Recently in localism Category

I nearly missed a charming and rather inspirational piece in the Sunday Times Business Section on the penultimate day of 2012. I only just caught it as I was putting out the recycling (what a caricature I am!). It concerned one Anthony Blackburn, a retail entrepreneur, who had since 2005 owned "Phillip Hall", a small two-storey department store in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
 
Usual story in retail: five months ago the banks decided they could no longer help the struggling shop. The store was 62 years old, so presumably was an established part of the history and culture of Ripon. It was Armageddon. And Mr Blackburn had to decide what to do.

The Heseltine report. Pay no heed to the "he's the last wet" debate. Don't let politics get in the way of this brilliant contribution to urban regeneration in the UK. This is, purely and simply, a masterclass from the master. Forty years of serious engagement and practical work are digested and placed into the context of the post-crash world. It is seriously bloody good, albeit a little long at 233 pages. And well worth a read when you have some (a lot of) time. Despite the (slightly selective) career reprise - "bring back all the good things I did" (even down to MINIS, the management information system!) Lord Hezza lays out a clear manifesto for localism. And he's just so right: we've got to stick with the localist strategy, leaving central government to do only the things it can do well, including distributing resources.

He says: "Experience indicated that there are some things only government can do to drive growth in the economy. It must do those relentlessly, and to the very highest standards set around the world. There are many areas where government should stand aside completely. But in the vast majority of cases we will only get the very best results for our economy if government, the business community and local leaders exploit their skills and resources in partnership". (My italics)

The housing and planning package announced by the government a few weeks ago seems to be something of a slow burn. I guess folk are still digesting it.

The proposals are for an additional 5,000 homes built for rent at market rates in line with Sir Adrian Montague's report on boosting the private rented sector (PRS), with the government to invest £200m in housing sites to ensure that the high-quality rented homes needed are available to institutional investors quickly.

I am normally in Nottingham every Wednesday.  But this week I am there again today. Hurrah!  I am not allowed to comment (yet) but I will allow you to surmise from this that things are hotting up for UKR in the city, and I am hoping to make some jolly spiffing announcements very soon. Thanks for sticking with me on this, peeps. I fully appreciate that the emerging UKR delivery story has been something of a slow burn. I guess nobody ever said it was going to be easy.  

Labour Party Conference.  Does anyone care?  Described by journalists in terms reminiscent of some sort of bizarre dawn raid, Mr Edward Miliband has appropriated the term "one nation" from the Tories.  Oh the derring-do of the man!  I'm sorry, but I find this all too depressing.  The fact that we are still palpably NOT one nation - the gap between the south and the north hugely widened by the last (Labour) administration - is one of the most manifest symptoms of our moral collapse as a nation.  Frankly, a civilised person would be at a complete loss to try to explain it. But there you go.  Mr Miliband thought "one nation" had a ring about it, as Mr Disraeli did before him (in...er...1852).

We do not progress.  We fiddle while Rome burns. 

At any political gathering though, there's always room for a pop at planning.  Mr Hilary Benn, who shadows Mr Eric Pickles as Secretary of State for Communities (an extraordinary misnomer in itself), said yesterday that the Labour Party will oppose "outrageously centralising" government plans to take decision making powers away for under-performing local authorities and hand them to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS). 

Sandra Jones of Ramidus sent me the recently completed London Office Policy Review (LOPR 2012) the other day.  As she always does, every year.  Being interested in "all things London" I dutifully printed it off.  As I always do, every year.  And then I've spent the past few days wrestling with the aforementioned review.  As I do, every year.  There are reams of it.  And it's...er...technical.  But I needed to get to grips with it, the LOPR is a venerable institution; it's been going for yonks and yonks and is the best indicator going on trends in the London office market (and shhhhh! potential economic growth).   

The wider context for this report this year is interesting.  We live in interesting times.  For some time now I have maintained that the London Plan safeguards (or denies, whichever way you look at it) London from the policy of localism, being essentially a centrist document.  This meant that it could provide an interesting contrast to the rest of the country.  But clever planning types are now saying that the last UK wide planning reforms also fundamentally challenge the localism agenda.  It is now nearly a year since the act received Royal Assent and became law, enabling local neighbourhood forums to be established that can make neighbourhood plans.  There are a few, very few, groups in London who have seized the opportunity to make plans but, for the majority, there are signs that the complexity and cost of the process puts it firmly in the "too difficult box". Does this lack of progress on neighbourhood plans delay development?  Or does it mean an easier ride for developers? Does it matter?  Does the government's increasing efforts to stimulate growth bode well for localism?  Or what?

LibDem conference this week. Does anyone care? I normally look in at the party conferences if at all possible, but I am too busy in the day job this year. And last year it was all lobbyists and hangers on (like myself) at all the conferences. You see the same folk at all three, which is nice for me, but rather misses the point.

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!  

Apologies.  I've been away on my hols these past few days, so forgive the radio silence.  And even I (sad and sick as I am) found it a struggle to look at the Montague report from a beach on a Greek island so, again, forgive my rather late response.  

And, ever the optimist, I was rather hoping for Sir Adrian to produce a magic wand...

No such luck. I've now looked at the report and I'm a bit, well, underwhelmed would be the word I guess.  All Sir Adrian's findings had already been heavily trailed of course.  And the tone of the report is somewhat supplicant.