I want to support the guest blog by Cllr Paul Watson (posted on Nadia and Stacey's EG Focus blog) in respect of the Centre for Cities Report.
UKR has a terrific working relationship with Centre for Cites, whom we've always regarded as close friends and colleagues. We rely heavily on their data for our analysis (and this has become ever-more critical now we're gearing up to place inward investment around the UK). But we were a bit disappointed this time around with the Report, which was comprised solely of bald statistics and had no analysis attached at all. We understand the need for purity around the numbers and the indices (or Dr Evans does, at least), but a bit of interpretation is needed surely? Markets were ever about sentiment, as well as numbers, and this is only one reason why we in UKR feel we must come out in support of Sunderland.
It is fairly open knowledge that UKR is working closely with Sunderland. Why, you ask? Why, when you have so much to prove with UKR? Why, when you have to establish "proof of concept" for your model in the first place, to imbue market confidence? Why, in circumstances when the market is jittery in any case, would you wish to work with a city in the North East of England? Well, I will tell you why. And there are a number of very good reasons.
UKR has a terrific working relationship with Centre for Cites, whom we've always regarded as close friends and colleagues. We rely heavily on their data for our analysis (and this has become ever-more critical now we're gearing up to place inward investment around the UK). But we were a bit disappointed this time around with the Report, which was comprised solely of bald statistics and had no analysis attached at all. We understand the need for purity around the numbers and the indices (or Dr Evans does, at least), but a bit of interpretation is needed surely? Markets were ever about sentiment, as well as numbers, and this is only one reason why we in UKR feel we must come out in support of Sunderland.
It is fairly open knowledge that UKR is working closely with Sunderland. Why, you ask? Why, when you have so much to prove with UKR? Why, when you have to establish "proof of concept" for your model in the first place, to imbue market confidence? Why, in circumstances when the market is jittery in any case, would you wish to work with a city in the North East of England? Well, I will tell you why. And there are a number of very good reasons.
First, they are a proactive and responsive local authority (as was demonstrated - QED - by that guest blog alone). We enjoy a close working relationship with Cllr Watson, who works very hard and who is deeply committed to his community, and with Dave Smith, his very fine CEO, and their excellent officers. Close readers of this blog will know that a proactive and responsive local authority is a sine qua non for a UKR project.
Secondly, Sunderland is open for business: it is home to Nissan, of course, and others, it has won an EZ and it has now had the go-ahead for the New Wear Crossing (and there's a host of other attributes and achievements that Cllr Watson describes far better than I could, in his excellent guest blog).
Thirdly, Sunderland City Council owns a huge amount of land and can be creative in how they play it in, to creatively stimulate projects (and they've retained Jones Lang LaSalle to work with them on all this). A cynic might argue that they were cruelly subject to a failure by the URC there over the last ten years (there is a long fraught story there) or indeed you might argue, as I do, that they had a lucky escape.
Either way, it means they can now leverage up the fourth reason (and the most compelling by far) that UKR wishes to be in Sunderland - and that is the extraordinary untapped potential of the Stadium of Light. How many regeneration projects over the past 20 years have seen getting a facility of this sort in their patch as the holy grail? And Sunderland has just such a thing already there: a huge world-class stadium, capable of competing on a global stage, not only for football but also for entertainment. The only such facility in the whole of the North East of England. Stories abound about Take That spending £15m on a stage set for four nights in the Stadium of Light. Big money visits Sunderland on a regular basis. Posh people drop £250 each for tickets to these major concerts and then have to travel 50 miles afterwards to find a decent hotel room.
And the City Council, together with the HCA, owns much of the land around the Stadium. Think about that. And of course, even in this market, exciting plans are coming forward with smart hoteliers and others (and UKR of course), as corralled by Alan J Smith of Red Box Design who is, by a sort of consensual shimmy, seen by all as the design champion (and devout football supporter) of Sunderland. Blimey! He is even forgiven for the fact that his practice is based in Newcastle.
As Cllr Watson says, so very admirably, in his blog: "To be frank, we are not interested in being compared to London - we are more interested in ensuring we continue to secure the economic development necessary for the city to continue its growth" (and he thereby puts his finger on the fact that CfC measures 64 cites, only one of which is London).
No, along with fixing the London-loading problem, Centre for Cities needs to factor in a line for "huge potential" in time for their Report for 2013. Re-visit Sunderland, guys, and take a proper look. UKR is in full support of Cllr Watson and his mission for growth. Sunderland has shedloads going for it, and we will be cheering when it surprises you all.
