Greater Manchester - 100 Resilient Cities

Greater Manchester’s Resilience Story

Home to 2.71 million people, Greater Manchester has a unique model of governance within the UK that enables more unified urban management in areas including skills development, transport, and economic development. Although its economy and population continue to grow, the city is challenged by pronounced poverty and joblessness. City leadership hopes to grow the urban economy by focusing on employee skills training and the promotion of an enterprise culture to challenge social norms that foster dependence.

Greater Manchester faces an environmental challenge in the form of rainfall flooding, which has the potential to disrupt government services and damage crucial infrastructure. Deprived communities living in flood risk areas are at the greatest risk, and already face a growing economic burden in the form of higher insurance premiums. Greater coordination among local authorities has increased the city’s ability to respond effectively to emergencies, while partnerships with public and private stakeholders have helped the city better identify the potential impacts of climate change.

SHOCKS AND STRESSES

Aging Infrastructure
Disease Outbreak
Hazardous Materials Accident
Inadequate Public Transportation Systems
Poverty
Rainfall Flooding
Shifting Macroeconomic Trends
Terrorist Attack

Meet The Chief Resilience Officer

Kathryn Oldham is the Chief Resilience Officer for Greater Manchester, appointed in June 2017.

Prior to this she was Head of Civil Contingencies & Resilience for Greater Manchester’s 10 local authorities. In 2011 she led the transformation of the way in which disaster risk reduction is delivered across Greater Manchester through the design and creation of a shared service for Greater Manchester’s 10 local authorities. This specialist unit provides expert civil contingencies services to local government including in the areas of health protection, disaster risk reduction, emergency management and recovery. The unit offers a year round emergency response service, ensuring Greater Manchester’s local authorities always have access to disaster management expertise.

Kathryn led Greater Manchester’s participation in the United Nation’s (UNISDR) Making Cities Resilient Campaign in which the UN has recognised the city region as one of only 54 role model cities worldwide. She also led Greater Manchester’s successful bid to join the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities network in 2016. Kathryn is an expert advisor on emergency planning for the Local Government Association and is a member of SOLACE’s civil contingencies and community safety group.

Kathryn has varied and extensive experience in the public sector. Previously she has managed a wide range of local government services including being Assistant Director with responsibilities for Manchester’s historic civic buildings, heading up facilities management services for the Town Hall complex, leading finance and service improvement teams for Manchester Council and managing diverse services across Manchester’s public housing stock.

Kathryn holds a medical degree, qualifying with the University of Manchester, and has received national awards for business continuity planning together with her role in planning for the Olympic Games in 2012.