Tag: localism

Talking about our devolution: what people told us about the deal

With all that’s happened since June, it’s easy to forget that there’s a big decision ahead about how the West of England runs its affairs.

The devolution deal for ‘greater Bristol’ won’t set most people’s pulses racing. But ask those who live and work here what’s important to them and many will say housing, transport, education, jobs or a combination of the above. As it happens, the West of England’s deal is geared towards addressing all of these issues.

On the table is £1bn to invest over 30 years in housing, transport and skills. Post #EUref, when ‘taking back control’ swayed views about our country’s future, handing responsibility for these issues to local areas seems an obvious step.

It’s probably worth five minutes’ of everyone’s time in the scheme of things.

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Devolution deal or no deal?

Bristol

“This [deal] puts us in the Premiership in terms of major city regions in the UK. It’s going to be good for the whole population in terms of jobs, housing and transport.

“It also addresses some of the issues such as poverty, fairness and equality.”

Bristol’s elected mayor George Ferguson, 16 March 2016.

A conversation about how the West of England can take control of its destiny may be starting to happen. And not before time.

After years of discussions, a devolution deal with Government promises to give the area’s local authorities more power over important issues like housing, transport, planning and skills. If ratified, it would unlock £1bn for local growth projects and provide councils with clout to make a bigger difference in these areas.

But there’s a sticking point for some that could derail the deal before it gets going. The government wants to see a ‘metro mayor’, who would chair a combined authority to oversee a joined-up response to the way these major matters are managed. Given the level of concern about this, it’s not certain that all councils will sign off on the deal.

This presents a potentially embarrassing situation where the councils who have shaped the deal on the table may reject it in the final event.

It raises serious questions about how the West of England can build on its success as other areas steam ahead.

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City Deals: big news outside London

An aerial shot of housing in Bristol, with views of the cityscape and the River Avon

I’ve been following the news in my car and online today for reaction to the Government’s City Deals announcement, which hands more powers to some of England’s largest metropolitan areas outside London.

These deals for Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester will see them take on new responsibilities and, in some cases, form new bodies which aim to drive growth and create thousands of new jobs in their areas.

If the recent mayoral referenda acts as any yardstick, then a story about boosting city economies does not excite the London-centric media, despite the fact that England’s eight core cities have more than 17m residents and generate around 25% of the country’s wealth.

And, true to form, the response from the national media seems to have been to play it straight or not at all (I had to dig around some websites amongst stories about Bob Diamond and cuts to the Army, also announced today, to find any coverage on this).

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Looking at real life localism

Localism project in High Bickington, Devon

I spent yesterday in the village of High Bickginton, which hosts the best  example of localism in action I have seen.

Villagers are driving forward a fantastic development – by local people, for local people. It is set to deliver affordable housing, workspace, employment opportunities and community facilities.

I was there with a colleague, supporters of the project and a journalist from Planning magazine who is writing a feature on High Bickington. I hope this highlights how local action and partnership working can deliver the amenities communities are calling for.

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Don’t bet the house on an end to complex council finance

An aerial shot of housing in Bristol, with views of the cityscape and the River Avon

Councils who call for an end to the fiendishly complex system that takes money from their housing departments payments to fund them elsewhere are getting closer to their goal.

The Government today ‘fired the starting gun’ on its proposals to end the contentious Housing Revenue Account (HRA) system by publishing details of how it intends to do it.

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‘Town hall pravdas’ or keeping people informed?

The recent decision by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee to reject Eric Pickles‘ proposals to restrict the publication of council newspapers has reopened a debate on the role such publications should play.

Waging war on council newsletters in London

In one corner is the Government, which is strongly critical of councils spending public funds on ‘town hall pravdas’ that they see as little better than propaganda magazines.

They are supported by regional and local newspaper publishers who cite them as a threat to their businesses because some charge advertising rates and publish weekly editions, putting them in direct competition with their papers. Publications like H&F News and East End Life (both published by London authorities) are cited of evidence of this trend.

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