Secondly, Sunderland is open for business: it is home to Nissan, of course, and others, it has won an EZ and it has now had the go-ahead for the New Wear Crossing (and there's a host of other attributes and achievements that Cllr Watson describes far better than I could, in his excellent guest blog).
Thirdly, Sunderland City Council owns a huge amount of land and can be creative in how they play it in, to creatively stimulate projects (and they've retained Jones Lang LaSalle to work with them on all this). A cynic might argue that they were cruelly subject to a failure by the URC there over the last ten years (there is a long fraught story there) or indeed you might argue, as I do, that they had a lucky escape.
Either way, it means they can now leverage up the fourth reason (and the most compelling by far) that UKR wishes to be in Sunderland - and that is the extraordinary untapped potential of the Stadium of Light. How many regeneration projects over the past 20 years have seen getting a facility of this sort in their patch as the holy grail? And Sunderland has just such a thing already there: a huge world-class stadium, capable of competing on a global stage, not only for football but also for entertainment. The only such facility in the whole of the North East of England. Stories abound about Take That spending £15m on a stage set for four nights in the Stadium of Light. Big money visits Sunderland on a regular basis. Posh people drop £250 each for tickets to these major concerts and then have to travel 50 miles afterwards to find a decent hotel room.
And the City Council, together with the HCA, owns much of the land around the Stadium. Think about that. And of course, even in this market, exciting plans are coming forward with smart hoteliers and others (and UKR of course), as corralled by Alan J Smith of Red Box Design who is, by a sort of consensual shimmy, seen by all as the design champion (and devout football supporter) of Sunderland. Blimey! He is even forgiven for the fact that his practice is based in Newcastle.
As Cllr Watson says, so very admirably, in his blog: "To be frank, we are not interested in being compared to London - we are more interested in ensuring we continue to secure the economic development necessary for the city to continue its growth" (and he thereby puts his finger on the fact that CfC measures 64 cites, only one of which is London).
No, along with fixing the London-loading problem, Centre for Cities needs to factor in a line for "huge potential" in time for their Report for 2013. Re-visit Sunderland, guys, and take a proper look. UKR is in full support of Cllr Watson and his mission for growth. Sunderland has shedloads going for it, and we will be cheering when it surprises you all.
There has been a healthy discussion about Cities Outlook 2012 in Estates Gazette this year. For those of you who missed it, Cities Outlook is Centre for Cities’ annual health check of UK cities and urban areas. It is an overview of how cities are faring across a range of different indicators and its role is to measure the economic performance of cities over the past year. The report is a tool for cities and national government, to help places understand the fundamentals of their economies; to help them assess how they have changed since the previous year, to take advantage of their strengths and to meet their challenges.
At Centre for Cities we really value feedback from our colleagues on our work. So we were interested to read our good friend Jackie Sadek’s blog, (Centre for Cities should revisit Sunderland, 30 January 2012) and I thought it would be useful to clarify a few points further to this post.
Most importantly, we all seem to be in agreement that Sunderland is a great city with potential. We’ve been working with Sunderland too, identifying opportunities to bring forward development in the city, so we know how committed the council is to harnessing the city’s potential for growth. The fact that the city is also working with IBM and UK Regeneration demonstrates how hard it is working to take advantage of business opportunities.
But Cities Outlook is not about a detailed picture of each city. Its role is to respond to the bigger picture and assess how different UK cities are likely to be affected by changes in the national economic climate. This year the backdrop of limited national growth, continued turmoil in the Eurozone and further cuts in the public sector means that unemployment will be one of the most significant challenges facing cities in 2012. Against measures such as business start-ups, high skilled residents and private sector jobs growth – indicators which suggest how well placed cities are to offset the contraction of the public sector – cities like Sunderland are more vulnerable to further increases in unemployment.
Over 2012 the Centre for Cities will continue to investigate how all cities can improve their economic performance in our more analytical reports. And we’ll continue to argue that it is precisely because Sunderland has opportunities as well as challenges that it is one of the places needing some extra support from government to overcome these hurdles. But even without that support it’s clear that the city will be proactive about making the most of any investment opportunities.
We know that Sunderland City Council has big plans for the city and Centre for Cities is behind them all the way.
Alexandra Jones is Chief Executive of Centre for Cities