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There have been a few reasons to be cheerful over the past couple of days. Not serious green shoots you understand, just a few glimmers of hope. I'm just so bloody desperate I nearly put the bunting out when I saw that yesterday's Leader in the Daily Telegraph contained the word "regeneration". Admittedly, it was in the context of a vote-for-Boris puff and doesn't really count, but still, beggars can't be choosers, I think you'll agree. I immediately chalked it up as progress.  
 
And I was thrilled to learn that my old friend (and sometime sparring partner) Graham King from Westminster council has won the Alan Cherry Award for Placemaking at the Alan Cherry Debate this year. A much-deserved accolade for our bearded man-mountain, sorry that should have read "institution in the property industry". I have a long standing personal connection (aka bone to pick) with Graham King. As architect of the PSPA (Paddington Special Policy Area), Graham was instrumental in causing me a certain amount of trouble and strife during six years of my own career. But the bloke's a genius (Paul Finch once brilliantly described him as "a delight"), and our creative tension was all to great effect at Paddington, I think you'll agree. And it was very good to see him receive this fine tribute, awarded in the name of the great Alan Cherry, that very fine placemaker. My hearty congratulations to him.
 


On the eve of the publication of the National Planning Policy Framework, UK Regeneration receives news of the most excellent denouement to the ongoing saga of the Lopen planning spat (see blogs for 9 and 23 February 2010 and then 8 and 30 March 2010): a press release stating that the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has found South Somerset District Council (SSDC) guilty of "maladministration in respect of its failure to adhere to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations".  

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.

Dr Evans and I had a very jolly day out in Nottingham yesterday for the "Invest in Nottingham Day", a follow-up to the party in St Pancras as reported in this blog and as picked up today also (in a somewhat more professional manner) by the lovely Lisa Pilkington.
 
UKR is developing quite a relationship with Nottingham city council, both the members and the officers, and we are always rather charmed by them, with their collective warmth and humour.  And their formidable ability to mobilise their business and education and sporting and tourism and creative sectors (they boast a large and totally functional extended family) to the cause of promoting their city.  It is seamless and impressive.
 
As the good Doctor and I rolled off the train, we collided with the whole gang on the platform with the City Leader, Cllr Jon Collins, naming a train "Invest in Nottingham" with much in the way of little Punch-and-Judy type curtains and TV cameras and flashing cameras.  All rather delightful. So we pair just gate-crashed that for a bit.  And then we clambered onto a charabanc and had an excellent tour of Nottingham's regeneration sites under the most able stewardship of David Bishop, director of corporate services. There was a rather hilarious moment when Mike O'Sullivan of BBC East Midlands interviewed me to camera on the bus. When I dutifully reported this (on the BBC) to my trusted PR adviser, she e-mailed back one word "Olive".  It took me several minutes to work out this was a cute reference to "On the Buses"!  I dunno really, I delude myself into thinking I am media savvy!  But the whole thing caused huge amusement all around. 

Dutifully turned up again to the Select Committee on Regeneration on Monday afternoon in Portcullis House. The Daddy of Urban Regeneration, Michael Heseltine, was the sole witness and I thought there might be a few fireworks. Actually, I would have put money on it. But it was surprisingly low key. The committee were a bit like the rest of us when they encountered Hezza, they bowed down like subdued mice, cowed into submission in front of a huge ginger tom, who was toying with them, deciding whether to eat them now or later. You see, he hasn't lost any of that immense personal presence. 

And Baron Heseltine of Thenford was, in return, also fairly restrained.  His "get out of jail free" card being, as he repeatedly stated, that he was "not in the government". This is interesting. He seems to enjoy a position of very real influence with the government whilst not having the responsibility of it. An enviable place to be in, indeed.  He was rather off-hand about the "Regeneration through Growth" White Paper brandished at him by one committee member, saying: "I don't have a view. I haven't read it. I'm not in the government, you see."
This cut said Committee member to the quick, as he kept trying to return to it, but Hezza was having none of it. He put in a staunch defence of City Challenge as, far from being a "top-down intervention" (as had been the accusation) it was definitely a bottom-up initiative (I'd certainly concur with that).

