July 2009 Archives

Shadow communities and local government minister Caroline Spelman (pictured right) genuinely gives the impression of someone who cares about her brief and is on top of it.

Of course, she had this brief before, in Michael Howard's Shadow Team, before giving it up to be party chair in 2007, so she's got form.

But she seems very well read and very well informed. Moreover, she seems to be genuinely committed to the devolution of power from central to local government and - crucially - also to believe that David Cameron is the first Conservative leader who truly believes in such devolution.

When asked to comment on housing minister John Healey's, recent moves towards offering councils greater autonomy, she was recently quoted as saying: "It is entirely consistent with localism. We should have faith in our local authorities, the vast majority of which are well run."

Hmmmmm. Well let's hope she can deliver this devolution agenda! I've worked with some truly brilliant local government officers (and of course I've worked with some complete duds) and a well-run and proactive local authority is, indeed, a complete joy.

But one thing is for sure, I have never known a central administration devolve power to local government. Not really. Not in over 25 years of working in the regeneration sector. Quite the opposite in fact.

I am lucky enough to live in a fairly sizable semi in West London but my house is now almost completely given over to recycling.

About six months ago, the London borough in which I reside had a complete rush of blood to the head.

They delivered several (seven I think) containers of different sizes and shapes: there's a big blue bag for paper, a big green basket thing for garden waste, a large white sack for plastics, two different sized bins-with-lids for food and the traditional green box for the rest. Oh, and black sacks for "normal weekly collection".

Well it's all very laudable in intent I must say, but have we all gone completely mad?

Every Wednesday morning, four or five refuse trucks of one sort or another get wedged behind each other in my suburban street as they compete to pick up their own particular sort of rubbish.

The plastics collection is fortnightly (and alternates with the garden waste collection) which, alongside the slippage which occurs in a bank holiday week, means you have to have a Prince 2 diploma in project management just to remember what to put out on what day.

Sometimes there are strange, slightly bizarre, pleasures to be had from being part of a global corporate such as CB Richard Ellis, with over 300 offices worldwide (as they say: "Two thirds of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by us" WOW! You do get a sort of testosterone-surge don't you?)

I've been here over two years now, and am obviously now well-established on the e-mail system. Every morning I wake up to a fresh bout of company-wide e-mails clearly written in English (in the main) but, frankly, as opaque to me as those I receive written in German or Spanish.

This morning, alongside the "UK Debt Briefing" (and before the Research Department gets cross, I DO actually read these and learn things), is the inevitable: "The broker has elected to send this exclusive to the RCM1 broker database. This email is sent to the brokerage community at the request of our client. If you are not interested in receiving any future buy-side submissions, please unsubscribe below......".

The most successful homes in the UK were those built by the Victorians and the Edwardians utilizing what we would now call "design and build" methodology.

My own house, built in 1928, came out of a catalogue in kit form, and the original purchaser chose the finishes, such as the parquet flooring in the hall (a bit knackered these days but with a certain fading charm - and, after all, you'd be a bit knackered if you were 81 years old!).

My previous home (around the corner from my current one in fact) was the penultimate house built in a row by a different nameless developer - you could see that the money was running out as he worked his way down the street, ours at Number 12 had considerably less cornicing, dado rails and what-have-you than the rather top-of-the-range one at Number 2. All very human. All very charming.

My new grumpy-old-girl contention is that architects are the bane of the residential sector. A view that was rather fuelled recently by a splendid rant from Simon Jenkins in the Evening Standard over the Richard Rogers-Prince of Wales spat at Chelsea Barracks.

Jenkins says: "Architects here and elsewhere should be denied a claimed sovereignty over the design of the residential quarters of the capital. They should rather mediate the views of groups, local and metropolitan, residents present and future and those who take daily pleasure in the appearance of the city and feel entitled to be heard."

Tootled off to the Thames Gateway Parliamentary Reception Monday night over at the Institute of Civil Engineers (pictured right) in Great George Street, and quite wonderful to reconnect with everyone.

Always a good start to any party if you - at the very first off - bump into Alex King, Deputy Leader of Kent council and Andrew Bowles, Leader of Swale council. Plotting together naturally. Two more redoubtable politicians you could not care to meet. Quite formidable. They get things done.

A bit of joshing ensued of course and then we three were joined by the wondrous Stephen Jordan of London and Continental Railways - the supreme voice of reason in a world of regeneration madness.

He has kindly "joined" (press-ganged more like) my nominations committee for the BURA elections (which are currently underway, btw).

Always wonderful to see these guys, particularly when sparking off each other, always good value.

