'I get the final say on what gets built in Manchester - and even I can't afford to buy in the city centre'

When Sir Richard Leese became Manchester's council leader in 1996, Jon-Connor Lyons was still in the womb. Now, the 26-year-old Labour councillor from Newton Heath will have the final say on what gets built across the city.

The city centre councillor is set to be the youngest person to run the council's planning committee, overseeing major decisions that will shape Manchester's future. He spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about how he intends to use this influence, what he wants to see built across the city in the years to come and where he thinks the town hall has got it wrong in the past.

A highly-respected local government leader, Sir Richard Leese oversaw the city centre's transformation during his 25-year tenure in the top town hall job, leaving a rapidly rising skyline as his legacy when he resigned in late 2021. But, in more recent years, Manchester council has recognised that the city needs more affordable housing.

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First elected in 2018, Jon-Connor says he and other more recent arrivals on the council have successfully pushed the town hall to take this issue more seriously. Now, in his new role, he wants to hold developers to account too.

The Piccadilly ward councillor, who describes himself politically as 'soft left', has been selected as the new chair of the planning committee which means he will run the meetings where the biggest development decisions are made – and, for the most contentious ones, when the votes are tied, he will have the final say. The chair's casting vote was only used once during the four years Coun Basil Curley held the post and only once under David Ellison before him.

But Jon-Connor intends to use his