Recently in Local Enterprise Partnerships Category

I was invited to speak at the National Planning Forum at the Local Government Association yesterday on the theme "What next for planning?".  Honestly! It was another of those "What would I know?" moments.  I shouldn't really have accepted the invitation, but I do like the cerebral planning mob, and my ego got the better of me (flattery will get you anywhere, as you well know, Mike Hayes). 

I was pleased to hear our own EG regeneration commissioner Graham Chapman, Nottingham city council deputy leader (and cabinet member for regeneration) on the Radio 4 Today programme yesterday giving a spirited defence of the city centre, as the sixth most popular out-of-London shopping destination in the UK (CACI data). A furore has been started by the Local Data Company which published a report yesterday saying Nottingham city centre has a vacancy rate of more than 30%, which would give it the highest void rate in the country!  

The Daily Telegraph this morning carries the headline "Eric Pickles will tempt the builders back to work on 200,000 new homes" and the story reads that ministers are to "help" developers in cases "where planning permission has been granted but construction has been stalled".  The "help" seems to consist of talking to local authorities about renegotiating unaffordable s106 agreements.


Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I started a hare running with my (admittedly somewhat intemperate) remarks about Tower Hamlets a few days ago. I have had a huge response to this, both in public and in private - mostly in private, and mostly supportive of my spluttering sense of exasperation. I am particularly grateful to the last post on this blog from Phil, who offers the voice of reason in all of this. 

It is a febrile and fraught environment east of Bishopsgate, and no mistake.  And I cannot help but observe that the City of London has enough threats on its horizon without its immediate neighbour destabilising the fringes. So I stand by my remarks, although I do concede that I could have expressed my views more professionally.

It's been a busy couple of days in UKR circles, with a lot going on. We had a great outing at the first Place East London conference on Wednesday, which showed the immense opportunity that still exists in the patch, and set out some key challenges for the East London regeneration community (several hundred of the blighters) who had assembled for the event and marauding on to the wine reception after.  

As expected, Grant Shapps gave a pretty upbeat account of regeneration policy in the debate in response to the Select Committee at the House yesterday afternoon. Reeling off the list of government instruments of localism: City Deals, Local Enterprise Partnerships and Enterprise Zones for starters, he said: "One starts to appreciate that it is a massive transfer of power. I know that it is difficult to lose the idea that everything must point to Whitehall and Westminster. 'When is the Minister going to come up with an enormous report to back all this up?' Actually, transferring those powers to our great cities will enable a lot of regeneration to be done much nearer the ground."  This is no understatement. This is a seismic political shift.
 
And of course he is saying the days of reports are over, it is time for action on the ground.  Needless to say this pours balm on the suppurated wounds of the regeneration sector.  And with a fair wind we should - just about - have worked out how to operate under the new regime by the time of the next election.  And UKR got a nice plug.  Mr Shapps described us as "a private company with a programme for 20,000 homes by 2020, backed by Barclays Capital... offering finance and a group of experts to shape the regeneration of key sites for private rented homes within mixed-use developments". Well, thank you kindly, Minister.  That just about covers it, I guess!
 
Mr Shapps went on to say: "The point is if this country is to thrive and survive it needs inward investment... a community can get together and work right the way across the local economy to bring in people from all different aspects - the local council, the county council, the MPs, the councillors, the business people, the academics - and actually grow an economy.  I understand that some people find it difficult to appreciate that to invest privately can be good not just for private investment but for regeneration."  As Team Nottingham have shown, it is absolutely working.  And it is happening on the ground.
 

It is a serious period of transition for me as we gear up to go on site with the first UKR pilot.  I am clearing the decks.  This week I chaired my final meeting of the South Kilburn Neighbourhood Trust, after nearly five years during which it has been my honour and privilege to serve that fine community.  

And, though I say so myself, I think I leave SK in pretty good shape.  And in pretty safe hands. With the amount of visible progress being made, South Kilburn is seriously becoming a "good news" story: multiple cranes can be seen swinging into action every morning and we have nothing short of a phoenix rising from the ashes of a crumbling 1960s council estate, with the decant programme now significantly underway, under the stewardship of the London Borough of Brent, as master developer and landowner.

Put out the bunting.  Nottingham city council has been on the Bob Martins again. And hurrah for that!  A new economic plan for Nottingham was launched at a business summit in the city last Friday, putting the emphasis firmly on growth and aiming to be "the blueprint for prosperity over the next 10 years".  Extra cheese sandwiches all round I reckon.  Quickly now. 

Sadly, I was unable to be there in person (and not just because it was a 7.30am kick-off!) but UKR was well represented.  And I hear it was a right shot in the arm. Nottingham city council, in the driving seat, sees private sector solutions as vital to many of the challenges it faces and has opened a consultation - or "a conversation" (nice!) - with the private sector over the coming weeks. 

There were about 100 senior guys from the private sector there at the summit, showing real support.  As ever, the Nottingham family sticks together and is always on-song, even in the face of a public sector document.  One business commentator summed up the report thus: "Too many recommendations, but the heart is in the right place."  And that seemed to be the general view.

Further to last Wednesday's blog (and I must apologise for the increasingly rabid nature of these postings, but spare a thought for me sometimes - it really is wearing being this incandescent with rage the whole time).

Dr Evans and Twitter drew my attention to the truly excellent definition of the Thames Gateway to be found in the UKR Regeneration Dictionary, viz: The Thames Gateway "A slightly silly name (how can a gateway be 40 miles long?) for a blameless and still largely unknown part of the South East where the standard of living is shockingly below the rest of the region for a surprisingly large proportion of the 1.5m population, and which, with thoughtful long-term planning and investment could become a much better and more attractive place to live and relieve the development pressure on other more congested locations elsewhere; but which had the misfortune to become a focus of government action, and a battleground between ill-informed brownfield romantics, development fetishists, regeneration fantasists and disaster junkies."

It might seem a little early to be thinking of MIPIM but I've learned the hard way that to get best value out of it all you should start before Christmas. And as I keep shouting at anyone who will listen, if you're Hell-bent on regenerating the UK, as we are, then now is the moment.