I have to say, the "localism" agenda could well be the saving of the Gateway: Stephen Castle, the lead member for regeneration for Essex County Council and Deputy Chairman of the Thames Gateway Essex Partnership made the best speech I have ever heard on the Thames Gateway (this is saying something, given how many years I've spent listening to speeches on the subject!) and seemingly without notes.

Blimey! It is a complete coup for Newham to secure the truly wondrous Clive Dutton OBE (pictured left), director of regeneration at Birmingham council, to take up the role of executive director for regeneration, planning and property  and work on the Olympic legacy for the much beleaguered borough.

I am delighted, both for Clive and for the people of East London.

I have to say that never in a million years would I have believed he could have been enticed away from Birmingham, where he had achieved so much and where he seemed like a pig in the proverbial.

Well done everyone. I know how long it took to fill this position (and how many head hunters came and went) and it is a right result. 

I've known Clive for years (although as it was his fault that I ended up becoming Chief Executive of one of Mr Prescott's ill-fated projects in the Thames Gateway, I really don't know why I still speak to him!) and he rather nobly sits on some of the BURA Awards panels - and has done for years.

One of the great things about becoming EG Regeneration blogger is the way it allows me to keep up with old friends.

I really was thrilled to hear from Brian Jenner (of Paddington days) again the other day. I had indeed forgotten that he had called for the erection of a bronze statue of me on the forecourt of Paddington Station.

However, he was also reported as kindly suggesting that "such was your appetite for an urban regeneration challenge, they should send you to Baghdad". 

It was very very funny then and it's nice to be reminded now, Brian, very nice indeed. And, btw, my mother thought the statue idea was an excellent one.

We've also gone international!  Wonderful to hear from my old mate Lee Swan (rather more grandly known as "Ashleigh Swan" on occasion).

Another difficult meeting of the South Kilburn Community Forum the other night and I am slightly despairing of finding a way through to deliver for the residents. Everyone got so very heated and acrimonious, we're wasting so much energy and we're putting many of the residents off ever getting involved which is just such a massive shame. There are so many good people there - my residents vice-chair, TC Ellison, is such a love (currently suffering with Swine Flu, poor lamb) and Cecilia John Charles is such a character (not so much a woman as an event) and I lurve lurve lurve Jackie Staples (if I've just blown your credibility Jack - or any of you others - by associating myself with you in public, then I do apologise). And then there's folk like Peter Jones who gives me a bit of a hard time in the Kilburn Times (with Andy Ace Reporter there) but who clearly know his onions, and commands such respect. And I do want to work with these people.

Needless to say we are giving much thought as to what BURA should be calling for from the next administration in the run up to the general election - in the "more for less" Britain.
In planning for our Annual Conference in November, we believe there may well be scope to seek a new version of the "City Challenge" programme with which many BURA members had a good experience (and, more importantly, a successful regeneration outcome) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We believe it plays well to the need to harness local resources effectively (and even chimes with the oft-mentioned "localism" agenda) and doesn't simply reward localities for having "multiple indices of deprivation".

Have heard a couple of really good stories recently from some of my local authority moles (I have my spies everywhere you know, nobody is safe).....

A vexatious resident is convinced of maladministration in his local City Council. He is not sure where to turn so eventually plucks up courage to call the council switchboard and asks for the person responsible for dealing with whistle blowing. He was not a little surprised when the department he had been put through to answered: "Public Health, Noise Abatement Team"...

Now here's a thing. Boris's pronouncements on space standards. This has the makings of a shambles.

Small units were a market reaction to expensive land (requiring the highest number of units in order to make any scheme stack up) and a rampant investment market for flats. Add to this, the local authorities needing as much housing as possible to meet their targets and encouraging density 'in the right places'. Indeed, at the affordable threshold, many councils have 'capable-of' policies where they can refuse schemes providing oversized units that conspire to keep the figure below the affordable housing policy threshold.

So, the Mayor sets the political agenda at 'big units'. Said Boris: "Don't think of coming to me with these Homes for Hobbits" (he does have a wonderful way with words!). So, Parker Morris +10% is the new minimum, according to the Mayor and the London Plan. All very laudable in intent I must say.

Wonderful to hear from my old friend, Brian Jenner, on the blog. Hello there Brian! And thank you for your reading tip; I shall certainly seek out "Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-First-Century City" (Paperback) by Anna Minton - which you recommend as focusing on the counter view of the so-called "regeneration" projects. Clearly, there will be a total deconstruction.

