Recently in EGi Category

I must apologise for the radio silence these past few days. I haven't been on holiday or ill or anything. I am just, I guess like so many of our countrymen and women, so... well.... so very distracted by it all.
 
It isn't just the actual games (of which I have the most hazy understanding) or the spectacle of the Olympics, although these are compelling enough: the heroics of Ennis, Murray and Bolt, the surprise results, Super Saturday, the medal tables, and so forth; it is also what it has done for the national morale, the commentary on the Twitter feed (these are the first "Twitter Olympics" I guess), the display of national pride normally so alien to the British psyche; the nuances of what it says about Britain and our culture.

My congratulations (yet again!) are due to Nottingham.  This time because the city has won an award as a "top 10 city in Europe and ranked as a leading European city of the future" according to new research from FDI Intelligence (aka the Financial Times to thee and me). Apparently, the rather grand sounding "FDI European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/13", which is produced every two years, reveals that in terms of human resources, Nottingham is the second-best micro-city in Europe. Just behind Oxford, which is in the top slot.  

I have been having a slightly tumultuous week. On Tuesday I managed to get locked on the roof of Urban and Civic (I kid you not) with Robin Butler and Tim Leathes. We had walked out onto the decking of the roof terrace to gossip about the neighbours when the door slammed shut in the wind. We all three had to lean over the railing and bellow in unison to attract the attention of Catherine in the office below (mercifully her window was open) to come and rescue us. And I suffer from vertigo! Could have been very serious that (but Robin had already had his blues guitar lesson that morning so the timing wasn't too disastrous). Needless to say, it caused much merriment.

 

Didn't last long! Of course the entire London community (and many others from elsewhere I guess; the LGA mob for starters) this week is recoiling in shock at the dreadful news of the sudden death of Simon Milton. What a terribly sad thing to have happened. Notwithstanding that Simon was a lovely man (always unfailingly kind to me, despite the fact that, when he was at Westminster and I was at Paddington, I had been a major irritant on numerous occasions) this will deal a pretty powerful body blow to London governance. As one of my correspondents put it rather pithily "it really leaves Boris in the s--t on the sensibleness front" and this certainly is the consensus abroad. I understand the funeral was yesterday. It will have been a deeply sad occasion.  It is very very sad to lose such a gentle and decent and competent public servant.  And it is very sad to lose yet another friend, both personally and professionally. 

 

I was pleased to accept an invitation from Kent county council leader Paul Carter to the briefing on the Sandwich economic development task force report at the House of Commons this week. I was only marginally late (well, I mean to say guys, 8.30am in Committee Room 14 is a little ungodly! And, of course, I had to get the bairns out for school first) but I was extremely glad that I'd made the effort.
 
The task force has published its initial report to HM Government, covering the first 30 days of its work. And a very impressive document it is too. They've totally immersed themselves in finding solutions to the withdrawal of Pfizer from east Kent and have undertaken much activity, including visiting Runcorn to look at the splendid work done there since the withdrawal of ICI; Paul Carter described this visit as "inspirational". Of course, the experience gleaned from there is invaluable best practice in retaining a cluster of Contract Research Organisations (CROs). Runcorn has more jobs on site now than it did in ICI's heyday, and they've proven that this can provide a positive basis around which further economic activity and job opportunities can be generated.

Paul Carter was deeply authoritative in laying out his full report, showing his mastery of the subject (he clearly has thought of nothing else since the news broke; I bet he doesn't sleep at night). David Willets, science minister, said a few words in support, as did the local MPs Laura Sandys (in whose constituency the site lies) and Charlie Elphicke from the neighbouring seat. Laura Sandys is pretty and energetic and looks like she could animate and enthuse any project; rather a good person to have as constituency MP for an area in total transition, I'd have thought. I was encouraged by her.

At one point, a member of the press asked what the national strategy was for retaining pharmaceutical companies in the UK; Paul Carter responded, rather amusingly, by saying that was "above his pay grade" and deferred to David Willets; Mr Willets gave a response which seemed very elegant but, to my untutored ear, a little short on specific proposals. But he's uber-smart, of course; perhaps I was just too stupid to understand what he was saying.

The very best bit in the task force's initial report is the introduction of a variant on the Enterprise Zone idea for Sandwich. The task force is calling for a RITZ: a research, innovation & technology zone. I think this is unbelievably clever; actually, I think this is totally inspired.

It is a bit of a relief to break off from frantic preparations for MIPIM or, worse still, from trying to second-guess the budget, to work in partnership with the Oral History Society on their conference to be held at the University of Sunderland on 1 and 2 July entitled "Creation, Destruction, Memory: Oral history and regeneration". (By the way, did you see in EGi this morning that the Work Foundation and the Centre for Cities argue, in separate reports, that the "government's potential scheme to revive enterprise zones is likely to be costly and ineffective unless there are drastic changes to the 1980s model"? What is going on? Last time I spoke to the lovely Nigel Hugill, we had a full-on-in-support conversation about EZs; I am seeing him this week so I undertake to get to the bottom of all of this and report back to you.)
 
The OHS are balm to a troubled soul, with their fine culture of listening and thinking properly about things. I am grateful to them for alighting on the theme of regeneration, at a time when the subject is hardly the height of fashion. Shows fortitude, I reckon. Of course, over the years, oral history's contribution to regeneration has ranged from it being used as a tool to encourage or improve community engagement and participation to inspiring pride in a local area or reaffirming or creating cultural identity. Its role, however, has so far been ill defined and ad hoc, and remains unexplored both in theory and in practice. The OHS international conference will explore the various uses and role of oral history in urban and rural regeneration as well as its unrecorded and potential contribution.
 
And it will be rooted in experience. The highlight, at least for me, will be the keynote interview: Roger Madelin of Argent in conversation with Alan Dein (freelance BBC Radio documentary feature presenter and pukka oral historian). Funnily enough, my money is on this being a little more expletive-deleted than the Madelin we see at MIPIM! Roger will, of course, be interviewed on the strong track record that Argent has in major developments and city centre regeneration including King's Cross, London; Piccadilly in Manchester; and Brindleyplace in Birmingham. He will tell his tales of over a decade of listening to people and absorbing their ideas and aspirations at King's Cross, in particular. And Alan Dein is the man for the job, of course, as he was the oral historian at King's Cross Voices.