And he said that if he was running such a programme again he would concentrate on the sink schools. "We need to know why Blacksmith's High is failing," he boomed.  "There'd better not be a real Blacksmith's High," replied our doughty chairman, Clive Betts, "or you're going to be all over the tabloids tomorrow."  Caused a chuckle. 

"Action for Happiness" launched today? Well, count me in. And, seriously, count me well in if there's any chance of "Action for Having a Laugh"!
 
Talking of laughs (and no, I don't mean the RGF allocations), I received a very nice e-mail from Business Birmingham entitled "Birmingham is pushing the Boundaries" to thank me for visiting them on their MIPIM stand this year. This made me smile more than a little, since my visit was really rather short.
 
In actual fact, I was chucked OFF the Birmingham stand (with its very good John Travolta-type dance floor) after a minute and a half, along with the lovely Stacey Meadwell of Estates Gazette for "not having a meeting with representatives from Birmingham". Stacey and I have been having something of a laugh about this ever since, as, of course, she is EG's Regional editor (and therefore champion of all-things-not-London - which, of course, means Birmingham much of the time in the senior trade magazine).

I'm attempting to pull together a regeneration fund to benefit all parts of the UK (but explicitly not, in the main, in London or the South East), so I could also be counted as something of a full-on Brummie supporter. In short, it doesn't take much to see that we clearly are friends and allies of the City of Birmingham. The sort of bods you'd think Birmingham would want to encourage onto their stand. A less cautious soul might even say we could be one of Birmingham's best bets.

I was at a simply hilarious dinner at the RAC last night courtesy of Davies Arnold Cooper (at one point David Lunts accused the great 'n' good of the housing industry of being "as miserable as farmers") and I shall be reporting fully on this later this week. But in the meantime we are of course having a very busy morning attempting to marshal our thoughts on what the Budget might mean for regeneration.

Well call me old-fashioned, but what I want to know is whatever happened to Budget secrecy? Dr Evans assures me authoritatively (as only he can) that ministers used to resign if they let slip the slightest hint. Now it is difficult to get excited about the prospect of sitting through the speech as there may be very little left to hear for the first time.

UKR has a pretty straightforward list of aspirations: we are seeking stuff that fits into the new policy framework. Having embraced freedom and localism we will be saddened to see any backsliding towards central control. Will this Budget ensure that economic growth will benefit everyone (was shouting at a good few of the leading lights of the house building industry about going outside the M25) and will it contribute to the "rebalancing of the economy" that is so important to the prime minister?

The authoritative voice on Local Enterprise Partnerships, the go-to-source for commentary on LEPs, is our blogger "The Great LEP Forward" on the UK Regeneration website. I recommend him unreservedly. But I do find myself comparing all the LEPs and RGF malarkey to how many angels dance on a pin. And if you can be bothered to get your head around it, the disarray out there is really rather depressing.

Planning Resource Magazine today reports that: "Just two of the public-private led local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) have firm intentions to lead on strategic economic planning." The CLG had said that LEPs could have a role in potential planning roles to include leading on strategic plans that "identify and align economic priorities and guide infrastructure delivery". But Planning magazine has surveyed the actual organisations themselves and only two of the LEPs that responded said that they intended to perform this role.

The survey reveals that the North East LEP will produce a strategic transport plan for the area and the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP will lead on the development of transport and infrastructure plans. At least 10 other LEPs said that they would have some involvement in planning that does not include producing strategic plans. Tees Valley LEP (Ray Mallon's thing) said that it will undertake environmental assessments for strategic transport plans produced by its partner local authorities (which is rather diplomatic). Cheshire and Warrington LEP said that it will adopt an "advisory role" on planning, transport and infrastructure issues (even more diplomatic).