Brian has always kept me on my toes. When I was domiciled with my team at the Paddington Regeneration Partnership on Platform One at Paddington Station (never ever had such a great address ever again) our Brian was the local-resident-with-attitude. He was variously described as a "thorn in the side" or "grit in the oyster" (depending on which of us was talking about him) when he was a self-appointed local commentator at Padders. I think it's safe to say that he was fairly vociferous in his opinions on the developments at Paddington Waterside and pioneered the way in electronic-based community consultation methods, with his "NewsPad" e-news letter (very ahead of its time 10 years ago). Every so often he would write something hilarious about me, either slagging off my "hanging round the water cooler" style of urban regeneration management (a bit vicious but completely fair - made me roar with laughter at the time, and still does) or grassing me up for having been spotted at the cosmetics counter in John Lewis (or was it Michele?), but in the main, he was usually on-the-money (as you can see from his comment) and he could certainly write, having worked at the Daily Telegraph. He used to bang on about his "journalistic integrity" quite a lot; we once pointed out (rather waspishly I now think, but he could be a royal pain) that he wasn't working on the Watergate break ins. But he never havered or wavered, despite such slights. And every large scale project needs a Brian.

Now you may have noticed that it's not often that I find it difficult to take a view on an issue. I don't find sitting on the fence to be a particularly comfortable place to be. I much prefer to get to a position as quickly as possible and then go all out to win people around and drive it through.

But I must admit that the current debate that's underway about public sector pay is truly exercising me. Everyone appears to agree that we have no money and that public sector expenditure will have to reduce - the levels of reduction vary, dependent on where you sit on the political spectrum. I've already highlighted that the CIPD are predicting major job losses (600,000) in the public sector. All major political parties are talking about maximising productivity and efficiency and minimising waste. Some major expenditure programmes will be under severe scrutiny and rightly so. Do we need them? Do they offer value for money? Can we afford them?

The view recently expressed by Steve Bundred CEO of the National Audit Office - that there should be a pay freeze across the public sector - might make sense on one level. Gut reaction is that these people are lucky to have jobs and they are immune from the pressures and uncertainties of the commercial sector. But this is plainly wrong. Most public servants that I know work incredibly hard under enormous pressure. Job security in any sector is something that has truly been consigned to history. Curiously, the sense that pay in the private sector has been frozen may be totally ill informed. The organization that monitors pay, Income Data Services (IDS), reports that two thirds of people in the private sector have recently been awarded between 1% and 4% increases or more (clearly not so in the property sector, but hey!).

I've always had a huge soft spot for Bradford.

This isn't just because I am such an admirer of Tony Reeves, the hugely energetic and passionate chief executive of the city council and BURA Board member (although of course I am), and it isn't just because I love the variety and texture of the huge number of listed buildings (although of course I do), and it isn't just because I've had some memorable curries and some memorable evenings there (although of course I have).

I love it for its resilience, can-do attitude, quirky character and sense of humour (see below!).

And congratulations on becoming UNESCO City of Film too, this year. Richly deserved for all of the reasons already mentioned !

Am still singing (sic) all the old Neil Young tunes from Saturday night. My rendering of I've seen the needle and the damage done is I am told, particularly painful (and very effective at clearing the family out of the kitchen and getting a bit of peace for a cup of coffee).

Tom Dobson e-mailed me to say how much he enjoyed the blog (so that's FOUR people who read it now Andy. So ner de ner! And just what is the TEN group precisely?) and how "you won't be surprised to hear that I also checked out the view line to Paddington" (of course he was at the Killers on the Friday and the Springsteen concert on the Sunday).

Bless. Well he worked on Padders with me, naturally (as indeed did half the development community in London). In fact it was his job number projections (the Hunt Dobson Stringer work showed 30,000 for the entire scheme built out) that gave me the ammunition I needed to play hard ball with my friends at Job Centre Plus.

Often people ask me for a "primer" or an "idiot's guide" that they can read to get a quick 'n' dirty feel for urban regeneration.

I've been asked this more so recently - in response to these troubled times I guess. It's a tough call.

As you would expect, I always make all my students and the APC (Assessment of Professional Competence) graduates at CBRE read Jane Jacobs' great book The Death and Life of Great American Cities which is almost the philosophical underpinning of genuine regeneration in itself.

There is also the seminal work by Christopher Alexander The Timeless Way of Building. Both of these books are old (written decades ago), deeply cerebral and very philosophical in nature.

People ask me for examples of good regeneration projects in the UK and I always cite Paddington Waterside (pictured left). Of course I am disgracefully biased, having invented the regeneration partnership there, and led it for six years.

The purist lobby within BURA would (and do) say that Paddington isn't strictly a regeneration project and is more properly defined as a property development project.

But I would argue that: the site had been blighted for decades (and had, you will remember, completely done for Trafalgar House); British Waterways had sold the land there three times (nice work if you can get it Mr Bensted); and - crucially - we would never have got the development away and attracted the level of private sector investment it eventually did, even in a rising market, had it not been for the fact that we firmly adopted a partnership approach, predicated on best practice in urban generation.