman Gardens - Delivering against our original masterplan to realise exciting, inspiring urban retreat in Manchester city centre ## Spirit of Castlefield - Building on our work with the National Trust to understand the spirit of Castlefield, including its value to the city of Manchester and beyond, its heritage, people, buildings, open spaces, structures, waterways and stories. - Supporting the National Trust’s consultation, fundraising and delivery of the viaduct pilot and development of the full scheme - Deliver & maintain the Castlefield community plot on the viaduct (opened July 2022) ## Events, Marketing, Media & Signage (still paused until we backfill a role) - To raise the profile of Castlefield within the city, to develop our own events and contribute to events organised by others [note that we are now able to nudge this along with our presence at the Landowners Forum which began life in March 2024 and meets 3 times a year) - To increase financial self-reliance for the Forum by developing Castlefield’s marketing potential, - including improving our website - To extend our programme of replacing damaged and out-of-date signage by producing new interpretative signs for new locations throughout the area ## Social Media Join us as a member by contacting - info@ourcastlefield.co.uk (opt out at any time) or visit our socials: 23/24 Forum Facebook Group Castlefield Forum | Facebook Instagram Castlefield Forum (@castlefieldforum) • Instagram photos and videos On X Castlefield Forum (@OurCastlefield) / X Clean & Green Group Clean & Green Castlefield | Facebook On X Clean & Green Castlefield (@CGCastlefield) / X ## Administration Address: 73 Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4AQ Independent Examiner: Dan Coles FCCA Bank: Co-operative Bank, Manchester - - - Ends - - - 24/24