Think tank highlights top priorities for Greater Manchester's new metro mayor

Manchester city centre is the city-region's economic hub, but traffic congestion is hampering commuters, public transport and businesses, and is restricting the city-region's economic growth.

Introducing a congestion charge would help address that problem, and could also generate funding to improve public transport in less well-connected parts of Greater Manchester - for example, by subsidising more frequent bus routes in places like Rochdale."

Moving quickly to implement the spatial plan will show that the new mayor is ready to take bold decisions to make Greater Manchester a better place to live and work, and will also offer local authorities and developers certainty on plans for the city-region.

That should include, for example, addressing the high demand for housing in areas such as Altrincham, Wythenshawe and Stockport, and tackling the squeeze on office-space in the city centre, where so many businesses want to locate.

Greater Manchester's metro mayor will have unique powers over the city-region's health and social care budget, which will enable them to act strategically to address the need for care across the city-region.

They should use these powers to ease the pressure on areas where there is particularly high demand for social care, and to make best use of the funding available by making efficiency savings where possible.

They should also consider how they can grow the social care budget - for example, by raising council tax."