August 2011 Archives

Well it is a funny old world. We had an excellent breakfast at Barclays Capital this morning (there was a simply hilarious moment involving Brendan Jarvis and some poached eggs, which I would relay if I could, but really you needed to be there) and I'm thrilled to say we're all systems go on UKR projects, which says a lot about the commitment of BarCap given the macro-economic picture.

But it has to be said that we were acutely aware that the money folk are (naturally) very frazzled about the markets going to hell in a handbag over the last few weeks. I dunno really. It is very strange (for me) to have joined this extraordinary new world at such a moment of crisis. And it's enough to make you revisit your schoolgirl Marxism really.
 
I had a good look around north Spain when I was there last week to see if there were any signs of the country going bust, but things there seemed to be pretty comfortable and fully functional to me. I'd have said it was business as usual. Folks were still setting in for the long haul on those things that matter in this world (ie, lunch) and nobody seemed remotely anxious or concerned.

I thought I was choosing a quiet time of year to go away, notwithstanding the markets crashing around our ears just as I (an elderly woman who you might think ought to know better) step up to the plate to become "big money" for the first time in my career. And, it has to be said, when the news of the UK riots came in, it came across as more than a tad surreal in my Spanish idyll in the Santander bay (and bless you for asking, yes it was pretty overcast for much of the time but we still managed to have a lovely holiday. Thank you. I find it doesn't actually rain much inside Spanish restaurants. I have only gone up two dress sizes). But clearly nobody anticipated Anarchy in The UK (as Johnny Rotten would know it) with serious disruption breaking out in London and other major cities. Blow me down!
 
And it was seriously sad and poignant to see such echoes of the past on the Spanish television screens. We (UKR) knew we'd have to put out some sort of statement in view of the fact that the famous 1981 Heseltine "It took a Riot" paper to Cabinet (when he urged a programme of government engagement and intervention in urban areas in response to the riots in Toxteth and Brixton) was really the start point for much of the regeneration work, as we have come to know and love (sic) it, over the past 30 years. So we knew we just had to stand up on this. And it was just a weenie bit unfortunate (ha ha ha) that I left Dr Evans holding the baby (and doing all the work).

I am now on holiday in Santander (the place, not the bank where Susan Geddes is still the head of property). I'll be back in the office on 22 August.   

Greg Clark is certainly a busy bee. At the beginning of last week, BOTH Mr Cameron AND nice Mr Clegg asked Mr Clark to take on the role of Minister for Cities, in addition to his existing responsibilities. He (Gregory) professes himself "thrilled" to be thus appointed (anointed?). But when will he sleep? We need to know! Apparently, he will also become a Minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and will report directly to the Secretary of State for Business, as well as the Secretary of State for Communities (two bosses huh! Very matrix management, I must say!) And I don't know what the collective noun is for hats, but Greg Clark these days has nearly as many as can be found on the ground floor of Harvey Nicks.  

Then on Friday last, Mr Clark (at that precise moment, in his guise as local government minister, but it must all be very confusing) wrote to all councils setting out the new "planning guarantee". In a bold move, he has "guaranteed" that no planning application will be stuck in limbo for more than a year. Apparently, more than 3,000 UK applications have taken over a year to be dealt with over the last financial year. Someone from CB Richard Ellis was quoted as saying there was no reason why any application should take longer than three months and, while this is quite right for more than 90% of cases, of course, "guarantee" is a strong word.  Still, you can't fault the bold thinking. And this move will only support the boost that is being offered to UK cities through this joint appointment between BIS and CLG.  
 

I had a lot of favourable comment concerning my blog last week on the Fashion Hub for the Olympics Park, but most of it was off the record and anonymous (ie, rude and anti-establishment). This is pretty much representative of the tone: "Well done for sticking one on the ODA (this week of all weeks) - the priority (and incentives/huge bonuses) for on time/on budget crushed much in its wake, not just jobs and skills, but legacy on venue design.  Let's be honest, the MPC is a bloody drafty shed!"  Well! There are certainly a lot of disgruntled regeneration practitioners out there who've had a miserable brush with the powers-that-be at the ODA.
 
It will be interesting to see how things play out over the next year in PR terms with Londoners and the Olympics. David Aaronovitch (a person who I rather revere; he used to terrify the lights out of me, in a good way of course, when I was a nipper student politician) had an interesting piece in The Times last week recalling the nay-sayers of the mid noughties: "It'll be a story of rows and overruns; of money and mayhem," the columns ran, or "of a government with an inflexible deadline, limitless funds and the reputation of the country on the line being held hostage by a construction industry notorious for delays and inefficiency". Or, even, the Olympics "promises nothing but a litany of hell for ministers from now until 2012. This project is becoming a grotesque monument to the incompetence of modern British government." And, as he reminds us, it wasn't just the hacks and the pundits who held this view, the chatterati were right there with them.